The future of video games is still a malleable thing. I often wonder what the world would look like if there were more games like The Void. It's a tough game to define, or describe, to anyone that hasn't played it. Which makes reviewing such a game a monumental task.

If you've ever played Pathologic, a few of the game's basic objectives are the same. It is not meant to be fun. It is meant to be stressful, depressing, and draining. But it is also meant to be inspiring, and hopeful, and creative. I have never played a more beautiful, or a more grotesque, game. It is a nebulous and monstrously complex game.

Teeming beneath the surface of the gorgeous art style are countless questions about life and death. What happens when we die? What is it to live? What is it to create? What is birth? What is death? What is faith? Who do we trust? Why do we trust? If we had the ability to give other people life, who do we give it to? Do we give it to the world? Do we give it to our friends? Do we give it to our enemies, so they don't kill us? What is the difference between existence and life?

The Void, I suppose, could be classified as an Action-RPG hybrid, in which you have to carefully manage and plant Color in the world. Color acts as your health bar, the pool of resources you can dip into to deal damage, and the resource which you will be giving the mysterious and enigmatic Sisters. The game is brutally hard, and punishes mistakes made hours ago. I recommend saving a lot, especially for your first playthrough. There is quite a bit of fighting, and a lot of the fighting actually turns into puzzle solving, discovering what attacks are effective against what enemies. And the enemies... the monstrous Brothers, counterparts to the Sisters, espouse a grim ideology. Whether you join them or not is up to you. They are all brilliantly designed. The Mantid, Whaler, Montgolfier, Warden and Tyrant were all my favourite designs. Though then I think of the others, and I could just as easily list them too. Triumphator was pretty awesome.

Every conversation you have is like talking to a poetry or philosophy book. It's beautiful, lyrical, and filled to the brim with secondary meanings. I love this game. I really do. It's my third favourite game of all time, just behind Pathologic (2005) and Pathologic 2. The Sisters are all fascinating characters. My only regret is that I couldn't spend more time talking to them, they all have different outlooks on The Void and what it is, and what it means to "ascend". Eli ended up being my favourite Sister, but Nameless Sister, Una, and Uta were my other favourites to talk to.

So, to whom can I genuinely and earnestly recommend the obtuse, complex The Void? To anyone who has a mind for video games as an artistic medium. To anyone who enjoys deep philosophical thought alongside stressful gameplay. Seriously - it's like emptying your own veins to fight someone whenever you spend Color. It's painful and stressful as you travel through the "overworld", out of the beautiful and complex chambers. It's perhaps the most stressed I've ever been gaming. But every time I booted the game, and played it, I was also filled with a sense of awe, of calm. It's one of the crowning artistic experiences of my life. I can only hope to see Ice-Pick Lodge and other game companies in future doing more games like this. If you like Pathologic, it's not automatic that you'll like this one. But you might. And for that alone, it's worth a shot. At the end of the game, I failed. I knew I'd failed an hour before I failed. But I didn't quit. Because I wasn't at the end of my journey. I finished it. I'll play it again, and again, as the years go by. The soundtrack is haunting and melodic. It takes you to a different world. Play it as blindly as you can. And then, if you see this draining, haunting experience through, reflect.

The Void made me confront my fears of death, of dying, and stressed me out to the point of almost giving up. But I hung on. The Void gave me hope.

What will The Void give you?