Kinetic Void

About

Kinetic Void is a single player simulation game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Badland Studio and was released on November 21, 2014. It received negative reviews from players.

Kinetic Void is a 3D space adventure with a focus on customization and exploration. The shipyard allows players to construct their ship piece by piece. Ships can be as simplistic as a cockpit, a hull, a engine and a gun, or as complex as a player wants. Each module has available subsystems which can be applied to strengthen specific attributes of the ship, and when damaged, those subsystems may be…

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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17%

Audience ScoreBased on 2,422 reviews

gameplay36 positive mentions

story33 negative mentions

The ship building mechanics are fun and allow for a high degree of customization.
The game has a lot of potential and could be enjoyable if further developed.
The graphics and sound design create an immersive atmosphere.

The game has been abandoned by the developers and lacks meaningful updates since 2015.
Gameplay is shallow and repetitive, with little to do beyond building ships.
The user interface is clunky and unintuitive, making it difficult for new players to understand how to play.

story
211 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
6%
78%
16%
The game's story aspect is largely criticized for its lack of depth and direction, with many players noting that there is no overarching narrative or meaningful missions to engage with. While the shipbuilding mechanics are praised, the absence of a coherent story or quest system leaves the gameplay feeling empty and repetitive, leading to frustration among users who expected more content and guidance. Overall, the game is seen as a missed opportunity, with players expressing disappointment over the developers' failure to deliver on promised features and a compelling storyline.
- “Edit 3-1-2020: I did some further digging, and the story behind this game just keeps getting better and better.”
- “I loved this game, and at times I would just spend hours designing the perfect ship of my dreams, giving each module a story and a purpose.”
- “Though I haven't played it very much, the potential for expandability, custom missions, and the like is very impressive.”
- “There is no content, no missions, the developer seemed to have abandoned this game.”
- “No content, no meaningful missions, simply nothing that provides a reason to build a ship in the first place.”
- “Absolute freedom, but absolutely no story or direction.”
gameplay
206 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
70%
13%
The gameplay of Kinetic Void is widely criticized for being shallow, unfinished, and lacking meaningful content beyond its ship-building mechanics. Players report a frustrating interface, numerous bugs, and a lack of engaging missions or story elements, leading to a sense of emptiness in the game world. While the ship-building aspect shows potential, the overall gameplay experience is deemed tedious and unpolished, with many feeling it remains in a perpetual state of early access without significant improvements.
- “While this game is still in development, it's worth getting into not only for the gameplay but for the potential it shows.”
- “This game shows great potential; who knows, it could become something great. The building mechanics are brilliant and the detail is really nice.”
- “If you like space games and building games, the ship building mechanic is really fun by itself; it is probably something you are into.”
- “The gameplay is largely shallow and unfinished.”
- “Actual gameplay is barely implemented and what's there didn't seem to be any fun.”
- “The game is void of content, void of gameplay, and void of meaningful updates.”
graphics
115 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31%
55%
14%
The graphics of the game have received overwhelmingly negative feedback, with many users describing them as primitive, sub-par, and buggy. While some players noted that the ship-building visuals can be appealing, the overall aesthetic is often criticized for being unfinished and lacking detail, particularly in the game's environments. Many reviews highlight significant graphical glitches and performance issues, leading to a general consensus that the visuals do not meet modern gaming standards.
- “The ship building process was fun, and the graphics for the universe around you truly made you gaze in awe at the world around you.”
- “Graphical aesthetics are great and match with the atmosphere.”
- “Great graphics and awesome soundtrack, easy to learn controls, but sometimes not so clear on what, though optional, your mission objectives are, making this a nice addition to any collection.”
- “After redownloading on a brand new gaming PC, with graphics at ultra, it's an ugly, buggy, complicated mess of a game, with all the fun of a custom spaceship builder nowhere to be found.”
- “I don't even know how you miss that; forgetting to finish the graphics engine shows itself with spontaneous blooms of light filling the screen, weird looking planets (their textures do not increase in detail with proximity, and they lack atmospheric effects for color emissions) and very poor performance.”
- “Entire game seems so convoluted with extended tutorials that don't let you control the menus while the tutorial is up so you can easily forget what to do, building a ship is difficult at best, and the textures... good lord, I've played games from the early 2000s that have better graphics than this.”
stability
55 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
96%
The game is widely criticized for its instability and numerous bugs, with many players describing it as unfinished and abandoned. While some users express enjoyment despite the flaws, the overall sentiment indicates that the game suffers from significant technical issues that hinder gameplay. Despite occasional improvements, the lack of ongoing development and support leaves many feeling frustrated and disappointed.
- “The game has made significant improvements in ship construction, making it far more functional and approachable than when I first started playing.”
- “The stability of the game has greatly improved, with fewer bugs and a more user-friendly experience in ship construction.”
- “There have been great strides in the stability of the game, particularly in ship construction, making it much more enjoyable to play.”
- “This game is broken, buggy, and content incomplete.”
- “This is one of those early access games that had a ton of promise, but was broken, buggy, and all but unplayable due to crashes and overall instability.”
- “It's a joke that the game is still displayed despite having been abandoned for over a year; it's buggy, it's useless, and you're better off with Space Engineers or something similar.”
music
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
33%
11%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players praising its catchy and epic nature, while others find it generic and repetitive, noting that there are only a few tracks available. Despite its initial appeal, many users feel the soundtrack becomes tiresome quickly, with some considering it the only redeeming quality of an otherwise flawed game. Overall, while the music enhances the atmosphere, it lacks variety and depth, leading to a sense of disappointment among players.
- “The soundtracks are perfect for inducing that soothing yet unsettling feel of colossal space.”
- “At times it was like a living, ethereal journey through space with nice music (and if you shut off the HUD it was like a living screensaver).”
- “In sum, based on a couple of hours of gameplay; a fantastic ship builder and gorgeous soundtrack make me think this may join my list of all-time favorite games.”
- “The music is generic and annoying, and the devs abandoned the game; it feels like a scam!”
- “Music gets old really fast.”
- “Regarding other aspects of the game: the music remains the same as it's been since I first bought it, and is for the most part adequate.”
optimization
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
62%
19%
Overall, the game's optimization is widely criticized, with many users reporting significant performance issues, bugs, and a lack of polish. While some acknowledge that the game is still in an alpha state and may improve, the current state is described as unoptimized and confusing, particularly in ship building mechanics. Users express disappointment over the game's unfinished graphics and awkward controls, leading to a general recommendation to avoid it until substantial updates are made.
- “For clarification, alpha as in the pre-beta stage, beta meaning the game is feature complete and only requires bug fixing, optimization, and testing.”
- “To complicate matters the ship construction designs are done impressively free, able to freely rotate and adjust segments in any combination you desire without distance restrictions or locking points - but it comes back to bite the design mechanic in how over-use of too many blocks can kill the gameplay performance.”
- “Both content and performance wise the game is improving, but I personally will require more real gameplay to be added before I am prepared to recommend this game.”
- “It's just sad to see someone give up for no reason, without saying anything and leaving an unfinished, unoptimized, confusing pile of... yeah.”
- “I don't even know how you miss that, forgetting to finish the graphics engine shows itself with spontaneous blooms of light filling the screen, weird looking planets (their textures do not increase in detail with proximity, and they lack atmospheric effects for color emissions) and very poor performance (runs fine at full settings on my computer, but considering how dull the graphics are at max settings, that's no excuse for it to be generating a lot of heat or be unplayable with my old graphics card).”
- “Awkward controls, poor performance, lack of polish, lack of features (still only two ship templates, otherwise I'm on my own?) have convinced me to not try to explore this title any further.”
monetization
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization aspect of the game has been heavily criticized, with users labeling it a "cash grab" due to a lack of updates and unfulfilled promises regarding features. Many feel deceived by misleading advertisements and express frustration over the game's abandonment, urging potential buyers to avoid spending money on it. Overall, the sentiment reflects disappointment in both the game's value and the developer's integrity.
- “Was fun way back in the day when it received the odd update or two, now, it hasn't had an update in 3 years and is all but abandoned. Don't waste your money, this game is literally a cash grab that I wish Steam would let us who did buy it, at least get some sort of refund.”
- “Project abandoned, total cash grab, super jerk move.”
- “The developer literally lies to your face about features (at least when I bought it) by advertising that they're in the game already, when it turns out that these important and advertised features are yet to be added.”
atmosphere
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
25%
25%
The atmosphere of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players noting a vibrant sci-fi aesthetic and the ability to explore planetary atmospheres, while others criticize the lack of content and poor graphical performance, including issues like low frame rates and unrefined planet textures. The shift from a realistic physics model to a simplified flight system has also detracted from the immersive experience, leading to a sense of disappointment regarding the overall atmospheric depth.
- “Graphical aesthetics are great and match with the atmosphere.”
- “You can enter the atmosphere of the planet and fly over the surface.”
- “The problems started when I left the station; not only did my FPS drop to around 4, but there is a complete lack of content and atmosphere.”
- “Planets, and that vibrant, atmospheric sci-fi feel.”
- “The problems started when I left the station; not only did my FPS drop to around 4, but there is a complete lack of content and atmosphere.”
grinding
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and monotonous, particularly in the career mode where progression feels slow and repetitive. However, the sandbox mode offers a more enjoyable experience by allowing players to bypass grinding and focus on creative ship-building. Despite the variety of parts available, the process of adding modules can be cumbersome, detracting from the overall enjoyment of gameplay.
- “The only clear selling point to this game is the creative ship-building one could do, but outside that realm, the gameplay gets tedious and monotone.”
- “While there are plenty of parts and they look lovely, adding modules is very tedious, and most of them don't even do anything yet.”
- “Building your ship, at times, looks tedious.”
humor
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviews indicate that while the game has some humorous elements, particularly in its flying mechanics, the overall presentation is perceived as sloppy, which detracts from the enjoyment of its humor. Players seem to appreciate the comedic aspects but feel that the game's execution undermines its potential for fun.
- “Interesting in the building part, funny to fly.”