Survival horror. It’s a popular genre in videogames: titles like Resident Evil Requiem, Silent Hill f, and Reanimal ended up doing well for themselves. That last game, though, brings to mind a particular type of terror: scares inflicted upon children. Voidwood, the upcoming debut from Santa Barbara Games, seeks to expand those frights to four players. My writing partner, Dominick Ashtear, and I had the chance to try a short round and speak to the devs behind the game at PAX West 2026.
The Origins of Voidwood
In Voidwood, up to four players traverse a forest, scavenging for supplies and crafting tools. They need these for the night, which comes faster than you think. At night, “The Beast” strikes; it cannot be killed, only stunned. Other, more vulnerable creatures will hunt you as well. It’s up to you and your friends to coordinate, communicate, gather special wood, fuel the campfire, and make your escape.
Speaking with the devs brought some clarity regarding the influences of Voidwood. As far as gaming influences, Alien: Isolation served as the basis for The Beast; Phasmophobia provided the idea for a voice mechanic; and Don’t Starve gave sway over crafting. The team wanted to bring a big and mysterious vibe to the environments as well, something I feel they nailed. Originally, the demo at PAX West was 12 minutes long, featuring a third of the first area. However, it became so popular (on the first day, no less) that they started working on a quicker build on-site. There was even a knockout counter at the booth, but three digits were woefully insufficient for the number of KOs happening to players.
How Does It Play?
Dom and I were paired up with two random convention-goers so we could play the four-player experience. Voidwood makes good use of the microphone: you need to speak into it to warn other users or give them clues, but doing so also attracts monsters, so it’s very risk/reward. I found my mic to be a little finicky because I was trying to whisper into it, but no sound was getting through. This could have just been my headset, though, since other players weren’t having this issue. You can craft things like bandages and repellents, which heal you and stun The Beast, respectively. If you are downed, a teammate can revive you if they reach you in time. If they take too long, you’ll become a spirit (your mic is disabled when this happens). Your spirit can be picked up and brought to the campfire, which brings you back to life.
The objective was to use your axe to chop up the titular voidwood and use it to fuel your campfire. Hitting these special trees made a ton of noise, so it’s important to have people around to revive you or grab wood if you are forced to flee. Once you bring enough wood to the fire, a portal opens. The forest becomes more aggressive as you try to make your escape, with enemies chasing you and your health draining unless you reach pillars of light. I found the game’s movement speed to be quite snappy, but the attacking animations were a little stiff. There’s plenty of time to iron this out, though.
Stay With Me, Please
Voidwood had a good showing at PAX West, and I enjoyed playing it, even though I got choked out by The Beast roughly ten times. I don’t think it will be as fun to play with only one or even two players; you need to get a good group together in order to experience the intended effect of teamwork. It will be coming to Steam in 2027 and is optimized for the Steam Deck. The title will have one ending, with plans for DLC dependent on Early Access reception. All the characters in the demo were premade, and they will be available in the full game, along with a character creator. No two runs are ever the same, which makes Voidwood an interesting prospect to Wishlist. I hope to pair up with some of you next year in the dark, spooky woods!
