Volume Review (PC)

Volume is a video game about designed spaces and the paths that enemies can take through them, and the biggest threat it can throw at a player is the moment when a guard moves in an unpredictable way and is about to detect the player.

The new title from Mike Bithell, the creator of Thomas Was Alone, has many ambitions and influences, but it's biggest asset is the way the many levels are carefully crafted to offer both opportunity and danger for the enterprising thief.

Volume feels a little too simple at times, but the sheer amount of tense moments that it offers compensate for the slightly thin mechanics and deliver plenty of adrenaline spikes for gamers.

Story

Volume is, in a way, a modern re-evaluation of the Robin Hood myth, with a main character who seeks to take from those who have too much because they have exploited the common man and give back to those who were targeted by the powerful.

Guy Gisborne is the villain of the story, the leader of a number of corporate bosses that live in opulence and need to be relieved of their wealth, while the player becomes Robert Locksley, a hacker who understands that in the near future information will be more important than riches.

Basically, he uses technology to show the general public how they could potentially get into the homes of the rich in order to take their valuables, although we do not know whether anyone actually follows through with the heists.

Volume options

Volume uses Robin Hood as an inspiration but also seeks to use dialogue between Locksley and his AI, along with text that can be read in the levels themselves, to comment on the nature of society and the way a small number of people can control an entire population.

The smartest character in the entire title is the Allan AI that Locksley interacts with, who often comments wisely on his efforts and the effects they might have.

I liked the core premise of the game, but I found the rest of the information that the developer seeks to offer a little unnecessary, especially when compared to the streamlined gameplay of the title.

Gameplay

Volume is a rare stealth-driven video game that caused almost no frustration and where I was often happy and interested in getting back to levels that I had already completed in order to try and actually improve my performance.

Mike Bithell has stripped the genre down to its essence: the interplay between the intelligence of the player, the layout of the level and the capabilities of the enemies.

The protagonist cannot fight and is unable of impressive physical feats, which means that he needs to distract the attention of guards in order to get the valuable diamonds scattered across the level and then reach the designated exit.

Volume starts off pretty simple and adds new ideas to keep the challenge fresh and to test the skills of the player.

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The guards become smarter and can target the protagonist at longer range, but he also manages to get access to some equipment, including a device to produce sound at a distance, a disguise, a very interesting object, a sound negator, an actual invisibility cloak, and more.

The levels grow in complexity and open up a little, offering more ways to approach each obstacle and spreading the diamonds that need to be gathered in more interesting ways.

The weirdest mechanics of Volume is linked to the way it uses checkpoints, saving the state of the level while moving all the guards to their original patterns.

This makes the task of moving through a level easier than it should be for some gamers, and I suspect they are those who can make better use of them to avoid some of the trickier challenges.

On the other hand, the generous checkpoint system is a good way to eliminate frustration from Volume, which is a great idea given that the game has 100 levels to solve, and getting bogged down on just one would be a problem for most players.

“It's easy to panic in the game and to lose sight of the objective because a guard seems positioned in such a way that it is impossible to dislodge him and get to the target.”

When it comes to gameplay, Volume is uninterested in player feelings and rewards those who manage to blend a solid dose of instinct with a good understanding of how guards behave and how they can best deploy their own tools to get them away from their patterns.

Volume also includes a full level editor, which means that gamers can put together their own environments and can work to emphasize those aspects of the game that they like in their creations before sharing them with the community.

Graphics and audio

Volume uses a minimalistic and interesting style for its graphics, designed to underline the simulation element of the experience while also offering a varied set of levels that often look beautiful, the sort of futuristic landscapes in which many gamers would be happy to live.

The camera, which sits in the same spot and slightly shifts when gamers get their back against a solid surface, might take a little bit of getting used to.

But otherwise enemies have timers clearly set above their heads, targeting is easy to do, environmental obstacles are clearly marked, and gamers always know where they can get another hit of text-based storytelling.

The developer has created a very intuitive user interface and control system for Volume.

When it comes to voice work, gamers will find that the main antagonist of the story is played by Andy Serkis, who is best known for his extensive work on Gollum and other animated characters, and other recognizable names are linked with the rest of the main cast.

Unfortunately, this does not actually lead to an increase when it comes to the quality of the work they do and there are a lot of moments when it's unclear what kind of tone they are trying to convey.

The soundtrack for the game is an entirely different matter and emphasizes the action side of the game, with soaring tracks that make the player feel like a hero, although that can often result in unwise moves that lead to death.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion