History VideoGame / VoidStranger

->''[[ResetButton Only a single memory will remain]]''

* AlienGeometries: It becomes apparent early on that the Void's overall geometry defies Euclidian space. Entering stairs is the only way to move to the next floor; if you fall into a pit, you simply plummet to your death (and respawn if you have locust idols in stock or are voided). More strangely, you can pick out the stairs with your Void Rod, place it down somewhere, and it still takes you down as usual.

** If you pick out the "B''b''" part of the HUD, you end up in an endless pitch black expanse. Here, one of two things can happen: You're grabbed by a strange creature which crashes the game, or you find a giant egg that leads to a strange alternate ending that has seemingly nothing to do with the game itself.

** The Infinite cheat brand gives you unlimited Locust Idols, but as a result you cannot use the trick of swapping your remaining Locust Idol and floor number values since attemping to pick out the infinity symbol softlocks the game in a NonStandardGameOver. That said, you ''can'' use a Bee Idol warp to set your Locust Idol counter back to 0 so you can perform the technique again...however, the lowest floor that this warp will send you to is B100, so you cannot warp to B000 unless you do a Dark Idol reset.

* NonStandardGameOver:

** If Gray ends up in the void due to messing with the HUD, then it is possible for her to find a giant broken sphere that triggers an ending where a scientist named Dr. Lily is busted by some kind of police force, only for some creatures from ''VideoGame/ZeroRanger'' suddenly busting through a tear in reality, ending the game and rolling the credits.

** During one of the dream flashbacks, Gray and Princess Lily are accosted by a group of bandits. Gray is forced to unleash her "Gray the Destroyer" form, which results in a boss fight...from the ''bandits''[='=] point-of-view, as the bandits fail to even harm her at all. In other words, ''the protagonist'' is the Hopeless Boss Fight.
** During a different dream flashback, Gray tries picking a fight with Bee, one of the demons Johann bargained with, to prevent them from taking Princess Lily's soul as part of Johann's deal with them. Trying to attack Bee just causes Gray to take counter damage (until the final hit, which hurts Bee but causes her to retaliate), and if she stalls by defending or checking the demon's status, Bee will quickly become bored and attack for over a thousand damage.

** If Gray ends up in the void due to messing with the HUD, then it is possible for her to find a giant broken sphere that triggers an ending where a scientist named Dr. Lily is busted by some kind of police force, only for some creatures from ''VideoGame/ZeroRanger'' suddenly busting through a tear in reality, ending the game.

''Void Stranger'' is a [[DungeonCrawling dungeon crawler]] / BlockPuzzle game developed by System Erasure (known for their previous game ''VideoGame/ZeroRanger''). It was released for Windows PC via itch.io and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} on September 1, 2023.

** If you activate the Infinite brand before starting a game, then later [[BreakingTheFourthWall pick out the infinity symbol on the HUD]], the game will transport you to a still screen with "-∞" on it in large-point font. The game is soft-locked at this point and the only action you can take is to quit the game to retry the floor you did this on.

Presented in a monochrome pixel graphic style reminiscent of the UsefulNotes/GameBoy, the game sees the protagonist entering a deep dungeon seemingly in search of something important to her. The only piece of equipment she carries into the dungeon is a strange rod she finds at the start of the game. From here on out, movement is tile- and turn-based; time only moves when the player moves, and movement can be done only one tile at a time. The rod's main ability is to pick up one floor tile at a time and then replace it wherever a free space is available (including the same space that was vacated). Along the way, the player will encounter all manners of enemies with their own movement patterns, tile types that can help or hinder progress, and various treasure items. Some puzzles have multiple ways to solve them, while others have solutions that must be followed to the exact step to succeed. The game auto-saves after every floor completed, ''but'' floor progression is one-way and therefore the player will sometimes have to decide between solving an exceptionally difficult puzzle to get a desired item, or just give up and move on.

->''[[HereWeGoAgain Only a single memory will remain]]''

->''[[VideoGame/VoidStranger Only a single memory will remain]]''

* TheStarscream: In Cif mode, after their boss has left and while traversing the VOID to find where her sister Bee was sealed away to, she learns that Mon, the demon that exchanges hints for Locust Idols, has also been traversing the floors. Once she catches up to Mon, she discovers that he and Lev have decided to take the place over for themselves, leading her to fight against Mon's centipede-like monstrous transformation.

%% [[caption-width-right:460:some caption text]]

----

* DespairEventHorizon: "Strangers" who end up in the void and are unable to find their way out before succumbing to despair are turned into Void Eggs, i.e. the many "boulders" you see throughout the MegaDungeon, all of which bear a distinct skull texture on them. If you have the Void Memory equipped, you can speak to these Void Eggs; most of these can only speak words of despair and begging for help, although if there's only one Void Egg on the floor, they are generally sane enough to offer some lore or advice.

** If you die and refuse to continue, the sprite who offered you help openly wonders what sent you over the DespairEventHorizon. A bright explosion then occurs and the game exits to desktop.

* HaveANiceDeath: If you activate the Infinite brand before starting a game, then later [[BreakingTheFourthWall pick out the infinity symbol on the HUD]], the game will transport you to a still screen with "-∞" on it in large-point font. The game is soft-locked at this point and the only action you can take is to quit the game to retry the floor you did this on.

* DeadEndRoom: If you attempt to pick out the floor number, the game will throw a "fatal error" and you will end up in an infinite void, with nothing but an error screen in the central room. You can still access the pause menu, but the only meaningful action you can take is to exit the game and retry the room.

* HaveANiceDeath: If you activate the Infinite brand before starting a game, then later [[BreakingTheFourthWall pick out the infinity symbol on the HUD, the game will transport you to a still screen with "-∞" on it in large-point font. The game is soft-locked at this point and the only action you can take is to quit the game to retry the floor you did this on.

* ResetButton: If you step onto the exit stairs when there is a Dark Idol over it, you will be rewound back to the beginning of the game. This can be useful if you miss a Locust Idol or a memory crystal. The first time you play through, you get a DownerEnding that forces you to reset via this method anyways. This gets ''exploited'' in Lillie mode, with some Dark Idols being pre-placed over stairs, sending you back to start if you don't move the stairs or idol out of the way first.

* ResetButton: If you step onto the exit stairs when there is a Dark Idol over it, you will be rewound back to the beginning of the game. This can be useful if you miss a Locust Idol or a memory crystal. The first time you play through, you get a DownerEnding that forces you to reset via this method anyways.

* NoFairCheating: Attempting to cheat by performing actions like exiting and reloading to get around losing [[VideoGameLives Locust Idols]] or editing your save outright sees your character being brought to ZERO Court. Depending on the crime and how you respond, you may ''merely'' be let go...back at B001 to start over.

* WasOnceAMan: The large round eggs seen throughout the Void turn out to be other people that ventured into the VOID and did not have the determination to reach the end, succumbing to despair. During Lilith mode, Lillie's EscortMissiion with Ninnie ends with them trapped in a room and Ninnie turning into an egg, and Lillie almost turns into an egg herself at the final floor due to Bee's goading and desire to eat her before Bee is stopped and punished.

* WasOnceAMan: The large round eggs seen throughout the Void turn out to be other people that ventured into the VOID and did not have the determination to reach the end, succumbing to despair. During Lilith mode, Lillie's EscortQuest with Ninnie ends with them trapped in a room and Ninnie turning into an egg, and Lillie almost turns into an egg herself at the final floor due to Bee's goading and desire to eat her before Bee is stopped and punished.

* TakenForGranite: Some statues, meant to first be encountered in Cif mode by following Mon's footprints down a specific path, will instantly petrify a character in their sight and count as a lost life. Mon's boss fight form also has this power, petrifying Cif if she's in sight of the face on his tail.

* JumpScare: Should Gray end up in the void from messing with the HUD, then one of the possible ways for it to end is some kind of creature suddenly jumping out of nowhere, snagging her and crashing the game. It happens so suddenly that it is sure to scare those unprepared.