Void Salvage is a roguelite/like that requires strategy and a good build. Developed and published by myradann, Void Salvage was released on August 11th, 2026. Void Salvage is all about automation—automated spaceship battles and automated salvaging for resources. Players can travel to various points of interest in search of upgrades and materials to craft their builds. After several jumps, a boss battle opens up and players will most likely fail the first few times they try. Void Salvage offers two different ways to play—a progressive roguelite or a challenging roguelike—and an option to customize the difficulty as you wish.
Void Salvage is a decent game that seems complex initially but becomes simpler as you get familiar. With various types of upgrades, including drones, augments, and weapons, I got the feeling that there could be a lot of different builds to try. I like the option of playing in either rogue style because it makes the game more welcoming to all types of players. I don’t think myradann is trying to rewrite either rogue style, so much of the game feels familiar to games I’ve played in the past. Though I think overall its a good game that deserves a positive score, I couldn’t help notice some things that could be improved. There’s very little story, the autonomous combat loses my interest, and the grind is excessive. This is probably not a game I’ll continue playing, but I still think it might be worth checking out.
A Salvage Ship Salvaging Salvage & Shooting
Normally I’d start my review briefly discussing the story but there really isn’t one here. There are small pieces of a story in Void Salvage—like text logs that appear when starting a new run that mention not knowing how you’re still alive—but it absolutely does not take center stage. As far as I am aware, players play as a lone pilot, salvaging scrap floating in space and shooting down bad guys for the fun of it. Instead, I’ll jump right into some of the gameplay elements and try to explain them as best as I can. Void Salvage seems more complex initially but becomes simpler as you get familiar with the game.
I should probably discuss the different rogue styles as this is the first decision when starting a new game. This decision is also permanent for that save file (up to 5 can be kept) so it is important to know what each one does. There are three settings—incremental, progressive and roguelike. Incremental is probably closest to “easy” mode with forgiving death penalties and relaxed exploration. This mode plays like a less challenging roguelite with almost guaranteed progression in every run. Roguelike is on the opposite end—plays more like a roguelike obviously with a forced fresh start after death and very minimal between runs to improve your chances.
Progressive, the difficulty I played on the most, is the customizable middle ground between the two. I preferred the roguelite style, but also wanted some roguelike elements such as restarting back at sector 1 instead of staying in the current sector. Overall I’d say the game plays more like a roguelite with the option to make it a roguelike, but it is your choice for how’d you like to play.
There are 4 key factors when it comes to Void Salvage-Resources, Combat, the System and Core Upgrades. I’ll discuss the first two in this section. When it comes to resources, there are three to keep track of—XP, cred, and fuel. Most actions, such as salvaging scrap flying by or defeating enemies in combat earns you XP. This gets used in Core Upgrades which I will discuss later. Cred is the money you can spend to purchase various upgrades. This includes things to upgrade your ship’s System—another thing I will discuss in the next section—repairs for your ships hull, or even XP and fuel.
Fuel is required for travelling around. Instead of free movement around space, the ship actually stays in one spot the entire time. Players can travel to different points of interest along the map, each one offering a loot reward, safe area, ping location, or even hazardous areas that earn you more XP. Though the visual of the ship zooming to the next location is nice, this is a system I’m all too familiar with. After several jumps, a boss gate opens up and players are able to jump straight to it or continue travelling. If you continue, you gain stacks of continuum which will make the entire run more challenging, even if you head to the boss. It only resets on death. Continuum can earn you high tier loot though so it may be worth while depending on your combat strength.
Combat in this game is autonomous. Your ship will fire at enemies all on its own, but you can direct it to fire at specific enemies by clicking on them. Ships have a shield, a first layer of protection, and a hull, the ship itself. Most points of interest will start with combat after you travel there, typically ranging from 1 to 6 hostiles. Defeating ships earns you scrap, cred and often fuel. After combat, you will earn a reward of specific loot—such as augments, modules, drones or sockets that I will discuss in the next section. You can then decide if you want to hail more hostiles to your location. This will not earn you additional loot rewards, but you will gain XP, cred and fuel from defeating them. It is worthwhile to hail them if you are able to because having these resources is important.
Combat being autonomous means that players have very little agency or input. Beyond targeting ships, you will spend most of the time watching the combat play out. Eventually you can unlock a secondary weapon which makes things a bit more exciting, but even then, it quickly becomes stale. Hailing enemy ships for extra XP becomes even more important as you work toward Core Upgrades, which matter no matter how you play. The process feels repetitive, though, and I need a more hands‑on approach to stay invested. I don’t need a full spaceship battle but I’d like to feel part of the combat rather than just observing. I love trying out new builds and strategies and seeing how they pan out in combat, but I get the picture after the first few combats.
The boss battles are no joke. They play out like any other combat, but the bosses come with unique abilities that can easily destroy your ship. Tons of enemies are summoned over time as well, making combat even more destined for failure. It will most likely take you a few tries to defeat a boss. I know it took me a while to defeat the very first boss. After defeating the boss, you move to a new sector. If you’re playing in the roguelite style, you will stay in this sector even after death. For roguelike (or if you customize it like I did), you will respawn back to sector 1 after death.
Another brief thing I’d like to mention is that Void Salvage can be made into an idle desktop companion. The ship will stay it the current area, salvaging scrap and fighting any hostiles it comes across. This is nice if you want to let it run while you focus on other things. Personally I didn’t get much use from it. There seem to be offline gains as well, but the game never explains how they work. I think I only got like an hour and 45 minutes worth of rewards even though I was offline for a lot longer. For me, these aren’t really a positive or a negative—just something I wanted to mention before moving on.
Upgrades & The Grind
When starting a new run, you can choose one upgrade to start with—a module, drone or augment. These are three of the five types of upgrades—weapons and sockets being the other two. You slot upgrades into the System, where strategy finally kicks in. The System only offers a limited number of spaces, and while you can buy more through Core Upgrades, you still have to choose carefully. You can swap upgrades out whenever you find a higher tier or something that fits your build better. The possibilities are not really endless, but you could still try out many different builds.
I’d like to briefly discuss each upgrade and to start, I’ll talk about my go to—drones. Drones circle around the ship performing various tasks. Combat drones help defeat hostiles. Some drones assist in defense by granting brief invulnerability or repairing the hull. Some even perform outside tasks like being a distraction for enemies or helping with salvage. Drones can suffer damage from enemy attacks, and repeated hits will eventually destroy them. I personally liked it because I felt it was the most effective at making progress for me. Unfortunately, it does not seem possible to have multiples of the same drone which I wish wasn’t the case. I’d love to go full combat and burn through enemies.
Augments and modules are similar but focus on different areas. Both options give passive effects, but modules focus on improving your ship while augments enhance your weapons. Examples of modules include less hull damage received or improved drone effects. Examples of augments include shots that bounce off of enemies or the screen, or shots that go in a loop.
Obviously, weapons you eventually come across go along with augments. Different types of weapons will do different things. Ships can have two weapons and players can switch between the two. Eventually you can also purchase different ships to use, each coming with different stats, usages, and effects. Lastly, upgrades may come with sockets which provide additional, but simpler passive benefits. This includes things like extra shields or simple increased damage. You can unlock more upgrades but I am unclear on the process of doing so. It seems most likely tied to your overall progression, but it could just be based on your overall stats. Void Salvage doesn’t really explain all of this right away so there’s a decent bit that you have to learn as you play.
Moving on the last thing I’d like to discuss are the Core Upgrades. These upgrades are like a skill tree with multiple different branches all connected to the same general theme, like for shielding or weapons. You can spend any accumulated XP in this tree when you start a new run, or during a run if you choose roguelike difficulty. Some special nodes offer stronger passives, including the central one that expands your System slots.
Normally, I enjoy these. However, many of these upgrades can be repurchased multiple times, commonly 5, 10, or 15 times. Some traits almost require multiple purchases in order any impact during gameplay. With each purchase, the XP cost increases making the game feel like a super long grind. Now I love a rogue style game that I can grind away hours in, but the actual gameplay itself needs to be a bit more exciting for my tastes. Simply watching the auto-battles unfold on repeat is not something I’d find a lot of enjoyment in over time. I also can’t confirm this, but there seems to be at least 35 sectors, which is quite a lot considering that each sector requires 10 or so jumps before the boss battle. There might not be an end to this game, but again, I can’t confirm this.
It should also be said that XP and most Core upgrades get reset when you die in the roguelike mode. If this is more your style, you probably won’t have this grindy feeling. You will most likely focus on the nodes that are beneficial to your current build. This grindy feeling is strictly for if you are not playing in this style which is still a legitimate way to play. This kind of feels like one way where maybe using the same idea/structure does not work for both roguelite and roguelike.
Salvaging the Void, One Scrap at a Time
Overall, I think Void Salvage is a decent game. Despite the slight complexity in the beginning, it becomes a lot more interesting once you have a better understanding. I like the option for either a roguelite or roguelike experience and think that for the most part, gameplay is balanced between the two. Both feel like legitimate ways to play. Trying out different builds is enjoyable especially when you go for a full drone army.
However, a lack of story, very repetitive auto-battles, and a long grind in roguelite make me not as invested in the game. If these things don’t bother you then I’d recommend checking this one out. It might not one you play all the time, but over time in small doses. If you need a “background game” while you do things or while you’re in queue for other games, then this one could be for you.
