Rogue Trader: Void Shadows DLC Review
Summary: Adds meat in all the right places, the base game is better for it.
5
Essential DLC
There’s two types of DLCs: those that add extras on the side, and those that fill out the main game. The extras style works best for tight narrative games, that way you can enjoy their release as a victory lap long after you’ve beaten the main game, but the second style works best for a replayable game (like an Owlcat CRPG). Even so, Owlcat have historically released their DLCs as side stories and bonuses– which must be easier to manage and build– but Rogue Trader’s first DLC, Void Shadows, breaks that tradition and it’s their best DLC yet.
Every new location is built into the world– you can now explore the slumlike lower decks of your enormous cruiser, thwart uprisings, solve squabbles, and taste their putrid local cuisine. And the new companion slots right into the main narrative, having her own advice and interactions like any other companion. Truly, it’s an essential addition to the game– plus it’s a lot of fun playing detective among the peasants, death cultists, and lepers.
And that’s not to mention the recent free update that adds a new coat of paint to base game with graphical updates, quality of life changes, and plenty of bug fixes– in my original review, I said it was an ‘epic in progress’ because of bugs and quality of life issues, and Owlcat have since done away with those complaints. Now, Rogue Trader is a masterful CRPG, up there with games like Planescape Torment, and Divinity Original Sin 2– and we can only hope that Rogue Trader’s success is enough to push them into the triple A tier so that they can make a major release like Baldur’s Gate 3.
But getting back to the DLC, honestly, there’s little reason to detail every great addition and change added in Void Shadows. It really is an essential DLC. Everything it adds makes the base game bigger, more complex, exciting, and varied. It gives faces and names to far more of your giant ship’s crew, it finally lets you explore it, it adds a great subplot and companion, and it even adds the best music track in the game– the bumping tech choir sung in the Astropathic Chapel. On the box, it says Void Shadows adds an extra 15 hours of content, but if you’ve beaten the game already, it’s more like an extra playthrough. And for everyone else, you’d be cheating yourself by not buying it from the get-go.
About the Author
Branden Zavaleta Based in Perth, Branden writes on the arts for a handful of Australian outlets. He's also a street & creative portrait photographer, who's work can be found @brandenzp on Instagram.
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