The idea that changes everything: the map is your arsenal
Think about it for a second: in a normal roguelite, you look at a set and see decoration — rocks, barrels, enemy corpses. In Masks of the Void: Origins you look at that same set and see ammunition. Its signature is telekinesis: you grab almost anything in the environment and turn it into a projectile, from a rock to the very enemy you just knocked down. RolldBox sums it up with a line that's a whole statement of intent: 'the environment is your toolkit'.
That changes how you play at the root. Instead of learning one weapon and repeating, you read the room: you position rivals, chain objects, trigger combos that depend on where everything is. Every action shapes the battlefield, and that's the distinctive part, because in a genre this full of clones, having a verb of your own — throw anything — is exactly what separates a game you remember from just another one.
A roguelite with a Spanish accent that has won people over
Behind it is RolldBox Games, a Spanish studio, and it's worth saying because it's not every day a homegrown roguelite climbs the charts on its own merits. The game delivers where it matters: fast top-down action, a world — the Void — overrun by mask holders, and a story that pushes forward. Runs feature characters like Dayir, who tells you 'this might be our last chance to save this crumbling world of mine; the Tyrant must go', and the final goal has a nightmare's name: the Neverending Night.
Players have responded: on Steam it holds a 98% positive rating, a figure very few launches get near. This isn't a niche experiment that sounds good on paper, it's a game the people who try it recommend. If you like action with progression, it's one of those indies worth a look before the umpteenth triple-A.
Masks, gifts and chaos: how each run is built
Like any good roguelite, no run looks like the last, and here the build has several layers. There are the masks, which define your style and improve over time; the Void Gifts, game-changing effects that steer your build toward one kind of play or another; the documents, which raise stats passively; the cards, which add skills; and the shards, which are pure chaos, random behaviours that can go your way or complicate everything.
The result is the genre's classic promise, well executed: you start weak, one expedition falls after another, and each attempt leaves you something to come back stronger with. The trick is combining those pieces with the weapon that never runs out — the map itself — to invent a way of playing that's yours.
Where to play it and why it deserves your time
Masks of the Void: Origins is available on PC via Steam for €14.99, after a spell in early access and a full launch in 2026. It's an affordable way into a roguelite with an idea of its own and a happy community, and at INSERT FUTURE we'll be following it closely: RolldBox is also the studio behind Alex & Arty, arriving in September, and we're keen to see where it goes.
This isn't a scored review but a spotlight on what makes the game special, because we like telling the stories of titles with something concrete and recognisable to offer. And if you're after more action for PC or console in the meantime, take a look at other recent essentials on our Gaming channel. A roguelite that forces you to look at the scenery with new eyes is, from the off, a welcome rarity.
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