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Voidwood Is Finally Playable at PAX West, and Talking Too Loud Can Bring the Hunt Straight to Your Team
In most co-op games, shouting that the monster is behind your friend is useful information. Voidwood would like you to consider whether yelling it was worth telling the monster where everybody is.
By Hugat Voidwood 
Voidwood is receiving its first public hands-on at PAX West 2026 from September 4 through 7. Santa Barbara Games is showing the early build at Booth 744 in Seattle ahead of a planned 2027 Steam release.
The game supports one to four players and structures a run around a day-night split rather than keeping the forest at one constant level of danger.
Daylight creates the greed problem first
During the day, the children scavenge resources, craft tools and move deeper into the cursed forest.
Going farther promises better preparation, but daylight is a resource too. The longer a group searches, the less time it has to make its way back before the hunt begins.
Crafting happens inside that decision. The current material shows items such as Healing Bandages assembled from resources gathered in the woods, tying exploration directly to how prepared the group will be later.
Leaving early is safer. It also means walking away from supplies that might be very useful after sunset.
Night removes the option of simply fighting back
The forest summons The Beast at nightfall. Santa Barbara Games describes it as an apex predator that cannot currently be fought in a normal confrontation.
Players hide, run and try to survive instead.
The important part is the change in behaviour. Daytime encourages discussion and exploration. Night turns both into risks.
Voice chat belongs to the enemy too
Voidwood uses proximity voice communication, so nearby teammates can naturally call out supplies, warn one another and coordinate routes.
The Beast can follow that noise.
That gives conversation two jobs at once. The group needs information to function, yet producing that information can expose its location.
Staying close improves coordination while putting more voices in one place. Splitting up reduces that concentration but makes communication harder. There is no completely comfortable answer built into the premise.
Spatial audio has to support the mechanic
The developer says voices, footsteps and distant sounds propagate through the forest using spatial audio intended to make location matter.
That is not merely atmosphere if the predator is also listening. The sound system has to communicate enough information for players to understand why a noise was dangerous without making The Beast completely predictable.
The PAX version remains an early build. Santa Barbara Games is already accepting sign-ups for future playtesting rather than presenting the current demo as a finished slice of the 2027 game.
Getting out feeds the next attempt
Resources successfully carried out of the forest return to camp. They can unlock tools, equipment and new approaches for later runs.
The forest is designed to change between attempts, pushing the group to learn systems rather than memorise one exact path.
That progression also surrounds a larger mystery. The playable characters are children trapped in the woods, following traces left by other children who entered before them and never escaped.
Voidwood is the debut title from Santa Barbara Games, a small self-publishing team with backgrounds at companies including EA, Riot Games, Bethesda, Unity and Amazon. Its Steam release is planned for 2027.