Now Playing: Into the Radius (VR)

I’ve started so many VR game reviews by saying ‘it’s like X game, but in VR’ and I’m going to do it again. Into the Radius is like STALKER but in VR. You play as an operative sent into the ‘radius zone’ which is a contaminated area full of dangerous anomalies, mysterious artefacts and hostile creatures.

You start at a home base with a single pistol and a handful of supplies. By completing various missions you’ll earn money and increase your ‘security’ level which allows you to purchase more supplies and more powerful weapons. But the increase in security level also increases the danger as you’ll be faced with tougher foes as you traverse the zone.

The basic gameplay loop works like this – you select your missions from a computer, gear up, and then head into the zone. The zone consists of five connected maps and you can unlock a couple of shortcuts to some of these maps as you progress. You head out, complete your missions and then head home to get paid. ‘Regular’ missions reward cash, whereas the 9 ‘priority’ missions reward cash and a new security level (up to level 5).

The priority missions are, more or less, the ‘main’ story missions of Into the Radius. A few of them are a little more elaborate than the regular missions but for the most part, they’re still just a case of travelling to a location and retrieving an object. You will face a lot more (and tough) enemies in these missions though so you really need to go prepared.

For a gameplay loop, this all works quite well. It’s pretty satisfying returning home with 4-5 missions completed. You get paid, sell any items you scavenged in the zone you don’t need, re-stock the supplies you do, and then you do it all over again.

Where Into the Radius really shines is the level of VR interactivity. Weapons and equipment will degrade over time, but you can manually clean and maintain them. You can pay to have it done automatically, but there’s something quite satisfying about taking the time to do it yourself. In fact, the way all the weapons work in terms of loading ammo or equipping modifications feels really good in VR.

I also like the backpack system in which you can organise everything you’re carrying. It’s simple, but effective. There is a weight system in the game, so that’s something to take into consideration as you prepare to head into the zone. A longer excursion will require more supplies, but that means carrying more weight which impacts your stamina.

There’s a lot of other little touches I like – the way you eat from tins with a knife, the way you can light a cigarette and smoke, the way you can play a guitar . . . it all builds a more immersive and interactive VR experience.

So far, so good right? Unfortunately, Into the Radius has a lot of problems holding it back. The missions are pretty repetitive, often sending you to the same place to do the same thing multiple times. They are nearly all of the ‘go to X and retrieve Y’ variety aside from a few that involve clearing an area of enemies or taking pictures of specific enemies.

And some of these missions can be bugged such as a critical item not spawning or (the most common issue I encountered) enemies not spawning in an area you’re supposed to clear. Fortunately, you can abort a mission that’s bugged and select another back at home base, but you’ve now wasted your time and resources travelling to that location and it’s pretty damn annoying.

Also annoying is the way items you drop can fall through the floor. You can usually retrieve them using the ‘teleport’ grab, but sometimes they just get lost forever which is pretty infuriating if it’s an ammo clip you ejected in a tense moment.

As I played Into the Radius and explored the zone I encountered numerous areas where the map geometry was just ... missing, such as holes in rocks through which I could see the void below. Or I’d be running along a path only to realise I was now stuck half-way in the floor, forcing me to carefully backtrack my steps so I didn’t fall through entirely.

And the maps in terms of visuals could really use an overhaul – they’re all very grey and drab with no variety. There’s a lot of empty space to traverse with some really bad looking trees. The interior locations are nice and it’s in these (particularly at night) where the game really shines and leans more into the horror aspect that I was hoping would be more prevalent.

Shadows on the ground frequently glitch in and out. Enemies get stuck on terrain. Your VR ‘body’ is sometimes more trouble than it’s worth as you crouch down to open a drawer and your legs get in your way – your shadow though is pretty damn hilarious. Cupboard doors and desk drawers often bug out and detach from the unit, floating in the air above or to the side.

Some enemies can shoot you through walls. Sometimes they can hide behind a metal rail, but even though there’s holes in the rail you should be able to shoot through, the game treats the whole thing like an invisible wall so your bullets just ricochet off nothing.

I find this really disappointing because, if the game wasn’t quite so rough around the edges, I’d be happy giving it a higher score. The core gameplay loop and the VR interactions are really quite fun. But the game has a serious lack of polish when it comes to the environments and a serious lack of variety when it comes to the missions.

Into the Radius really needs to give the player more interesting stuff to actually do, in more diverse and more dense environments. And it needs far more polish because there’s far too much stuff that’s either bugged or broken spoiling the experience.

Despite my issues with it, Into the Radius is still some of the most fun I’ve had in VR and it’s a game I want to play again. I actually think it’s a game that’s best experienced on the hardest difficulty, but I don’t think I’d want to try that until some of the issues I’ve raised are fixed. Overall, I’d still recommend Into the Radius even in it’s current state, but I really hope the developers continue to work to polish, expand and improve upon it because, if they do, it really could be quite special.

6/10