Into the Radius VR

------- INTRODUCTION ------- (tldr at the end) Alright small story to start us off I got Into the Radius in December of 2020, i played it for about an hour before giving up on the game for the arbitrary reason of there not being any hand animation for picking up some objects. That was More than unfair and honestly, it was childish. Now, however, as I was looking at my backlog of games Into the Radius stood out to me as I felt like I never gave it a chance so after installing it I was ready to go back Into the Radius (see what i did there, i am so cool)

------- POSITIVES ------- The Ambiance, World Design, and Art Direction are great. Starting with the art direction, everything feels very down-to-earth in terms of the buildings, items, and random props while also feeling alien and otherworldly when it comes to artifacts, enemies, and anomalous hazards which builds this sense of dread as you see normal-looking buildings getting torn apart and infested with horrors beyond our comprehension which never fully goes away even as you get used to the oddities of the Radius. The World Design helps to add to the feeling of danger, loneliness, and dread by setting arenas in things like small villages, factories, and train yards. Nothing larger than life but all feel corrupted by whatever is going on in the Radius around the large ominous black orb that hovers in the sky as a constant reminder that nothing is okay. While builds are reused from area to area I found that it never really detracted from the game and if anything it helped create this sense of cohesion in the game world for me, I do need to clarify quickly that the inside of the buildings are not copy-pasted however just the room layouts of them, the loot inside and the furnisher are hand played with care so no need to worry about that. The Ambiance is great. While not reinventing the wheel by any means Into the Radius's Ambiance is a damn great wheel. The sounds of footsteps, the cracking, scuttering, and chattering of enemies, the sounds of typewriters typing when walking around office areas, hearing trains chugging up behind you as if you're about to be hit, or hearing a car drive by as you walk a battered old road, screams in the distance and shadowy figures standing far away enough to make one second guess themselves on if its an enemy or not. Really it's all great, all of what I just wrote has to do is get you once, to spook you once, to have an impact as something you may remember from your time play through it all. And now onto some more mechanical things. The Gunplay, sense of progression, weight management, and stamina are all great things in this game as well, with some minor exceptions. Stamina, which is used for running, depletes at a generous rate but the total will be capped by hunger/exhaustion. Hunger is simple, you don't eat for a while and your Stamina gets capped eating will reset this debuff. Exhaustion is affected by your carry weight as the heavier you are the more your character will need to put in more work to run thus capping your Stamina, however, if you stop running Exhaustion will slowly reset meaning it will take double the time for your Stamina to regenerate. Speaking of carry weight, and also running. The carry weight in this game is rather good and it's simple. The heavier you are the slower you walk and this also affects running speed as far as I'm aware. Your backpack and your pouch can hold infinite items in them so the only real factor in how much you can carry is the Carry Weight system and even with everything I had by around mid game I couldn't get it that far above 40kg which still allows for running to be quick enough to work well. But as you put items into your bag physically a cluttered bag can be a pain in the ass which is the other reason you do not want to grab everything you find and keep an entire armory on you at all times. Moving on every gun in the game feels great, from Pistols to SMGs, Assault Rifles to Battle Rifles, and even Shotguns and Sniper/Marksman Rifles everything has a decent and/or appropriate amount of weight and heft behind every shot which means it's hard to go wrong when picking up a new gun in terms of raw feeling alone. The progression is the main thing that sticks out to me the most about this game which is why I wanted to save it for last in this section as it is extremely good. Starting from a basic Makarov Pistolet and working your way up to things like an AS "Val" or a FN "Scar" 17 as a main weapon with a Desert Eagle(357) as a sidearm feels great. You almost feel like you're in a constant arms race with the enemies as every time you complete a "Top Priority" Mission you get access to new guns and most likely get taken to a new zone where the enemies have gotten stronger as well. This feeling makes getting any new gun exciting but something to bear in mind is that every weapon is an investment. You do not just buy a weapon, you also need to buy that weapon's ammo, mags, and any upgrades you want to put on it such as attachments and stat upgrades.

------- NEGATIVES AND NIT-PICKS ------- Sadly this game isn't perfect and does have some flaws. I'm going to start with what I see as one of the bigger ones and that is Shotguns just don't feel that strong. Early on they seem fine if not a little inconsistent at times but around late mid-game to late game they just fall off a cliff, Buckshot becomes nearly useless as stronger and better-armored enemies will just laugh it off, while Buckshot can still kill weaker enemies, shotguns are long guns meaning they'll take up your main weapon slot and in said latter half of the game you can't afford to have your main weapon only useful some of the time. However, you can get Shotgun Slugs at any point in the game, the only problem is that shotguns still don't feel stronger than most other weapons for the primary downsides of either needing to load in shells one by one with the Spas-12 and under or with the mag capacity of 5 with the Saiga 12 and overall shotguns have lower accuracy than most other weapons meaning even when using Slugs you will have a harder time hitting most things in the medium to long range. First off I think adding something like flechette shells would greatly help give Shotguns that distinct feeling that Shotguns lose in the later parts of the game, also maybe a small accuracy buff when using Slugs would be nice. Accuracy is a strange thing, for the most part, it's fine as bullets mostly go where you point the gun with some minor deviation but then you try and run while shooting a weapon and see a bullet go flying off to the far left or right. Running and Gunning will often waste bullets as the gun Accuracy stat tanks when trying to do so, while I understand why this is the case, this often results in planting your butt in a spot of cover and taking a potshot every now and again if you get pinned down. You can't run to a new spot and try to kill an enemy while you run meaning you just stay in one spot, kill one enemy, move, and repeat, to be fair it's not that it doesn't work most of the time it's just that this game isn't a fast-paced shooter and if you play like it is one you aren't going to get very far. I few more minor things: 1 grabbing attachments off of guns can be a bit finicky 2 using ammo boxes can be a pain sometimes 3 some props and buildings have collision boxes that are a smidge too big leading to some shots hitting invis walls if you aren't careful

------- CONCLUSION ------- Into the Radius is a great VR game with some small problems. From its Art Direction to its Sense of Progression, it's a quality experience through and through. While grabbing things may be a bit jank and shotguns feel kinda underpowered I can say that I had a great time and if you're looking for a new VR game to play this is a damn good choice.