From the moment you crash through a wormhole into an alien cave system, Into Black pulls you in with a deceptively simple premise that evolves into a twisting sci-fi mystery. You embody Ben Mitchell, a scavenger stranded on a hostile planet, guided by Jonathan, your wry AI sidekick who sprinkles levity amid abandoned ruins and cryptic audio logs. The core story unfolds through environmental storytelling and fragmented recordings, striking a fine balance between pacing and discovery, and keeping you lunging forward to piece together what lurks at the heart of this abyss.
As the narrative thickens, scripted encounters – like a colossal sandworm bursting from the ground – punctuate the quiet exploration with heart-stopping tension. These set-pieces can feel organic rather than choreographed, transforming routine scavenging runs into high-adrenaline sprints through twisting tunnels. At times you’ll want more character interaction, and some plot threads taper off without full closure, but the journey remains compelling enough to make each descent feel like part of a larger cosmic puzzle.
Gameplay in Into Black orbits around gathering resources, upgrading gear, and blasting insectoid horrors – all of which coalesce into an addictive progression loop. Your mining beam, hackable tools, and diverse arsenal (pistol, shotgun, SMG, and even a battle axe) each improve as you invest materials, making you feel tangibly more powerful on every expedition. The timed-reload mechanics add a satisfying layer of risk-versus-reward, and weapon haptics on DualSense triggers deliver convincing feedback that keeps each shot feeling weighty.
Movement and interactions feel butter-smooth, a testament to The Binary Mill’s knack for VR fluency. Whether you’re double-jumping across fungal platforms, air-dashing through magma vent corridors, or balancing on floating walkways, everything clicks into place without awkward stutters. Yet, beneath this polish lie a few stumbling blocks: puzzle segments rarely challenge beyond basic lever-pulling, resource fabrication can become a tedious choreography without batch crafting options, and boss encounters sometimes degrade into bullet-sponge marathons that undercut the otherwise tight combat loop.
On PSVR2, Into Black feels revitalized. The remastered environments boast denser geometry and richer textures that transform every dripping stalactite and glowing crystal into something lifelike. Dynamic real-time shadows dance as you sweep your torch through cavernous chambers, and eye-tracked foveated rendering ensures crisp detail wherever you look. Full HDR support deepens contrast so that lava veins glow with molten ferocity against obsidian rock.
The DualSense’s adaptive triggers and advanced haptics elevate immersion, from the satisfying heft of a shotgun blast to the light tremor of alien hearts beating in the dark. Even headset rumble cues clash steel and stone as you smash through brittle barriers. For comfort, you can snap or smooth turn, toggle teleportation, and adjust UI scale – features that let you fine-tune your experience whether you’re a snap-turn veteran or a motion-sensitive newcomer.
Despite its strengths, Into Black isn’t immune to technical gremlins. Enemies occasionally clip through rocks or freeze mid-chase, and one mission even failed to register completion. A small hacking minigame, meant to diversify interactions, can feel fiddly and begs for an optional skip once you’ve seen it dozens of times. While none of these hitches derail the core fun, they do interrupt the spell for a bit.
Into Black on PSVR2 stands as a vivid testament to what modern VR can achieve: a world teeming with alien life, a story that rewards curiosity, and gameplay loops that keep you coming back for one more run. The Binary Mill’s PSVR2 enhancements – improved visuals, real-time lighting, and DualSense integration – make this the definitive way to experience the game. Technical quirks and occasional design missteps hold it back from perfection, but none are unfixable with timely patches. If you crave a blend of looter-shooter thrills and atmospheric exploration, Into Black delivers an immersive descent into darkness you won’t soon forget.
Score: 7.8/10
Press Play Media 