A first-person VR trip into an alien planet
Into Black is a first-person VR action adventure set on a mysterious alien planet. You play as deep space scavenger Ben Mitchell, travelling with his assistant droid who mostly wants to make the tea. Your ship needs repairs and the only way out is down: explore endless darkness, mine resources, scavenge loot, and fight whatever is living in the caves. The campaign is fully voice-acted and follows the pair as they get pulled into a mystery at the heart of the universe. Expect a mix of shooting, looting, crafting and upgrading rather than pure combat — you spend as much time digging into walls and hauling materials back as you do shooting.
Playing it with your group
The whole campaign can be played solo or in co-op with up to three friends, so a group of four can run it together from start to finish. Everyone works toward the same goal: gather what the ship needs and get off the planet. Real-time shadows and lighting do a lot of the work in multiplayer, with torch glow bouncing around the caves as you and your friends move through them.
There is also the "Singularity" PvPvE mode for groups that want to compete instead of cooperate. Up to 12 players total drop into an ever-shrinking maze, forming uneasy alliances while grabbing as much loot as possible. The greed mechanic is the whole point: take too much and you may not make it out. It suits a Discord group that wants a shorter, rowdier session after a few rounds of the campaign.
Before you start
This is a VR game, so everyone needs a headset and the VR setup to run it. It is a first-person experience built around movement, mining and shooting, so expect to be physically busy rather than sitting back.
The environments are dark by design — magma chambers, sunken caves, labyrinthine tunnels and alien nests — and your torch is what keeps them readable. Deadly alien creatures use that darkness, so mastering an array of weapons matters as much as upgrading your gear. Progress is shared between mining, looting and tool upgrades, so a group that splits up and brings materials back together will move faster than one that all hunts the same thing.