Find gold in this thrilling VR sci-fi adventure

Embark on a quirky adventure through space with a satisfying gameplay loop that will keep you awake for hours.

The Final Frontier is a place many of us dream of seeing one day. As VR games go, Into Black, a new experience debuting on the Meta Quest store, fulfills this premise by setting you loose as an explorer in an alien world, gathering resources and fighting for your life. A short but idyllic start to the day of protagonist Mitch solving general problems in his ship and analyzing asteroids is promptly interrupted by a black hole that leaves him in unknown territory.

A robotic assistant named Jonathan, akin to Fallout 4’s Codsworth, sarcastically guides the player through the hectic situations, providing some much-needed comic relief. To repair the ship, Mitch must go on a quest to find the means to repair it. Dually wielding his pickaxe and flashlight, which doubles as a whip, to harvest items, his exploration begins.

The Binary Mill certainly shows off its experience as a VR studio in this endeavor, which is appreciated in the structure of Into Black. It features cosmetics from their previous games, like the wingsuit-flying Rush, and there’s an intuitive user interface that uses only your wrists. Considering how packed each mission is with secrets, the design choices reflect their veteran status.

Despite the mysterious name, Into Black is quite a lively odyssey. Each foray into the caves is an opportunity to admire the flora and fauna on display. While the stylized graphics aren’t amazing, they do work in the game’s favor. The gleaming minerals, towering mushrooms and magma on the floor all take a page from a fluorescent color palette that helps provide a sense of direction in these dark tunnels.

Depending on the five difficulty levels, ranging from Story to Insane, hours with friends carrying out resource missions and shooting critters as a team pass quickly. The more you use your equipment, the higher the level it can reach and the more perks you can unlock; it’s always a tempting proposition to launch just one more expedition.

A nice trick that Into Black uses to ramp up the pressure in an otherwise relaxing resource search is the fact that at the end of the mission you have to use an extractor to evacuate safely. The advantage of activating this is that there is a one-minute timer in a zone you must stay within, and it can easily be overrun by various types of huge bugs that do not take intruders lightly.

With each cave wall packed with minerals lying around between enemy encounters, it’s easy to get caught up in that “one more run” mentality to get every possible item and upgrade available. At the end of each expedition you will find a summary of all deaths, murders and items mined, tallied for you and your party to see.

A true sci-fi adventure that comes out the door with engaging gameplay mechanics and a serviceable story that you can enjoy solo or in co-op isn’t something you often see in VR-only games. Into Black delivers on those fronts, offering an endlessly replayable mission-based journey with constant rewards to keep you coming back.

Into Black is now available on the Meta Quest platform.