Into The Radius 2 perfectly captures the essence of survival in a supernatural environment, creating moments of tension, triumph, and terror that feel uniquely personal
Into The Radius 2 feels like returning to a familiar yet even more haunting place. As someone who spent countless hours in the original Into The Radius and absolutely loved every second of it, stepping back into the Radius brought an immediate sense of both comfort and dread. While still in early access with limited content, the core gameplay loop that made the first game so captivating remains intact and arguably enhanced.
As this game is still deep in Early Access, it offers no formal narrative structure. You're simply an explorer in the Pechorsk Anomaly, taking on missions from the UNPSC to venture into this strange and dangerous world. While the lack of story might disappoint some, the environmental storytelling that's there through crystallized shadows of past inhabitants helps build an intriguing atmosphere of mystery.
The heart of Into The Radius 2 lies in its meticulous attention to detail and survival mechanics. Before each expedition, careful preparation is essential. The new vest system is a fantastic addition, allowing for complete customization of your loadout. You can position ammo pouches, holsters, and utility slots exactly where you want them, creating a personalized and efficient setup.
The weapon handling remains incredibly satisfying and realistic. Each gun requires proper maintenance - cleaning involves spraying oil, brushing away rust, although using cleaning rods with paper to maintain the barrel has yet to be added. Magazines must be manually loaded bullet by bullet or by holding the ammo box next to the mags, and you still need to remember to disengage the safety before firing. This attention to detail creates an unparalleled sense of immersion.
Combat remains challenging and rewarding. The realistic weapon handling means every engagement requires careful consideration. Running out of ammunition mid-fight creates genuine panic, especially when you're far from safety. The enemies are appropriately threatening, from standard humanoid threats to more bizarre supernatural entities like the creepy crawly balls of film and scissors that can quickly overwhelm an unprepared explorer.
The current enemy variety is limited, but their AI creates engaging encounters that require tactical thinking. Speaking of enemy variety, I am dreading the moment they'll add back the creepy teleporting entity with the crown on its head... I can't wait to be scared shitless. The sound design enhances the tension, with distant gunfire and otherworldly noises keeping you constantly on edge. Oh the creepy nursery rhymes return and they are as creepy as ever.
Currently, there are two main areas to explore: Peninsula and Forest. Peninsula serves as a smaller, more contained space perfect for learning the ropes, while Forest offers a vast, complex environment filled with opportunities for exploration and combat. Both areas perfectly capture the unsettling nature of the Radius, with reality-bending anomalies and supernatural threats lurking around every corner.
The moment-to-moment gameplay creates intense situations that feel uniquely personal. Whether you're carefully navigating through anomaly fields, scrounging for supplies in abandoned buildings, grabbing artifacts - that at this moment do absolutely nothing in terms of granting abilities like in the first game, or engaging in tense firefights with otherworldly entities, each expedition feels like a genuine survival experience.
Being in early access, the game has its share of technical issues. Performance on the Quest 3 can be inconsistent, with occasional frame drops and visual glitches like textures not loading properly, the flashlights glitching out and the game occassionally crashing. One time it crashed so hard that I had to restart the entire headset as just restarting the game didn't work as the game got stuck on the "loading shaders" initial screen. The visual fidelity isn't a massive leap from the original, though the atmosphere and environmental design more than make up for any graphical limitations.
The current content offering includes like three main missions and procedurally generated tasks. Reaching security level 3 unlocks the full shop inventory, providing access to all available weapons and equipment. While this might seem limited, the core gameplay loop remains engaging enough to warrant multiple expeditions even after you reach this point. All in all, it took me about 10 hours to complete all the early access has to offer and I enjoyed every second of it.
Despite its early access state and relatively high price point, Into The Radius 2 shows immense promise. The foundation is rock solid, building upon what made the original great while introducing meaningful improvements like the new vest system. While more content, optimization, and polish are needed, the current experience offers enough depth and immersion to satisfy fans of the original.
New Into The Radius 2 is co-op. But I did not try it out for two reasons. First, there's no matchmaking system meaning that you can't just jump into a game with random people. Instead you have to invite your friends via the in-game menu and I don't want to do that. Second, the game is still in early access and before you start the co-op there's a big alert that says something like "Co-op is still experimental and might not work as expected" and if they say that, that shit ain't gonna work. Personally, I don't care about co-op in this game. I want to be out there in the radius, alone, in the dark, against the unknown not knowing if I will survive or not.
Into The Radius 2 perfectly captures the essence of survival in a supernatural environment, creating moments of tension, triumph, and terror that feel uniquely personal. For those willing to embrace its deliberate pacing and demanding mechanics, Into The Radius 2 offers one of the most immersive VR experiences available, even in its current state. I absolutely love it and I can't wait to play the shit out of it when it's fully released. Thanks for reading!
The game was reviewed on a Quest 3 via a promo copy provided by the developer. Into The Radius 2 is available on Meta Quest and PCVR.
