Picture yourself stranded alone on an alien planet. With no-one around to help, and no-one coming to the rescue, your only salvation lies in the endless darkness of a sprawling cave system. Would you dare face the dangers that lurk in the dark?
Welcome to the world of Into Black, a VR action/exploration game about a deep space scavenger trying to repair his ship and escape a mysterious alien planet. You scour the caves for resources to upgrade your gear and rebuild your ship, all while fighting off hordes of deadly alien creatures.
And while the game features a fully voice-acted story campaign, playable solo or in co-op with up to 3 friends, as well as a standalone battle royale mode, the true heart of Into Black is the sense of exploration as you navigate the darkness and uncover wonders and dangers beyond reckoning.
PS VR2 owners will soon get to experience this sense of exploration first hand, but rest assured, this is no mere port. By utilising the power of the PS VR2 hardware, we’ve been able to reshape the world of Into Black into something truly next level.
Let there be light
As the name implies, so much of Into Black is about the interplay of light and dark as they explore the underground expanse, so much so that one of the first items we give players is a torch. That exploration is now much more vivid and alive with the use of real-time shadows.
Sweep your torch over a prowling insectoid grunt, and see its spider-like silhouette thrown up against the cave wall behind it. Observe inadvertent puppet shows as your co-op crewmates dash around, each with their own torch throwing its own shadows. The immersive feel of shadows stretching out and parallaxing along the ground as you pass by cave openings, swinging your torch side to side as you look for valuable resources, is second to none.
And of course, the other side of this equation is the darkness itself. New HDR lighting and volumetric effects, as well as the deeper blacks of the PS VR2 OLEDs, adds a richer sense of foreboding to the depths of the caves, and makes exploring them a true journey into the unknown.
The Devil is in the details
But what is the point of ultra-realistic lighting if there’s nothing to see when lit? That’s why the world of Into Black has also been given a full visual overhaul.
We’ve rebuilt the cave environments with a much higher geometric density, giving them gorgeous new depth and complexity, especially when seen in tandem with the improved lighting. We’ve also enhanced the textures and detail maps, to give increased fidelity to the visuals.
We also wanted to enhance the feeling of life in the caves, so we used some of the new processing power to dramatically increase the amount of atmospheric flora and fauna in the caves. Whether it be unidentified airborne creatures circling high overhead amongst the stalactites, fields of grass, or swarms of alien fish swimming through massive coral structures, the caves you are exploring are not only full of danger and treasure, but also life.
Combine all this with higher resolution, eye-tracked foveation, and a smooth 90Hz refresh rate, and you have the cleanest, most striking version of Into Black yet.
Once more, with feeling
Sure, visuals are great and all, but there’s more to a game than just how it looks. All new headset haptics, and, most importantly, adaptive triggers of the Playstation VR Sense controllers offer a whole slew of new immersive capabilities for Into Black.
Feel the impact of every pickaxe swing, and the kick of the shotgun blast. Get rocked by a swipe from a colossal rock golem, or by the errant throw of a buddy’s grenade. We all know the magic of VR is in the immersion, and with so many tactile feedback options now at our disposal, that feeling of being there is deeper than ever before.
A little about us
As a veteran VR studio, The Binary Mill takes pride and joy in bringing fun and exciting experiences such as Rush, Mini Motor Racing X and Gun Club VR to enthusiasts of all types. Our previous game, the award-winning Resist (available on PS VR2 April 10) will also give PS VR2 players the ability to swing through a dystopian city and battle for the fate of humanity like never before.
With Into Black we wanted to allow our players to feel the thrill of discovery. And with Into Black on PS VR2, we feel like we’ve truly delivered on that promise, and we hope you’ll join us on this journey into the unknown.
You can wishlist Into Black today and be ready to descend into the depths when it launches on PlayStation VR2 soon!
