In Death

There I was, standing on the edge of a stone pillar, below me a swarm of Medieval Knights, hooded archers, and lumbering zombies. Emboldened by the high ground (it’s over Anakin!) I took my time loosing arrows at one creature after another. Just as I was about to pick off the 3 archers, I watched in shock as they evaporated and rematerialized right behind me. I desperately tried to reorient but before I knew it, I was a goner. The hauntingly beautiful roguelike shooter In Death is a game that never lets you get too comfortable. With an impressive variety of enemies, a progressive difficulty system, and some of the best VR Bow mechanics to date, In Death is a must have.

Set in a medieval demon-infested purgatory complete with Gregorian chanting, you play as an anonymous archer. The place? A randomly generated maze of stone structures, think dystopian Hyrule castle. Your task? Survive. And score points by taking out as many enemies as possible. Weapon? Longbow and shield. Unglamourous, but effective. When starting the game you will only have access to regular arrows but as you progress enemies can drop everything from fire arrows to bomb arrows. Or you can cash in your hard earned points for specific arrows and perks at one of the shop towers scattered around the map. While the bow mechanics are truly some of the best I’ve seen in any VR game (I did get a hasty shot at those disappearing archers before I was toast), the options for movement are what really set this VR title apart. In Death allows the player to choose from traditional locomotion; a special “movement arrow” that when fired teleports the player wherever it lands, or the “movement shard” that can be tossed quickly for dodging or short distance travel. The freedom of choice allows players to enjoy the game in whatever style best suits them. There is nothing more satisfying than finding yourself overwhelmed by a horde of zombies and Knights Templar only to toss your movement shard with a flick of the wrist teleporting behind your enemies and unleashing a barrage of arrows.

There is no campaign to complete in In Death but there is a boss fight at the end of the maze and a myriad of achievements to well, achieve. Your Boss? A giant beast known as Anakim (It’s over Ana..ok sorry). After about 20 hours of gameplay the enemy types I’ve encountered include: bow wielding grim reapers (your ranged enemy type), decaying zombies straight out of World War Z that charge at you before lunging at the last second, making for a rather sweaty headset, Crusader Era Knights equipped with either sword and shield or throwing axes making them some of the trickiest opponents the game has to offer, and finally gaggles of floating corpses that disable your travel function and force you to deal with them first if you want to jump around your next opponent. Each time you die you return to the starting position and the game generates a new maze for you. And as you progress and your scores improve the difficulty adapts adding more challenging enemies and offering better item drops.

The point system for killing enemies is based on both the difficulty of the particular enemy and where your arrows hit, with headshots earning you the most points. This is the game’s major drawback; killing a handful of Knights yields more points than taking out the main boss Anakim, ostensibly the most challenging part of the game. That being said the game is still classified as “early access” with updates coming out almost biweekly. The points system could easily be tweaked before it’s official release to make for a more rewarding experience as the challenges increase. It’s rare to see an independent company, Sólfar, put out a game as fully realized as this one in such an early stage of release.

Even after 20 hours of gameplay, the satisfaction of sniping a target 30 yards away remains, and with the ever-adapting difficulty, wealth of villains, and a randomly generating world you never find yourself unchallenged or bored. In the nascent world of VR gaming, In Death is one of a handful of games with elements truly comparable to the console experience. Plus, you get to be there. For a modest $19.99 In Death is a great addition to anyone’s library.