Top-rated VR roguelike In Death: Unchained for Oculus Quest is getting a free DLC expansion next month titled Siege of Heaven, introducing a new wave-based defense mode.
In Death: Unchained – Siege of Heaven DLC
In Death: Unchained is an excellent VR roguelike that strikes a near-perfect balance between offering a steady stream of content that gets more difficult the further you go, while also shuffling its layout and enemies around to keep you on your toes. Just as your own skill improves, the game tends to respond by upping the difficult ever-so-slightly at a steady pace.
This new mode aims to offer something completely different. Whereas the typical game sees you exploring a vast labyrinth in the clouds, this new mode will task you with fending off waves of enemies from a more stationary perspective.
“It’s a fully-featured game-within-a-game, with shorter more “snackable” session times, where players can focus on having fun shooting for 15 minutes, from a safe stationary position, enjoy the game’s beautiful visuals and arguably VR’s best archery mechanics,” says Superbright’s CEO Wojtek Podgórski in a prepared statement.
The new mode promises to keep the expected brand of difficulty intact and even includes new leaderboards, new challenges, and new achievements so even the most skilled veteran players have something to look forward to.
But it’s also a more approachable and accessible way of playing the game if you don’t want to fully dive into a tough-as-nails unforgiving roguelike.
“Our goal was to enhance the game in a way that will engage and challenge the advanced players, and boy it’s that and more – but we also wanted to make it approachable for everyone else,” says Podgórski in the same prepared statement. “We’ve heard our players say they’d love to be able to share the fun with friends and family, but maybe the game was too scary or too demanding. And we listened – we’ve all loved the archery from The Lab, this is how most of us got started in VR. With this DLC we hope to bring this experience to VR’s best platform – Oculus Quest, so anyone should be able to pick up the game and enjoy the best their Quest has to offer, at their own pace.”
With the launch of Oculus Quest 2 last month a fair few developers who’ve released titles for the original headset either rolled out or confirmed incoming updates to make use of the extra processing power. Superbright was one of them, initially teasing improved draw distances for In Death: Unchained. Now further details have been released ahead of that update.
The most notable difference is with that environmental distance which has a big effect on the overall feel and atmosphere of the experience. In between firing arrows into templars’ skulls, you’ll notice the Oculus Quest 2 version of In Death: Unchainedis now closer to the original PC edition, offering a far more grandiose world.
Players will also notice a new volumetric, multi-layered custom fog which permeates the entire landscape, bringing the videogame closer to the heavenly look the team desired. All the levels also have additional elements to fill them out a little more, such as floating islands, whilst a scrolling cloud shadow effect adds further visual variety.
There are plenty of subtle additions which you may not notice but all help. Superbright has been able to turn off Fixed Foveated Rendering to crisp up the visuals, a new snow shader makes the fluffy white stuff more realistic, and the texture LOD’s/mipmaps are tuned differently for sharper graphics.
We’d like to establish Unchained as a visual benchmark, so that means we’re going to keep working on the visuals and pushing that limit,” said Wojtek Podgorski, Superbright CEO in a statement. “In the end, we’d like this to be a game that everyone needs to have just to see how cool things can look in VR. Our upcoming free DLC is going to support this idea too by giving even casual players something fun to do, enjoying the views and shooting without.”
No further details have been released regarding the DLC but the studio has previously said it’ll arrive this month. As for these Oculus Quest 2 enhancements, players should see these arrive tomorrow, Tuesday 3rd November. For further updates on the rogue-lite shooter, keep reading VRFocus.
Today In Death: Unchained developer Superbright announced that its upcoming Quest 2 enhancement update for the popular VR roguelike will render the “whole world at once” in-game dramatically improving draw distance in addition to several other upgrades and optimizations. The update is coming later this month, but there’s no specific date yet.
In Death is a VR roguelike in which you play through a repeating gauntlet of levels in the afterlife battling all manner of unholy enemies across a citadel in the sky. Eventually you’ll progress deeper into later environments that up the difficulty even further. It’s an ever-changing world though, because each time you die your progress unlocks new modifiers and changes to the layout, enemy types, and items found within ensuring that no two runs are ever the same.
Click to enlarge:
In Death: Unchained Quest 2 Enhancements
You can see two great examples of the improvements made in the images above. Notably, the draw distance is dramatically improved. Since you primarily use ranged weapons such as your bow and arrow or crossbow, being able to see further, and more clearly, is crucial. That could significantly improve the playability of an already great game.
According to a press release from the company, Superbright developed the game using a “heavily modified” Unreal Engine and the Quest 2 version will soon have special “upgrades and optomizations” not possible on Quest 1 hardware. Specifically, the press release mentions the ability to “display the game’s whole world at once” explaining the improvements to draw distance, as well as “additional visual elements” filling out the world. There is also mention of “sharper visuals, increased comfort, and smoother gameplay” as well.
You can read or watch our full review of the game as it was at launched on Quest 1 back in July, 2020 right here or down below:
In Death was already one of the best looking games on Quest, so we’re excited to see how it looks once the new update rolls out for Quest 2 later this month. Superbright is also working on new DLC that’s planned to launch in November.
Let us know what you think down in the comments below and check out our list of the best VR roguelikes here for more recommendations, or read our review for Until You Fall on Quest for another roguelike available on Quest specifically.
If you pre-ordered your Oculus Quest 2 hopefully its arrived by now and you’re enjoying its VR delights. Quite a few developers made use of the extra processing juice to make their videogames look better and Superbright will soon be doing the same for roguelite In Death: Unchained.
Just like all the others, In Death: Unchained is going to get a graphical upgrade on the new headset. While the the team has been working on upgrades and optimizations across the board, one of particular note (and shown in these images) is the draw distance. In fact, the studio has been able to display the whole world at once, making for some impressive looking scenery, almost like the original title.
“We’re incredibly excited for the release of Quest 2, we think the headset delivers the true consumer VR option we’ve all been waiting for, and we couldn’t be happier to support it and make In Death: Unchained even better, with some of the updates trickling down to Quest 1 as well,” said Superbright’s CEO Wojtek Podgorski in a statement.
Superbright hasn’t detailed all the improvements just yet as they’re still being worked on, with the upgrade going live later this month. Additionally, the studio is working on free DLC for both Oculus Quest 1 & 2, to be released in November. What this will contain is still under wraps.
In Death: Unchained arrived for Oculus Quest in July, a bow shooter set in the afterlife where you have to fight through hordes of demonic creatures across procedurally generated levels. Dying resets the game, making the monsters harder whilst giving you new bonuses to aid the next run through.
VRFocus gave In Death: Unchained a four-star review, saying: “For those that have played the original, In Death: Unchained isn’t a massive change with the main bonus being the wireless freedom Oculus Quest provides as well as the new Abyss area. If you happen to be new to the franchise and a fan of bow videogames like Apex Constructthen In Death: Unchained shouldn’t be overlooked.”
As further details regarding the enhancements and DLC are released, VRFocus will let you know.
With a few caveats, In Death: Unchained is basically the same experience you can have on SteamVR headsets and PSVR with its forebear In Death (2018), which we gave a respectable [8/10] for the PC VR platform. Two years have passed since it launched out of Early Access on PC, and most of the positives are reflected in the new, Quest-exclusive version of the game. It would be a sin to say it’s the exact same game though. While Unchained inevitably bucks against inside-out tracking capabilities of Quest, you’re still sure to have a fun time experiencing the roguelike bow-shooter’s specific flavor of abject failure.
In Death: Unchained Details:
Developer: Superbright Available On: Oculus Quest Release Date: July 23rd, 2020 Price: $30
Gameplay
If you haven’t played In Death on any other platform, you’re in for a death march that, depending on your personality type, might actually just be a guilty pleasure. It’s a difficult game that rewards perseverance with new, more deadly ammo upgrades, gold for the spending, and all the achievements you can shake a bow at. Like all roguelike games, you’ll die and die again—if only to feel alive.
Image courtesy Superbright
The procedurally generated game is brutally unforgiving. In Deathoffers up three different levels—Purgatory, Paradise Lost, and the new addition to the game, a Hell-like realm called Abyss. After one lap around all three levels you’re then served up the Sisyphean task of entering Purgatory II, where you’ll again duel against increasingly difficult enemies. You continue on to Paradise Lost II, Abyss II, Purgatory III, etc – until you either die in the game, or the Universe experiences heat death—whichever one comes first.
Outside of the game’s intelligent mix of ground and air-type enemies, three devilish bosses will put your resolve to the test. Dying even once will put an end to your run, so make sure you have all of your best ammo on hand. Thankfully there are a few save spots to help lower your time commitment to each play session, however once you’re dead, you’re back to square one, albeit with new unlocked upgrades and enemies to match. It’s a fun, if not excessively punishing game with just enough reason to come back for more each time you progress (aka fail).
Image courtesy Superbright
I’m going to come out and say it: In Death obviously wasn’t conceived for the inside-out-tracked generation of Oculus headsets of today. Archery games rely on the ability of the VR headset to accurately resolve the user’s dominant hand at a naturally close distance to the user’s face, which is something the original 2016 Rift and SteamVR-tracked headsets are capable of doing with relative ease.
Holding your hand either too close to Quest’s camera sensor or just outside their field of view results in your dominant hand either locking in place as the controller is no longer tracked, or wigging out as the headset tries to make sense of the controller’s position relative to your face. Your shot will be inconsistent in either case, requiring you to intentionally alter your shooting style—lest you suffer the slings and arrows of a demon’s maleficent retribution, something you might not notice as you hammer away at a room full of enemy archers. Bow-shooting is one of the most challenging game types for the Quest to accommodate. In spite of this, In Death: Unchained still manages to deliver a well-rounded gaming experience, as it replicates the action on other headsets to admirable effect.
Image courtesy Superbright
What about the crossbow, you say? True, the game’s crossbow does sidestep the tracking volume issue, since you’re basically using a manual gun and not a bow that requires a wide draw. I won’t weigh in for either camp, but In Death’s long-term player base is still conflicted over whether the crossbow elevates or diminishes the overall experience.
To hardcore In Death players, the leaderboard is the only thing that matters, and even after a few hours since the game has gone live, crossbow players have topped the global charts in user points. That said, the crossbow makes a good deal of sense on Quest, as you’re afforded a near perfect 1:1 gaming experience across all platforms. It’s also pretty satisfying to gank a crowd of ghoulies with a rapid fire reload technique.
The PC VR version of the game reigns as graphical champion, and while the Quest port has predictably lowered the fidelity to fit on a mobile chipset, it still offers up a game that feels mostly all there graphically speaking. If I had to nitpick, Unchained presents a much more ‘cloudy’ rendering distance, making it harder to resolve enemies for long-distance shots. Most of your combat will be fairly close quarters, so it’s not really a problem at the forefront.
Image courtesy Superbright
The controls aren’t entirely intuitive; you may have to go through the full set of buttons to just grab a health chalice or new arrow type, but it’s something you eventually develop the muscle memory for.
As we mentioned in our review of the game on PC, the game’s beautiful Gothic architecture of church steeples, monastic courtyards and long bridges make for impressive scenery.
In Death was first designed to include teleportation only, and while it makes sense from a comfort standpoint to play exclusively by using either the teleport arrow or handheld teleport shard, the developers have also added in smooth locomotion and variable snap-turn.
Smooth locomotion is set at a slow, plodding pace, although the game’s expectation of constant dodging and resultant lateral movement may be somewhat uncomfortable for extended periods.
The biggest comfort upgrade, if you can call it that, is definitely the game’s ‘unchained’ nature. It feels awesome to finally go without cables so you can fully explore your ability to dodge incoming arrows and crouch down behind barriers. It’s easy to lose your original tracking area, so make sure your Guardian is on and calibrated correctly.
Still, the game can be played seated mode, although you’ll definitely need a good range of movement for both hands since shooting a reloading is so involved.
The original In Deathby Solfar Studios was an addictive, unforgiving roguelike that pitted you against the forces of heaven and hell in an eternal never-ending battle for glory. Beautifully rendered, procedurally generated churches stretched out across an expansive, heavenly white void, filled with the types of biblical creatures you’d expect to find. The title has now come to Oculus Quest thanks to a new studio, Superbright, with a new name In Death: Unchained. But how much has changed and what’s remained the same?
Like many PC titles which have made the leap to the standalone headset the main noticeable difference is the visual quality. It’s not taken a massive hit when it comes to the feel and ambience of the experience but it’s the finer environment detail which is lacking (and not unexpected). Character-wise the Knights Templar still look and act as formidable as ever whilst the faceless monk archers retain their usual dull brown robes.
In Death: Unchained might not be as pretty to look at but the core gameplay mechanics remain. And that’s either a bow or once you’ve played a couple of times the crossbow. It certainly personal preference over which weapon you rather have equipped but the bow is more physical and seems a little more accurate at range whilst the crossbow is far easier to wield and much better for rapid-fire situations. They both use the same arrow upgrades so there’s no need to pick and choose in that regard.
Whichever one you pick it’ll soon become your best friend as there are no other weapons, meaning no loadouts or any inventory organisation to deal with, just get in there and kill enemies. Be very well aware that In Death: Unchained is built around repetition, in fact like many procedurally generated titles repetition is core to the experience. You can only take a select number of hits – which can be replenished – and once they’re gone you return to the Sanctuary to start again, tallying up your kills and score. This process will allow you to unlock achievements to help in the journey such as acquiring new upgrades. However, as you improve so do the enemy, spawning more or releasing new monsters to deal with.
It’s why In Death: Unchained isn’t going to be for everyone because this single-player experience is all about relentlessly wading through opponents with little in the way of extras to collect. What you will find is a videogame nicely tuned to the Oculus Quest, where you can duck out the way of arrows and generally feel you’ve got more room to breathe and manoeuvre when it comes to attacks.
Now when it comes to movement both the original and In Death: Unchained use a teleportation system by way of shooting arrows. As teleportation mechanics go it’s one of the best, giving you complete freedom to quickly jump short or long distances. There will be plenty of instances where using a teleportation arrow simply isn’t quick enough. In which case, there are crystal shards which can jump you a very short hop to evade danger; too short for any useful locomotion over distance.
Yet it’s a system which becomes clunky the further into the game you go. Once you get to a boss and suddenly find a horde of enemies to deal with, trying to fire arrows to move or throw a shard – which is on your draw hand – just isn’t fluid. Thankfully, there is a continuous locomotion system available for those who can use it, which makes all the difference. Benefits include being able to walk and strafe with the bow drawn, a godsend when dealing with groups. Plus its lefty friendly with options for head or controller centric movement and snap turn fine-tuning.
For those that have played the original, In Death: Unchained isn’t a massive change with the main bonus being the wireless freedom Oculus Quest provides as well as the new Abyss area. If you happen to be new to the franchise and a fan of bow videogames like Apex Constructthen In Death: Unchained shouldn’t be overlooked. There’s no storyline or character to embody so it is an experience devoid of soul, instead replaced with pure arcade gameplay from start to finish and instant enjoyment.
In Death: Unchained brings its procedurally generated levels of heaven, purgatory, and hell to Oculus Quest on July 23rd.
The game is available to wishlist now on the Oculus Store and carries a price of $29.99. Check out the latest trailer we premiered for the game in our UploadVR Showcase:
David Jagneaux reviewed the original In Death on PC and said it had some of the best VR bow and arrow gameplay he’s seen, so we’re excited to see how it feels to go fully wireless and “rain down arrows against the forsaken souls, angelic creatures, and demons that have taken over the godless afterlife,” as developer Superbright describes it.
Here’s how David summarized the original PC version in 2018:
“In Death is a fantastic bow and arrow shooter that manages to stay fresh and challenging even after a dozen hours or more of gameplay. There isn’t much of a plot to speak of, but the procedurally generated level layouts and constantly evolving gallery of enemies and arrow types means the more you play and the farther you get, the more diverse and challenging the game becomes. As long as you don’t mind a hard fight that’s going to beat you down and kill you over and over, In Death is absolutely a surreal journey worth taking.”
The studio is planning to reveal more video footage for its rogue-lite game in the coming weeks alongside details to the changes they’ve made since the original game debuted. We’ll bring you the latest on In Death: Unchained as soon as we have it and we are looking forward to diving into the title on Quest.
Will you be playing In Death on Oculus Quest? Let us know in the comments below.
It was only last week that indie studio Superbright announced that it was working on In Death: Unchainedfor Oculus Quest – a reworking of the PC VR title. Today, the team has confirmed a release date for next month as well as pricing info and new screenshots.
In Death: Unchained will be an Oculus Quest exclusive, where players have to fight through procedurally generated levels based on Heaven, Purgatory and Hell. The videogame will play much like the original version, where your only weapon is a bow but you can upgrade it with special arrows for damage bonuses.
This is a rogue’lite shooter where you only get one chance at making it through, death returning to the very start. Depending on previous progress you’ll be able to unlock new abilities to aid your next quest, the only problem, enemies will also get tougher in turn.
From angels to hellish demons there’s an assortment of foes to deal with. The studio has confirmed that as an exclusive Oculus Quest title In Death: Unchained has been tuned for the best experience, tweaking locomotion, aiming, shooting and dodging. Plus there will be new content for veterans for the first videogame to enjoy.
VRFocus enjoyed the 2018 edition In Death release giving the PC version a four-star review, saying that: “In Death is a VR videogame for those that want a challenge. The level design and weapon handling are beautiful with soaring angelic structures emanating from the clouds, pin point accuracy for satisfying headshots. The devil seems to be in the details with In Death, offering rinse and repeat gameplay that will keep you coming back for more.” Hopefully In Death: Unchained will successfully continue that trend for a new audience.
The launch of In Death: Unchained will take place on 23rd July, retailing for $29.99 USD. Ahead of that date, Superbright will release further details in a couple of weeks including new footage as well as discussing more about the enhancements made and how In Death: Unchained has been expanded and upgraded since the original experience.
When those new details are released, VRFocus will let you know.
Remember In Death, the 2018 virtual reality (VR) rogue-lite from Solfar Studios? Well, it’s about to make an appearance on Oculus Quest as In Death: Unchained all thanks to a different developer, Superbright.
Exclusive to the standalone headset In Death: Unchained keeps the core gameplay of the original the same, fighting through procedurally generated levels of Heaven, Purgatory and Hell with a bow but with tweaks optimised for Oculus Quest.
As In Death: Unchained has been purposefully built for Oculus Quest, mechanics such as locomotion, aiming, shooting, dodging incoming fire have been tuned for its inside-out tracking system. Plus, there’s new content to entice fans who enjoyed the gameplay the first time around.
In Death: Unchained will still feature the ability to upgrade the bow with special arrows gained by looting monsters, finding pick-ups or by visiting in-level Reliquaries. And death is never the end as each run-through will help unlock special abilities to aid the next but doing so also makes the enemies tougher.
VRFocus gave the PC version a four-star review, saying that: “In Death is a VR videogame for those that want a challenge. The level design and weapon handling are beautiful with soaring angelic structures emanating from the clouds, pin point accuracy for satisfying headshots. The devil seems to be in the details with In Death, offering rinse and repeat gameplay that will keep you coming back for more.”
A VR specialist founded in 2016, Superbright is made up of veteran AAA and Silicon Valley developers who have worked on Dead Island, Dying Light and Cyberpunk 2077. In Death: Unchained will be the studios’ first title for Oculus Quest when it arrives in July. As and when further details are released, VRFocus will let you know.
During the UploadVR Summer Showcase 2020 we revealed that In Death: Unchained is an Oculus Quest port of the excellent PC VR rogue-lite in development by Superbright that’s aiming to deliver amazing standalone wireless thrills when it releases this July.
Watch the announcement trailer and first-ever gameplay footage right here:
I reviewed the original PC VR version of the game and it regularly ends up on many “best of” lists, including our list of the very best VR roguelike games you can play. In Death features best-in-class bow and arrow combat with excellent physics. Peeking around corners, landing headshots, and dodging projectiles was already a blast and is sure to be even better without a wire tethering you.
Visually, the trailer certainly makes it seem like they nailed the visual style with few compromises, which was likely a difficult feat giving how polished the PC VR game looks. What makes In Death so fun and replayable is just how varied each playthrough can be. Instead of replaying the same levels or barely altered levels, they’re dramatically different each time with a variety of new features and enemies to face. You barely notice the procedural generation.
Since In Death: Unchained is releasing next month in July that means we won’t have to wait very long before diving into this one once again.
