Into the Radius launched on Steam Early Access for Windows last week for Virtual Reality devotees, bringing with it a myriad of new improvements and gameplay features. CM Games, developers of Into the Radius, have published a new trailer, alongside their release notes, detailing the new features included in the Early Access version of the game.
“We want there to be a good feeling of challenge and struggle to survive. We realize this is going to take some balancing, and your feedback will really help us determine where that balance should be.
Same goes with the pricing and loot, we want to make sure that you’re getting enough loot to survive while making it a worthy challenge to find and profit from what you find in the Radius.“ – CM Games
Here’s what’s been added/refined for Early Access:
Gameplay & Balance
- The Cassette Player has been introduced, which will start to play a larger role in the storyline. Cassette tapes will feature real voice acting in the months to come.
- Players can now walk directly from the game Hub and into the Radius seamlessly without running into any loading screens.
- Players will now need to make their way back to the Hub safely to sell their loot.
- Damaged gear can now be repaired.
- The Shop has changed to an automated/vending style system. It now features a Recovery booth where the player can heal for free and the fan-requested Energy Drink which gives a 10 minute buff to the player’s energy level.
- Enemies will now drop a type of artifact that can be sold as loot or used to complete mission goals.
Death & Taxes
- When you die you will now drop all of your gear. Players will have to carefully choose what equipment they bring with them into the Radius.
- Upon death, players will now enter the mysterious Death Realm. This will have much more significance and be further explored as more of the story is added into the game.
- Players will now have to pay a weekly Maintenance fee to upkeep their base.
Art & Player
- The Detector model has been replaced with an improved version.
- The vast majority of all of the hand interactions poses are now complete. Only a few specific animations are missing and will be added later on.
- Hand and Body Inverse Kinematics have been improved. Hands now bend and twist in a more realistic manner.
- There have been numerous improvements in art and effects (Sigil anomalies have improved visuals effects, New factory buildings, etc.).
- There are still a lot of placeholders and untextured items in the game that will be replaced with finished items over the next few months.
About Into the Radius
Inspired by the seminal sci-fi novel Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Into the Radius combines Eldritch horror storytelling with open-world Virtual Reality exploration and realistic weapon handling. Life and death intertwine inside the Radius, lurking somewhere in the middle of everything is the answer to a question you can’t quite remember. Through the flickering memories of your tarnished life as a former resident of Pechorsk and now UNSPC specialist, your only means of survival is to stalk the strange and threatening zone and complete the missions assigned to you.