The pacing is strong, voice acting is above average, and the occasional hallucinations add a nice touch of unpredictability to break up the monotony.

The narrative isn’t overly shocking or mind-blowing, but it’s still one of the strongest elements the game has going for it. Luckily, it never got too intense to bear. Seaweeds swayed as bubbles fluttered through the air and the overwhelming sense that I might die beneath the ocean started to press in on me. For the first 20 or so minutes I marveled at their presence as they scurried through the water and along rock faces. Sea creatures like grotesque fish and giant underwater spiders are sprinkled throughout the adventure. Ultimately none of that comes together in a way that makes you feel like you have any real control or power over your situation as the sluggish floatiness of everything muddles any real sense of excitement. There are solid ideas here with the inclusion of a thruster that lets you propel yourself forward with a burst of speed and flares that you can launch out to distract creatures. Gameplay feels like a shadow of what it could have been. There are a lot of measures taken to reduce motion sickness in players (such as FOV dimming, the natural suit with a helmet framing, snap turn options, eliminating head bobbing, and plenty of other choices in the menus) but the utterly agonizing walking speed feels most like a way to artificially elongate a brief (approximately 2-3 hours) experience. However, instead of floating around in zero-G with a fancy space suit, you’ll wade through bubbles underwater as you boost across gaps and inch your way forward at a painful snail’s pace. You’ll spend a lot of time progressing from one spot to the next, refilling your oxygen tank, exploring caverns, and trying not to get mutilated by creepy giant spiders. Ultimately though, Narcosis has most in common with its VR cousin, ADR1FT, than either of the other two games I listed. It’s got the methodical ‘walking simulator’ vibe of titles like Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, it has a horror setting mixed with the depths of the ocean, like SOMA, and it mixes it all together with a slow-burning narrative that loosely strings you along in VR, similar to ADR1FT. Narcosis, upon first glance, immediately conjures up feelings from several other games.

Narcosis vr