Adr1ft

An exquisite game with a great story, but control and graphical issues could hinder a player's...

Adr1ft fails to do this, and the result is a game that is both distant and cold. The narrative lacks urgency and the game itself lacks direction or interactive immediacy. It remains a treat for the eyes, and no doubt an impressive technical showcase of what VR can achieve, but while Adr1ft might make your head spin, it's unlikely to make your heart race.

As a simulation of being marooned in space, Adrift is peerless. The sense of weightlessness, the sense of scale, just being in the world are all astonishing. But it's impossible to divorce the immersion from its mechanical failures, which sours what otherwise could have been a new high bar for narrative-centric games.

Getting by on strong atmosphere (no pun intended), scenic views, and an intuitive means of controlling full three-dimensional movement, Adr1ft's repetitive fix-it missions make its second half a chore to get through. Some strong pieces of voice acting...

Oshima’s plight is more immediate and the stakes are significantly higher, but the parallels aren’t easy to ignore. As you listen to audio logs and read messages from the crew, you get a sense that the commander bears a larger responsibility in what happened. Whether Oshima makes it home or not, a larger reckoning awaits – and quite possibly, redemption.

Our past follows us, across borders, between cities--even into the infinite dark of space. And here, 462,000 kilometers above Australia, in the isolation and silence of their vacuous environment, the personal demons of Adr1ft' s astronauts return to...

Adr1ft doesn't pioneer any new types of gameplay with VR, which is a shame because it desperately needs some variety in that area. However, it does benefit greatly from blocking off the rest of the world, creating a feeling of isolation that aligns with...