In Death Unchained Review – One of the Best Oculus Quest 2 Games?

Shoot your way through the afterlife…

 Amanda BlainPosted:December 17, 2021
Updated: June 3, 2022

Let’s get started on this In Death Unchained Review. There is a lot to go over so feel free to use the navigation to jump around.

What is In Death Unchained?

In Death Unchained is a roguelike bow and arrow archery game. You are in an unholy world where you battle evil creatures endlessly. Grab your longbow and attack forsaken souls, angelic creatures, and demons that have taken over the afterlife.

Each level is procedurally generated meaning each time you play it will be a different experience. You will play for as long as you can before you will eventually die.

Who Makes In Death Unchained?

In Death Unchained is made by Superbright. They are a small team of developers based out of Wroclaw, Poland.

They have previous experience working on many AAA video game titles. In Death Unchained is currently their main property. They actively work on, update, and maintain it.

Which VR Headsets is In Death Unchained On?

You can play In Death Unchained exclusively on the Oculus Quest 2.

In Death was originally a Steam VR property by a different developer – Solfar Studios. In Death for PCVR is no longer being worked on and is not related to this review.

Superbright has taken over the franchise and completely re-done the game exclusively for the Oculus Quest 2 calling it “In Death Unchained” because the Oculus Quest 2 requires no cable to play.

In Death Unchained Is Not Your Typical Game….

First things first, this is not a normal game with typical levels and story. You are not working towards “finishing a level” per se. You are trying to see how long you can last and how far you can get before you inevitably die.

When you first start out, that will not be very far at all. You will frequently start a round, get in a tight spot and die very quickly. Expect to die a lot…. but keep with it. Serious competitive players can play without dying by using the various “save spots” for weeks of ongoing same-one-life gameplay.

Each attempt adds to your overall score and helps you to unlock various achievements that will enhance your gameplay. Everything you accomplished in that playthrough will be PERMANENTLY added to your total game progress and various skills, abilities, and bad guys may get unlocked.

So think of it as each death gets you closer to “the next level”. This will be shown to you by the large PROGRESS %.

In Death Unchained Tutorial

In Death Unchained offers a very detailed tutorial to get you started. You will learn how to teleportation move and shoot. The tutorial also walks you through the various types of shooting techniques, shields, and blocking.

You do not have joystick movement in In Death Unchained. Instead, they answer this common VR movement motion sickness problem by movement exclusively with teleportation arrows. There is an option for regular movement under settings, but I prefer (and see the majority of players) play using teleportation.

You will move by shooting an arrow and where it lands is where you will teleport to. This works surprisingly well and offers some really fun and interesting game techniques to master.

Will you teleport right up close to the bad guys and try and rapidly shoot arrows at them before they can teleport away? Will you get in a sticky spot, realize that, and remember to teleport away to a better location to reevaluate? This gameplay requires a lot of different thinking than most games and it is quite welcomed.

In Death Unchained Review Gameplay

You are now able to start the real game and can enter “Purgatory”.

Purgatory I is a procedurally generated level with some basic bad guys. When you first start out the game goes quite easy on you. The further you get, the more the game will become difficult.

After you kill a certain amount of one type of bad guy(hundreds of them), for example, it will become an ENHANCED version. Visually different but will also have new abilities and ways to kill you.

Eventually, you will get through the first level of Purgatory, and at the end will be a Boss Battle. These guys don’t go down easy, so you will need a wide range of power arrows and techniques you have learned from moving through the level. You won’t be able to just rush through, get there, and beat the boss more than likely. You will likely need to explore, gather items and kill the regular bad guys for your best shot and score.

In Death Unchained is a slow grind. But the MORE you play, the more enemies and abilities will unlock. The game truly gets better the longer that you play it!

There is a lot to unpack here, but the overall point of In Death Unchained is –

• Play levels
• Get as far as you can
• Die and Repeat

Each death will get you closer to new abilities that will hopefully make things easier and allow you to get farther the next time around. You literally get stronger, In Death.

It sure is fun.

Weapons and Arrows….

There are two different weapons in In Death Unchained – a bow and a crossbow. Each playstyle is slightly different and has advantages and disadvantages.

You start off with the bow. This does more damage depending on how strongly you pull the virtual strings and where you end up hitting the enemy.  Like always headshots will do more damage.

There are also several different types of arrows that you will unlock eventually.

There are MANY unexplained elements of this game and you will learn many secrets as you continue to play and explore.

How many levels are there In In Death Unchained?

This can be confusing for many players. There are 3 basic levels. If you beat the Boss in Purgatory, you will advance to Paradise Lost and then The Abyss. This is called one full ‘loop’. After you have completed a full loop, you will start over in Purgatory, but this time, Purgatory II with harder enemies to beat, and then Paradise Lost II, and the Abyss II. Players have reached Purgatory IIII – all on one same loop and life!

If you die at ANY point in time you will start over again at Purgatory I. Everytime. Yes even after you have killed the Boss. You Die? You are back at the start.

Eventually, after completing various achievements you will unlock the ability to start at The Abyss instead of Purgatory I. But…. this means you will be lacking various special arrows and points that you get if you start at the beginning of the level. Experienced players will frequently start at Purgatory I to get the most arrows and highest possible score. Which is arguably, the point of the game.

Free Siege of Heaven DLC Horde mode

There is also a completely free DLC “horde mode” called Siege Of Heaven. This totally free update added by the developers is a really awesome FREE addition.

Some users are thrown off by the scary monsters that appear from around corners in the base game or the never-ending levels. Siege of Heaven offers a different perspective on the same game.

In Siege of Heaven, you are perched safely on top of a ledge. You start each round by shooting a bell. Hoards of bad guys will appear from random entrances of the static scene in front of you. There is no movement required on your part. It is your job to shoot the waves of bad guys before they make it to the exit gate located beside you. Each wave will have more and harder bad guys to take down, many requiring multiple shots to take them down.

It has all the same elements of the base game – beautiful scenery and sounds, different bad guys, and different types of arrows – just no movement, and everything is far enough away from you that it isn’t scary.

This game mode is AMAZING! I can’t believe the developers just gave this mode away for free. Your arm is also likely going to be feeling pretty sore after a full 15 waves of keeping it in front of you 🙂

If you are finding you are having trouble in the base game with distance shots, pop in here for around. You will quickly be mastering distance shots like a pro. There are also MULTIPLE levels of this DLC including multiple difficulty levels, with more being added.

I don’t see nearly enough people talking about Siege of Heaven online and it is completely worth the price of In Death Unchained for JUST THIS PORTION of the game. So worth it! Check this mode out.

In Death Unchained Multiplayer Experience

At this time, there is no multiplayer experience in In Death Unchained. They do offer very detailed leaderboards to allow you to compete against your Oculus friends and the World though. In fact, there are frequent contests and benefits depending on how well you do in each season against the world.

You are also given 3 game save slots so you can have 3 different people in your house play on one headset.

Is In Death Unchained Scary?

In Death Unchained can be scary to some people. The concept of death and demons can be startling to some people. The game also has a way of creating jump scares when creatures come up and start attacking you from behind.

Overall as you continue to play the game, the amount of scary should drop off pretty rapidly.

If you find the game too scary to start, you should play the Siege of Heaven DLC that is included for free to get used to things. You play safely away from the bad guys on a ledge.

Can you work out with In Death Unchained? Is In Death Unchained a Fitness Game?

There are tons of fitness games in the VR stores, and In Death Unchained might not be the first game that comes to mind for fitness, but let me assure you this game can get you an excellent upper body workout!

All movement in-game is done with shooting a bow and arrow. All attacking requires that same bow and arrow shooting movement – one arm outstretched in front and one plucking from behind. There will be many moments when you need to fire in rapid succession, getting that heart rate up.  You will also need to dodge and block using a shield.

Expect to burn 4-6 Kcal a minute if you keep a rapid pace up.

Overall this will not be a high-intensity cardio workout, but it is a game that is very addictive and time will fly by. For people new to working out, or fitness pros looking for a nice warm-up or cool down, In Death Unchained is a great option and I highly recommend you add it into your fitness mix.

Does In Death Unchained cause motion sickness?

In Death Unchained uses a teleportation ONLY method of movement. This means the chance of VR motion sickness is pretty minimal. You don’t need to change settings or play around with things. Highly recommend it for people who are newer to VR or those trying to get their VR legs.

In Death Unchained should not cause any motion sickness issues.

Final Thoughts On In Death Unchained Review. Is In Death Unchained Worth It?

In Death Unchained is TOTALLY worth it.