While the original Into the Radius has its issues, I can understand the appeal. The intense survival game is enjoyable to play, with semi-realistic gameplay in a horror-lite setting. After enjoying the first game for a decent amount of hours, I went into Into the Radius 2 with high expectations. Unfortunately, it's not worth buying just yet.

For anyone playing the sequel after experiencing the first game, Into the Radius 2 feels remarkably familiar. There's certainly a graphical improvement over its predecessor, even if the majority of the experience is rather similar. That's hardly a bad thing, considering the solid gameplay loop of the original game, but there are a few problems with that. More on that shortly.

In Into the Radius 2, you play as an explorer set in the strange world of the Pechorsk Anomaly. The mysterious world of CM Games' latest title lacks a straightforward story; much of the lore within the world is found over time. However, the main focus of the current early access release is fine-tuning the gameplay.

With an eerily similar tutorial to the first game, Into the Radius 2 teaches you the essentials before sending you off on your first few missions. The game puts you into the shoes of a standard person, where a few bullets can you send you to an early grave. And, that difficulty is only heightened by the fact that you need to manage a variety of enemies, obstacles, and your own gear.

There's something satisfying about getting into a gunfight with enemies and struggling anxiously to reload your gun before meeting your doom. Into the Radius delivered a brilliant tension with its horror and survival elements, something that carries over into the latest game. However, a lack of other survival traits, like hunger or different armor and helmets, makes it less tense than the previous game. It also feels a lot easier to buy ammunition for your guns compared to before.

The core gameplay loop revolves around going out on missions to find objects or complete tasks and returning to the base intact, earning rewards and money for your hard work. As you finish missions, you'll get progressively stronger (and richer), making it easier to purchase new guns or gear to survive longer expeditions out in the scary world of the Anomaly.

Speaking of the Anomaly, I do appreciate how balanced the horror and realism elements are in Into the Radius 2. There's certainly some scares and tense situations in the game, but you won't be screaming at the top of your lungs like in Lies Beneath or the Resident Evil games. Instead, many of the horror elements come from the themes within the game, like the supernatural, ominous sphere/planet floating above the landscape, or enemies stumbling in your way.

Unfortunately, the tension is ruined by frustration. There's seemingly hundreds of anomalies around the world that damage you frequently, and it seems the Probes only work half of the time to give you a few seconds to pass them. Maybe it's a bug, or a gameplay gimmick, but it feels tedious rather than impactful. Speaking of bugs, Into the Radius 2 currently has plenty.

It's no surprise that the game offers a fair amount of issues during an early phase of development, but as an enjoyer of early access titles, Into the Radius 2 feels particularly filled with problems compared to normal EA games. Guns disappearing, issues with the telekinetic grab, my backpack not coming out correctly, and stutters are just a few of the bugs I experienced, and plenty of people have other issues in the Steam reviews. So, it's clear that it's not just me.

I understand that CM Games is looking to raise funds by offering an early access version of the game, and it's meant to help raise feedback for these problems ahead of a full launch next year. However, it still feels like it was released a bit too early, with a shallow amount of content and too many bugs to count.

And, I think that's arguably Into the Radius 2's biggest issue right now: a lack of content. CM Games promises that the game will be completely different when it reaches 1.0, according to its list of planned changes. However, for those looking to spend hours and hours exploring the Anomaly, you'll be disappointed with the current lack of things to do.

The content here is, admittedly, pretty good. But, it feels like just more Into the Radius. For some, that will be great news, as it's one of the better PC VR games out there. However, for people like myself, a lack of change in the formula could lead to boredom - and why take the risk with an early access game when you can play the finished predecessor already?

Worst of all, there's no roadmap yet either. Aside from a brief FAQ outlining plans that CM Games expects to implement, buying Into the Radius 2 right now is a gamble on whether the full game comes out as a better experience than the first game. There's a solid foundation here already, excluding bugs, but a clear vision of the future should be shared.

Into the Radius 2's early access launch provides a solid foundation that balances the horror and realism elements well. Unfortunately, it's let down by bugs and issues aplenty. A lack of content also makes this hard to currently recommend, even for diehard fans of the first game, unless you're investing to help CM Games hopefully make a better game than its predecessor.