'The Infinite Inside' is a promising new mixed reality game
The Infinite Inside takes you out of your living room into a dream world. I played the free early access demo and came away intrigued.
The Infinite Inside is the latest project from British VR studio Maze Theory, which has made a name for itself with licensed titles such as Doctor Who: The Edge of Time and Peaky Blinders: The King's Ransom. It is the studio's first game based on its own IP and the first to use mixed reality.
You can find an early access demo in App Lab, and after seeing the promising trailer (see below), I couldn't resist giving it a try. I wasn't disappointed: the demo promises a compelling experience that cleverly switches between mixed and virtual reality, offering a dreamlike setting and mood.
If you want to experience the demo for yourself and be surprised, you should skip to the end of this article, as I describe the content in the following sections.
A game that blurs the boundaries of reality
The game begins with a monolith growing out of the floor of my living room. On the front, I recognize indentations in the form of geometric shapes that, at first glance, I don't know what to make of. As I examine the monolith from all sides, I discover drawers and openings in which I find puzzle pieces. Put together, they form geometric shapes that fit into the recesses.
In a niche that suddenly opens, I find a stone figure of a man. When I place it on a small pedestal, my reality disappears, and I find myself in a miniaturized form inside the monolith. The environment is now entirely virtual. I explore the twists and turns of the stone complex and find traces of human presence in the niches: old photographs, a camera, notebooks.
And again and again I meet the man to whom these things seem to belong and who looks like the stone figure. Am I trapped in his dream, his fantasy world, his memories? The demo keeps me in the dark, but that doesn't matter because I'm letting myself in for the surreal nature of the game.
The Infinite Inside is coming in 2024
As I explore, I find more puzzle pieces and finally return to my reality to assemble them into the last remaining shape. Unfortunately, the demo is already over at this point.
My curiosity about the game is piqued, and I hope it won't be long before I can continue my journey.
According to the official website, The Infinite Inside will be released later this year for Meta Quest, Vision Pro and Pico. There will also be a PSVR 2 and SteamVR version, but without the mixed reality component.
You can download the early access demo for free from App Lab.
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