INTERNULL
After waking up in the facilities of a once-successful tech company, you must find your way out and uncover the mysteries of InterNULL with your only tool being a Virtual Reality Headset.
The innovative and successful tech company InterNULL has been leading the industry since 1963. They continue to make discoveries about how our world works and use them to make high-quality consumer products.
They recently announced an amazing piece of technology that allows us to peek into a new world! Imagine what we can do with the new Virtual Reality Headset!
InterNULL is a First-Person Puzzle/Mystery game that is about VR but not a VR game. Uncover the mysteries behind InterNULL’s secretive projects. InterNULL features puzzles that revolve around the interactions between the real world and a VR simulation.
Steam User 7
A glitchy and surreal exploration puzzler, where exploration/navigation is the puzzle. Successfully invokes that wobbly and weird feeling of disconnection from reality, the confusion of diving in and out of VR simulation without actual VR. Has some gameplay/theme similarities to Superliminal, Viewfinder, Stanley Parable/Beginner's Guide; references to Accounting+ and other VR games.
This game can be tricky to recommend - and it's a tricky game in general with its messy visuals and confusing mechanics. It may be by design, but in my opinion the devs failed to fully realize its potential; still, if you are a fan of the genre, I'd say go for it. It wouldn't hurt to try the demo at least.
PROS: concept, immersiveness, music
The concept itself is quite intriguing; it's a take on simulation hypothesis and the nature of reality, with an interpretation very similar to such in The Thirteenth Floor movie. There is not much to spoil here that you haven't seen before, but the idea is neat enough to stir one's curiosity.
The game starts slow, but when you get to the boundary mechanic special functions, the pace picks up. It's clunky and quirky, surreal out-of-bounds experience with a hint of weirdcore aesthetics. Soundtrack is fittingly minimalistic. Uneasy silence of the facility is contrasted with chill elevator music of the virtual world. The headset continues to play faint simulation ambience, when you take it off and hold it in your hands; nice touch.
I like how the simulated space awkwardly shifts as you move. Kinda shimmy and cram the virtual world into submission, using the boundaries of the real world; too bad it's not as reliable as it was supposed to be.
CONS: mechanics implementation, numerous typos and technical issues, poor optimization, lack of graphical settings, sound design, general jankiness
In-game texts and UI are riddled with typos. The story is very simplistic and barebones, it's just there for the sake of outlining the concept, and does not make much sense on its own. There is potentially some unintended existential horror, but everything is just too flat for it to land properly. It's told through awkwardly worded and confusingly structured documents - why the disclaimer about "necesary" information? Focus on helping players figure out the mechanics, not the plot.
Instead, everything about the actual gameplay is obtuse and shrouded in mystery.
Implementation of gameplay mechanics (and there are quite a few) feels rushed and unfinished. Deletion and duplication seem delightful at first, when they are introduced, but very soon you realize how limited they are. You can use them only when you are allowed to, and only on select items; no free fun. Barring a couple of achievements, you have no freedom and can't even mess around enough for that out-of-the-box feeling, which other similar games have. You also can't really "break" anything here, everything is very linear and pre-determined.
Manipulation of virtual space can be clever, but the rules are inconsistent and arbitrary - you can't move out-of-bounds, but sometimes you can; most of the times you're stuck in mid-air, but then you fall right through, and so on.
The whole game's structure feels very mushy, for a lack of a better word. It seems to follow "break the game" meta-thingy, but is too clunky and obscure to successfully convey that; for example, the boundary mechanic, which was supposed to help with navigation, is actually useless. The markers are not always present, and without them the lines disappear after a few seconds. Alas, Superliminal this ain't, and it's incredibly hard to aim the boundary projection properly for its second function to work.
There is no option to turn off the headbobbing, and oh my, is it intense. Movement is unpleasantly jerky when starting and stopping, motion sickness inducing. The game is poorly optimized and there are no graphic settings outside of presets. There are flickering and antialiasing issues; heavy DoF and post-processing effects, visuals are very messy in general. Drawing distance in the end scene is far too low, which makes the surrounding mountains pop in and out as you move and look around. Ruins the moment.
Conclusion
Overall jankiness aside, I loved the final sequence; I wish there were more weird things like that in the game, instead of stumbling around blind, hitting the invisible walls and resetting. What was supposed to be a surreal out-of-bounds exploration became a frustration simulator. Navigation is NOT fun when you are getting stuck on every corner, every two meters, with very nasty sounds as punishment for taking a wrong step. Finding keycards and figuring out the plot is easy enough; actual exploration is NOT. Shrill sounds take all the enjoyment out of experience, and certain parts of the world shriek at you when you look at them. This, combined with heavy post-processing filters, unstable movement and constant headbob, makes the world unwelcoming to be in. It's just not enjoyable.
InterNULL is not a bad game, but it's a flawed one. It's ambitious with its mechanics and gameplay, but the realization is far from stellar. It's fine, it's a legit made game, not some shovelware or anything; the whole idea sounds exciting, but it's just... not very fun to play. It feels disjointed and somewhat falls apart, much like its worlds.
Still, I think the devs have potential, and wish them luck with their next project.
If you like games with similar themes and atmosphere, follow my curator: empty places
Steam User 6
If you own a VR headset, chances are you can relate to the freaky sensation of taking off your headset and realising you're in a completely different part of your room than you expected, or getting too immersed in a game and walking into some furniture or swatting a dent into your wall. That's a feeling INTERNULL replicates surprisingly well, giving you a VR headset that takes you from a mysterious office complex to a weird, glitched out VR world. But, like the VR kits of today, your body still exists, and what's empty space in virtual reality might be a solid wall in real life.
It's a very cool concept! The store page calls the game a puzzle, and while I kinda agree, I don't think it does the game justice. No sliding blocks or laser mirrors or weighted cubes here, the puzzle is figuring out the mechanics of the game world itself!
Steam User 3
WOW! I'm a huge fan of 'waking simulators' but this a a whole new level of mind***rery. The game is very complex, gives you no indication except a few cryptic clues, and you have to figure it out all out yourself.
Things is - nothing is arbitrary or 'dumb luck' - everything in the game makes sense, is connected, and 'works'. You have to understand certain concepts such as overlapping reality.
But WHAT is this game really? Well the gameloop is as follow: you manipulate one reality or the other or even a third. And by changing one reality, you modify what you can or cannot access in the other. Height, dimension, time, duplication, everything you can think of is in play. And you have to handle it all at the same time.
Is it overwhelming? Of course! Is it mindboggling? That's the whole point! If you like movies like Existenz or the 13th Floor you will absolutely LOVE this.
Evidently the tech is not exactly fantastic graphic wise, so you'll get the FPS your screen can emit in HZ - in my case, 144fps steady on a 2080 i9900, but I'm sure the game can hit the 300 on the right hardware. Not that it matters - the fun is not in the 'looks' of it, but in the concept.
Look, I HATE puzzles. I do. But I love this game. it's clever, it's complex, and it's incredibly satisfying. There's a million and one hidden things, which I wont' spoil, a story line, and its interface is very forgiving (you don't die from fall, you can platform very easily, the whole thing feels smooth.
10/10 would have my brains blown again ... and again... and again...
PS: If you're schizophenic do not play this - it will make you question reality.
Steam User 3
Received this game for Free from one of the developers but this has no affect on my honest review of the game. I will also provide a SPOILER FREE Review of the game focusing on the mechanics/game design.
Game Mechanics/Design
Starting off, the game does a good job explaining the basics of the world you're in. You start off in a VR world and can exit to the real world via the VR headset you are provided. How to interact with objects and how to set up lines/boundaries is also explained very well. The controls are very simple and to learn. Moving throughout the game, there were parts where it was difficult to decide what the next move was. The intro holds your hand and then seems to just throw you in without any suggestion what to do and where to go. This becomes more prominent as the game goes on. To defend this, this game is designed to be a puzzle game that forces you to think "outside the box". Now that isn't a bad thing to say since I love games like this. If you're not into that kind of game then this won't be for you.
Story
The story is where things get INTERESTING. and without spoiling much, the story is going to be a challenge to connect but once you connect the dots you realize the story is very well thought out.The idea of this game is an interesting concept albeit not a new one. The idea has been done before in movies and other games but the way this one delivers is on a whole other level.
What I didn't like
Now the cons of the game. Starting out there was, at least to me, no importance of the marking mechanic. Yeah you marked thing in the VR headset but it doesn't really mean much if you can just jump around it or move past it by going another way. Also memorizing where things are in reality and then just moving with that knowledge in VR. Also there were times where the VR headset could be useful but turns out there wasn't anything you could do in the VR world. Just adding a few places in the VR world that would sync up with the real world would have been a better touch for Easter Eggs/Secrets. The already established secrets were pretty obvious. That's about all I can give critique wise.
Overall I loved the experience. The story, ambiance, progression, and the gameplay work really well together that brings the game in full circle. I definitely recommend this game and if you're looking to test your mind then this game is perfect for you. If I could compare this game to anything it's like Stanley's Parable meets Shadows of Doubt but with a twist. 9/10 Overall is the rating I would give it. Great job Devs!
To see my gameplay check out my youtube video here to see what I went through here!
Steam User 2
Good concept, good atmosphere, good level design, and a respectable price.
I got it elsewhere, played it, and, came to steam to see if the price was worth it, and, yes,it is, so, yea. Kudos.