Dead In Space And Loving It

By Grit Alone is simultaneously one of the best experiences I’ve had in a VR horror game, and one of the most in dire need of a final polish pass.

The earnest creativity on display is so endearing that I can’t help but fall in love, but I also recognize that some will be frustrated. By Grit Alone lives up to its name, feeling like a Herculean effort by a small team trying their utmost to deliver on a unique sci-fi horror that might one day stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of iconic classics like its primary inspiration, Dead Space. That is, if they ever get the balancing right.

By Grit Alone puts you in the shoes of a nameless passenger aboard a cryo transport. Waking up early due to a hazardous crash in an anomalous region of space that defies logical explanation, you’re thrust into danger from the get-go. You’re essentially trapped in a space-equivalent Bermuda Triangle, and you’re here with some really twisted neighbors. Before you get a chance to meet them, you’re dodging malfunctioning equipment and blowing up debris, only to suddenly be attacked by insectoid aliens deeply keen on removing your brain from your body. It’s quite a wake-up call, and that’s before we get to the gothic cathedral ship straight out of Warhammer 40k, an alien infested day spa, and a mad AI that may or may not be working in your best interest.

I don’t make the positive Dead Space comparison lightly. Besides the obvious bona fides, like Dead Space (2008) scribe Antony Johnston himself co-writing alongside Emma Beeby, there’s so much evident inspiration. Every weapon has dual-purposes, whether it’s your ammo doubling as grenades, or your blaster serving as a modular shotgun/marksman rifle that changes firing mode based on if it’s held in two hands or one. There are sections where you have to think like an engineer, manipulating ship subsystems to survive while hordes of enemies and other hazards encroach around you. Developer Crooks Peaks even translated the stomp attack over, and yes, it works on more than just the enemy.

They even have an updated, far more pleasant version of the infamous turret section from the original Dead Space (2008), but it’s actually fun here! That’s what’s so brilliant about By Grit Alone – you can instantly feel the homage, yet it’s more than just a reminder of what you loved before, one that stands on its own merits.

Realizing there are multiple spaceships to explore is especially cool. Rather than opting for a single narrative, it’s like fighting your way through a whole anthology of horrors. Not every setting was a winner, but even then, there’s a game-long subplot centering on Grace Grayson, the world’s most determined, unlucky government tax agent.

Grace goes from trying to uncover a cult’s tax evasion to an Ellen Ripley-tier survivor guiding others to safety. Though the playable protagonist is a mute vessel for you, Grace fills that void well via her audio logs. The general cast is stellar, with some truly wonderful performances. It’s equally welcome that there are playable, room-sized holo recordings of past events, giving you a brief break from the loneliness of your solitary trek, accompanied only by AIs advising your navigation of each ship.

From worldbuilding and tone to level design and pacing, By Grit Alone gets what makes horror games a blast. And my word, the soundtrack is amazing. I’m notoriously hard to scare, only for By Grit Alone to manage to make me jump or tread nervously through its halls. Achieving all of this while relying on fairly low-poly graphics is nothing short of a masterstroke. Now, if only it was balanced enough for me to say the optional invincibility toggle wasn’t necessary at points.

Some may balk at such an option in a horror game, but I can understand why they’ve done this. By Grit Alone can be absolutely brutal at points, though I suspect not always by intention, I suspect. Many of the enemies you’ll face, be they buzzing flyers, charging behemoths, vicious tendrils, or the crawling spiders, are so fast they can overwhelm you, encircling quickly.

While I appreciate how this makes stomping a valuable tactic, that doesn’t account for the flyers’ penchant for going right behind your head while spewing acid, rapidly draining your health. If there were some way to heal yourself in fights, it wouldn’t be as big a deal, but health stations are wall-mounted and one-time use only.

There are also a few set pieces that are currently too masochistic for the average player. There’s a boss fight with an infected church pipe organ (I promise it’s even weirder in-context) that, while novel in concept, essentially feels designed for co-op given how much it wants you juggling at once. A race away from a roaming worm with razor teeth chasing you straight into a hallway of exploding mines is also paced too quickly.

That’s the issue. Individually, they’re all just a step away from being these super cool moments – they’re just a little out of tune, and what should be fun becomes frustrating. It’s usually by my fifth death at a set piece that I’d resort to invincibility. I’m always disappointed when I need to, as there’s a lot of creativity on display in the bosses and set pieces in of themselves. Visually, mechanically, and even the sound design and orchestral score nail their distinctive scenarios, the mechanics just need to be less brutally timed.

Granted, there’s still a challenge when you have invincibility on. You can’t waltz past every enemy without consequence, and the various puzzles still require a prescient mind to progress. All that invincibility provides is the freedom from worrying about having to restart because you missed one of the spiders gnawing on your leg. I will also grant that invincibility is a serious boon during the weakest part of By Grit Alone, where it suddenly turns into a weird, SAW-esque version of Portal while aboard a research vessel.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the variety, and some earlier biological deathtraps left by the aliens are the good kind of tense danger. However, the sentry turrets on the science ship are frustratingly unpredictable. It doesn’t help that the shield ability you’re granted to counter them is unreliable, fiddly to trigger on and off, and not that fun to use.

Fortunately, it’s also the only mechanic that I can say falls short. Tangibly interacting with the environment feels great, the body tracking for your hands and position is well done, both the primary blaster and the occasional optional flamethrower are satisfying to use, and even tossing grenades is reliable.

By Grit Alone – Final Verdict

By Grit Alone leaves quite the striking impression within minutes and it never lets go, hurtling you along across its myriad miseries. Sure, it’s low-poly graphics and certainly not the highest resolution textures, yet there’s excellent atmospheric design with fantastic lighting and shadows. It ends on a desperate cliffhanger (with free DLC teased as already being on the way), but the journey getting there is full of top-notch writing. The combat might be harsh at times, yet it’s so well done that it’s worth taking it on the chin to see it through.

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve truly lost myself in a horror game like I did with By Grit Alone. It’s not a journey for the faint of heart, but it’s one I hope we’ll get to see the conclusion of – whether via DLC or a sequel. As it stands on its own, though, it’s an incredible trek through the jaws of madness worth taking.

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