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.