henke on 10/7/2017 at 14:51
This is it, folks. Mark this date in your calendars, this is the day when a VR game escapes the confines of of Oculus Rift megathread and gets it's own thread!
Lone Echo is coming out in 10 days and I am hyped.
[video=youtube;5UZ6fqlZavo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UZ6fqlZavo[/video]
I've already spent a good amount of time with the Echo Arena Open Beta, which had another run this past weekend, but I'm looking even more forward to the singleplayer component. This being a Ready at Dawn game, I'm not expecting big things from the story. Their last game, The Order 1886, was so-so in the narrative-department. But I do look forward to throwing myself around in zero-G and doing cool space-shit. After Adr1ft, with it's sub-par and nausea-inducing VR implementation, my expectations of what a zero-G spacegame could be like were dampened significantly, but once I stepped into the Echo Arena tutorial my expectations shot right up again. I know it sounds cheesy, but it really feels like being there. You're not just pushing sticks on a controller to move your character, instead you're reaching out to grab on to walls and objects, and pushing off to send yourself drifting towards your goal. And because the mapping of your hands is always relative to your head, it causes no nausea, and it feels real.
I haven't preordered, but unless this thing gets absolutely savaged in the reviews, I'll be picking it up come July 20th.
henke on 10/7/2017 at 15:01
Also here's a video of those wonderful robohands for you to ooh and aah at.
[video=youtube;CyP3LZNa_IA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyP3LZNa_IA[/video]
A lot of VR games only show you your hands, since getting the inverse kinematics and whatnot for arms and torso and legs to feel right is no easy task, but Lone Echo pulls it off beautifully.
icemann on 10/7/2017 at 15:02
About time we got a good game on that thing.
Thirith on 10/7/2017 at 15:05
Plenty of good games out in VR. Are they system sellers? No, nor are most of them particularly long - but I've greatly enjoyed the majority of VR games I've played.
Very curious about this one. Thanks for the heads-up, henke!
henke on 10/7/2017 at 15:21
Yup. Lots of good games, but none I would unreservedly call great, though Superhot VR comes close.
I also think that triple-A productions for VR are still a year or two away. The market's gonna have to be a lot bigger before Ubisoft or EA start putting serious money into a VR game. At the moment it's a lot of indies and smaller studios, and the occasional higher-budget Oculus-sponsored thing, like Lone Echo. Valve says they're working on 3 VR games as well, but who knows when we'll see those.
twisty on 11/7/2017 at 05:12
A VR Portal game (not suggesting that it's actually in development) could be amazing in theory but probably highly vomit-inducing.
Thirith on 11/7/2017 at 05:20
There is a free VR Portal spin-off; it's fan-developed but still pretty neat. However, while it uses Aperture Science, it doesn't actually send you through any portals.
On a different note: how well did the Arena mode play, henke? I love the idea, but I can already see myself flailing about in zero-G.
henke on 11/7/2017 at 06:25
Oh Arena is tons of fun, in a Rocket League kinda way, tho every time I've managed to get my hands on the disc I've been too excited to do anything useful with it. So, exactly like Rocket League then.
Echo Arena will be free and standalone btw, so we definitely gotta play a 2v2 match once it's out. :)
henke on 19/7/2017 at 10:16
Lone Echo is coming out in 11 hours or so, but there are NO REVIEWS! Guess the embargo coincides with the release. Yet I'm thinking about pre-ordering. Hear me out! It's 5 bucks cheaper if I pre-order, and what are the odds it'll be a steaming pile of poo, eh? Of course I don't wanna enourage shitty practices like delaying review embargoes until release-day by rewarding the publishers with my pre-order. But am I not also rewarding them by paying 5 bucks more tomorrow if I do wait until I've read a review? What a conundrum!
Thirith on 19/7/2017 at 10:59
Thanks, now I'm facing the same dilemma! :mad: