Lone Echo II

Lone Echo II
Information
VR/AR	Virtual Reality
Developer	Ready At Dawn (Oculus Studios)
Publisher	Oculus Studios
Platform	Oculus Rift
Device	Oculus Rift, Oculus Rift S, Oculus Quest, Oculus Quest 2
Operating System	Windows
Type	Game
Genre	Adventure
Input Device	Oculus Touch tracked motion controllers
Game Mode	Single-player
Release Date	October 12, 2021
Price	US $39.99
App Store	Oculus Store
Website	https://www.meta.com/experiences/pcvr/lone-echo-ii/1711938725528735/

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See also: VR Apps and VR Games

Lone Echo II is a 2021 single-player virtual reality adventure game developed by Ready At Dawn and published by Oculus Studios for the Oculus Rift platform. It is the sequel to Lone Echo (2017) and continues the story of Jack, an artificial-intelligence robot, and Captain Olivia "Liv" Rhodes aboard a derelict mining station in deep space.

The game released on October 12, 2021, at a price of US $39.99. It is sold through the Oculus Store for the Rift platform and runs on a tethered PC with an Oculus Rift or Oculus Rift S; it can also be played on an Oculus Quest or Oculus Quest 2 connected to a VR-capable PC over Oculus Link or Air Link. Lone Echo II preserves the zero-gravity movement system of the original and emphasizes physical interaction, exploration, and narrative over combat. It won Immersive Reality Game of the Year and Immersive Reality Technical Achievement at the 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards in 2022.

Setting and story

Lone Echo II is set roughly 400 years in the future. The player controls Jack, an android equipped with an artificial intelligence, who works alongside the human Captain Olivia "Liv" Rhodes. The sequel takes place aboard Chiron Station, where the pair confront an evolving biomass that produces creatures the game calls "ticks," organisms drawn to energy sources. The narrative continues the relationship between Jack and Liv established in the first game, and the story is told largely through extended in-engine dialogue rather than cutscenes.

Gameplay

Lone Echo II is played from a first-person perspective in zero gravity. The core locomotion has the player grab and push off surfaces and objects to move through the environment, supplemented by wrist-mounted thrusters and an EVA (extravehicular activity) booster for free-floating propulsion. Movement and interaction are mapped to the Oculus Touch controllers, with the player's virtual hands used to manipulate switches, hatches, and tools.

Jack carries a set of tools that attach to and deploy from his arms, including a scanning instrument and a cutting tool used to solve environmental puzzles and clear obstacles. A new element relative to the first game is the presence of hostile creatures (the "ticks") that the player must avoid or distract rather than fight directly; reviewers described the combat and stealth encounters as limited in scope and difficulty. The main story runs roughly seven to nine hours depending on the player.

Development

Ready At Dawn, a studio founded in 2003 and previously known for PlayStation titles such as Daxter, God of War: Chains of Olympus, God of War: Ghost of Sparta, and The Order: 1886, developed Lone Echo II as a follow-up to the 2017 VR game Lone Echo. The sequel was directed by Ru Weerasuriya and Nathan Phail-Liff, written by Weerasuriya and Cory Lanham, and scored by composer Jason Graves.

The game was first shown at Oculus Connect 5 and was originally expected in 2019. It was delayed to early 2020 and then further, in part because of the COVID-19 pandemic. During development, Ready At Dawn was acquired by Facebook (later Meta) in June 2020. A launch date of August 24, 2021, was announced and then pushed back; the game ultimately shipped on October 12, 2021.

Buyers of Lone Echo II received a free in-game chassis for their avatar in the multiplayer companion game Echo VR, matching Jack's chassis in the sequel (the VEGA X-3).

Release

Platform	Device support	Release date	Price
Oculus Rift (PC VR)	Oculus Rift, Oculus Rift S; Oculus Quest / Oculus Quest 2 via Oculus Link or Air Link	October 12, 2021	US $39.99

Lone Echo II was released exclusively for the Oculus Rift PC VR platform and was not given a native standalone Oculus Quest build; Quest owners play it by streaming from a VR-capable PC.

Reception

Lone Echo II received generally favorable reviews. On the review aggregator Metacritic it holds a score of 78 out of 100.

Outlet	Score	Summary
Road to VR	7.5 / 10	"Lone Echo II brings us more about what we loved from the first game, but plays it quite safe and doesn't break much new ground."
UploadVR	"Good"	"Lone Echo 2's incredible production values and first-rate immersion make for an enjoyable swansong that's let down by its plodding pace and familiarity."
IGN	6 / 10	Called it an enjoyable space drama with striking detail and fun movement, but lacking innovation.
Shacknews	8 / 10

Reviewers praised the art direction, the fidelity of the character models and facial animation, and the sense of presence created by the zero-gravity movement. Road to VR rated immersion highly while criticizing the game for slow pacing, limited challenge in its puzzles and combat, and a story that does little to advance the formula of the original. UploadVR described it as the best-looking VR game of its year but "glacially-paced," and noted technical issues such as texture pop-in even on high-end PC hardware.

At the 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, held in 2022, Lone Echo II won Immersive Reality Game of the Year and Immersive Reality Technical Achievement. It was also nominated for Best VR/AR Game at The Game Awards 2021.

Developer closure

Meta shut down Ready At Dawn in August 2024 as part of cuts to its Reality Labs division. The studio had been part of Oculus Studios since its June 2020 acquisition, and its closure was reported by multiple outlets on August 7, 2024.