Lone Echo

Lone Echo is a 2017 virtual reality adventure game developed by Ready At Dawn, and published by Oculus Studios.[1] Set aboard a space station orbiting Saturn, it allows players to move in zero-gravity by grabbing and pushing off of the environment. In addition to the narrative single-player game, the title includes a team-based multiplayer sports mode called Echo Arena, which was also released as a stand-alone game.[2][3][4] A sequel, Lone Echo II, was announced in 2018 and is set for release in 2021.[5][6]

Lone Echo
Developer(s)Ready At Dawn
Publisher(s)Oculus Studios
Director(s)Ru Weerasuriya
Dana Jan
Producer(s)Ru Weerasuriya
Programmer(s)Jacob Copenhaver
Artist(s)Nathan Phail-Liff
Writer(s)Ru Weerasuriya
David Dunne
Cory Lanham
Composer(s)Jason Graves
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Release
  • WW: July 20, 2017
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

Lone Echo is a narrative adventure game consisting of both exploration and using tools and objects to solve puzzles. Of particular note is the game's locomotion system, which allows players to grab almost any surface, and either move themselves along or push off of the environment to float in a given direction.[7] The player is also given wrist-mounted thrusters that can be used to change or finesse a trajectory.[8]

Players can pick up and move objects, as well as manipulate switches and control panels. In addition they are given a data scanner that can interface with machinery, and a plasma cutter than can cut through certain surfaces. As a service android, the player must repair damaged or inoperable systems, as well as aid and protect the station's sole human crew member, with whom they interact using dialog trees.[8]

Plot
Jack rescuing Olivia by using his cutter to free her foot

Set in the year 2126, Lone Echo casts players in the role of an ECHO ONE service android nicknamed "Jack," aboard the Kronos II mining station orbiting Saturn. Jack serves under the command of the human crew member Captain Olivia Rhodes, who is to be reassigned by her employer "The Atlas Initiative", leaving Jack behind as the sole crew member of the facility. When a mysterious spacial anomaly knocks out some of the station's vital systems Jack and Olivia work together to repair the damage and investigate the mysterious phenomenon.[9][8]

While the two investigate the anomaly, a massive unidentified ship appears and Kronos II is destroyed by flying debris. Jack is temporarily decommissioned. When Jack reawakens, he notices that Olivia is no longer on or around the station. In a message left in an emergency beacon, Olivia states that she had to abandon the facility due to power failures and loss of life support, and that she would take her chances aboard the unknown vessel. Jack follows her to the ship to find out if she's still alive.

On the way, Jack discovers a mysterious biomass formation that seems to be activated by nearby electrical currents and which absorbs anything that it touches while active. While travelling inside the unknown vessel, Jack encounters the ship's AI named Apollo, who needs Jack's help to repair some of the ship's functions and reawaken the ship's crew. Apollo explains that the ship, named the Astrea, was attacked and that the biomass spreading throughout the ship is a biological weapon used by the attackers. When Jack releases the crew from their stasis pods, he discovers that they are all human and members of the Atlas Initiative. However, all the crew members are deceased. Apollo informs Jack that, according to his records, Olivia Rhodes disappeared over 400 years ago, in 2126, and suggests that Jack is malfunctioning. Jack is certain that Olivia is still alive and somewhere in the ship, and convinces Apollo to help him. Eventually, with Apollo's help, Jack finds Olivia in the ship. Apollo recognizes Olivia as a member of the Atlas Initiative and promotes her as the new captain of the Astrea. Apollo concludes that the ship must have made a time jump that caused Olivia's disappearance in his timeline.

Jack and Olivia try to repair the ship's life support systems as Olivia's oxygen starts to run low, but eventually fail to pressurize their location due to many structural failures on the ship.They retreat to bridge, the strongest part of the ship, and try to repair the life support there. However, before Jack succeeds in repairing the systems, Olivia's oxygen reserves run out and she goes into a cardiac arrest. Jack uses a defibrillator until Olivia starts breathing again.

In the final event, the ship's reactor destabilizes and threatens to destroy the entire ship. Apollo suggests they attempt a faster than light jump to expend a large amount of energy that could stabilize the reactor. This could, however, lead to the ship making another time jump. With no other choice, Jack and Olivia prepare the ship for the FTL jump by destroying non-essential power systems and finally activate the FTL drive. After the jump, they find out that they are still in an orbit around Saturn, but 400 years in the future. Outside they see the aftermath of a battle that the Astrea was involved in before jumping back in time. A friendly rescue vessel contacts the Astrea and states that help is underway.

Development and release

Development began in 2015, when the first prototypes of the Oculus Touch were made available to developers. A small team created VR prototypes, while Ready At Dawn was finishing The Order: 1886.[10] Inspired by footage of astronauts moving aboard the International Space Station, the team completed a demo weeks after receiving Oculus Touch development kits.[11] After demonstrating an early prototype showcasing the locomotion system, Oculus came on board as publisher to produce a full game. The team was expanded to 15 people, and eventually grew to 60 at its peak.[10]

About a year into its development, Ready At Dawn held an internal game jam, which resulted in an early prototype of Echo Arena. The decision was made to split the team, and develop both Lone Echo and Echo Arena alongside each other.[10]

Lone Echo was released on July 20, 2017. This release included both the single-player Lone Echo and the multi-player Echo Arena. A separate, stand-alone version of Echo Arena with no single-player was also released on the same day. As the result of a partnership with Intel, Echo Arena could be redeemed for free to anyone with an Oculus Home account for the first three months of its release.[12]

Echo Arena

A multi-player component, Echo Arena, was developed alongside the title, and included with its release, but was also made available as a stand-alone release. As the result of a partnership with Intel, Echo Arena was offered for free to anyone who redeemed it within the first three months of launch.[13][12] Echo Arena is a team-based sports game, based around the locomotion mechanics of Lone Echo. Players compete in an arena to grab a flying disc and throw it through the opposition's goal. Players can grab onto other players and punch opposing players in the head to stun them, making it a full-contact sport.[14] There are several leagues for Echo Arena, including a Master League [15] with a massive cash prize of $250,000[16] (at least for season 3). Anyone can form a team to compete in this league as long as it follows the guidelines set in place by the event organisers. [17]

Reception

Prior to its launch, Lone Echo won the Game Critics Award for Best VR Game at E3 2017.[22]

Upon its release, Lone Echo received positive reviews. As of August 4, 2017 it had an average score of 89 on review aggregator Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[18] UploadVR awarded the title an 8.5/10, calling it "a landmark achievement in three key areas of the VR experience: locomotion, UI, and interaction," but criticized the game's deliberate pacing and abrupt ending.[8] In his review, GameCrate's Leo Parrill called it "one of the best VR experiences I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy," while noting the presence of some frustrating bugs and glitches.[9] Road to VR awarded the game a 9/10, with particular praise given to the storytelling and the relationship between Jack and Olivia.[21]

Lone Echo was nominated for "Best VR/AR Game" at The Game Awards 2017,[23] for "Best VR Game" at Destructoid's Game of the Year Awards 2017,[24] and for "Best VR Experience" at IGN's Best of 2017 Awards.[25] Polygon ranked it 18th on their list of the 50 best games of 2017.[26] UploadVR awarded it Best Oculus Rift Game, Best Multiplayer VR Game, and Best Overall VR game for 2017.[27] The game was also nominated for "Best VR/AR Game" at the 18th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards,[28][29] and won the award for "Immersive Reality Technical Achievement" and "Immersive Reality Game of the Year" at the 21st Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, whereas its other nomination was for "Outstanding Technical Achievement";[30][31] in addition, it was nominated for "Direction in Virtual Reality" and "Sound Mixing in Virtual Reality" at the 17th Annual National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards,[32][33] and for "Best Use of Augmented Reality" at the 2018 Webby Awards.[34] It also won the award for "Best Emotional VR Game" at the Emotional Games Awards 2018.[35]

References
  1. "Lone Echo". Lone Echo. Oculus. 2017. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  2. Newhouse, Alex (July 20, 2017). "Awesome Multiplayer VR Game Echo Arena Out Today, And It's Completely Free". GameSpot. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  3. Thomas, Lucas M. (July 17, 2017). "Out This Week: Splatoon 2, Gigantic, Lone Echo". IGN. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  4. MacLean, Haley (July 3, 2017). "Every July 2017 VR Game Release Date". Twinfinite. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  5. Lang, Ben (2018-09-26). "Oculus Announces 'Lone Echo 2' with Immersive Trailer Available on Rift, Go, & Gear VR". Road to VR. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  6. Lang, Ben (2020-03-18). "'Lone Echo II' Further Delayed Beyond Q1 2020". Road to VR. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  7. Kuchera, Ben (July 24, 2017). "Lone Echo is one of VR's newest high points". Polygon. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  8. Feltham, Jamie (July 20, 2017). "Lone Echo Review: A New Kind Of Space Odyssey". UploadVR. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  9. Parrill, Leo (July 20, 2017). "Review: Lone Echo is a blast". GameCrate. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  10. Magee, Matthew (July 24, 2017). "'Lone Echo' Behind-the-Scenes – Insights & Artwork from Ready At Dawn". Road to VR. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  11. Copenhaver, Jacob (March 9, 2017). "VR Animation and Locomotion Systems in Lone Echo". Ready at Dawn. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  12. Hayden, Scott (July 20, 2017). "'Echo Arena' Launches Today, Free for a Limited Time". Road to VR. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  13. Wilde, Tyler (June 12, 2017). "Echo Arena will be free for the Oculus Rift". PC Gamer. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  14. Jagneaux, David (July 20, 2017). "Echo Arena Review: Ready at Dawn Delivers VR's First Amazing Esport". UploadVR. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  15. https://vrmasterleague.com
  16. https://uploadvr.com/vr-league-season-3-250k/
  17. https://vrmasterleague.com/EchoArena/Rules/
  18. "Lone Echo for PC reviews". Metacritic. July 20, 2017. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
  19. Fahs, Travis (July 27, 2017). "Lone Echo Review". Adventure Gamers. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
  20. Stapleton, Dan (August 3, 2017). "Lone Echo Review". IGN. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
  21. Hayden, Scott (July 20, 2017). "'Lone Echo' Review – Humanity and A.I. Bond at the Ragged Edge of Space". Road to VR. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  22. "E3 2017 Game Critics Award Winners". Game Critics Awards. June 28, 2017. Archived from the original on February 26, 2012. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  23. https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/309601/Nominees_revealed_for_The_Game_Awards_2017.php
  24. https://www.destructoid.com/nominees-for-destructoid-s-best-vr-game-of-2017-476371.phtml
  25. http://www.ign.com/wikis/best-of-2017-awards/Best_VR_Experience
  26. https://www.polygon.com/2017-best-games/2017/12/18/16781674/best-video-games-2017-top-50-mario-pubg-zelda
  27. https://uploadvr.com/uploadvrs-best-2017-winners/
  28. https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/312569/Breath_of_the_Wild__Horizon_Zero_Dawn_lead_GDC_2018_Choice_Awards_nominees.php
  29. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-wins-another-ga/1100-6457600/
  30. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/game-of-the-year-nominees-announced-for-dice-award/1100-6456107/
  31. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-wins-game-of-th/1100-6456956/
  32. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-02-15. Retrieved 2018-02-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  33. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-03-14. Retrieved 2018-03-14.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  34. https://www.webbyawards.com/winners/2018/
  35. https://www.destructoid.com/here-are-the-winners-of-the-emotional-games-awards-2018-493976.phtml
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