(Image credit: Ready at Dawn)

Space Exploration with a Bit of Mystery

Have you ever dreamed of floating in space without gravity and worry? Despite releasing four years ago, Lone Echo scratches an inner childhood itch I thought was long lost. Players can freely drift around open-air, bounce off any physical surface, or grip objects tightly while torpedoing down a narrow shaft. Ready at Dawn accompanied the gameplay with impressive views of Saturn and a meaningful story with a tight cast of characters. The Load Screen reviews the first game in the series while waiting for its sequel.

The story unveiled within Lone Echo is deep, even with a shorter playtime. The player controls a sarcastic robot named Jack. He is the leading service android for the Kronos II mining station and best friend to Captain Olivia Rhodes. The game starts as Liv revives Jack before she ships off to lead another Atlas station for one final time. Shortly after the reunion and during Jack’s captain training, an anomaly rips near Saturn and its rings. Players can easily miss the quick event with all the other things to look at in the cabin, even though Liv calls it out and glides herself to the best view.

The graphics throughout the expansive and explorable scenery are stunning despite not utilizing advanced graphics, like ray tracing. The visuals were utterly immersive from the moment Jack’s pod first powers up under Liv’s watchful eye. Then when Liv opens the shutters on the command module revealing nearby Saturn and its rings, the depth of the visuals shows and shines. Every floating object tells a unique story, with intricate details layered throughout, weaving the narrative further. Interacting with the objects felt organic since Jack comes modeled with arms and a body, avoiding the disembodied hands that cause lower player immersion. The lighting in damaged corridors was dramatic, borderline out of a horror thriller. Illuminating those completely dark passages with the headlight was eerily beautiful, not scary.

(Image credit: Ready at Dawn)

Even years after the release, the graphics got a serious performance boost last year for those with Variable Rate Supersampling (VRSS) capable PCs. Nvidia lists the improvement for Lone Echo in this article on VRSS: Improve Image Quality in VR, and it even demonstrates how to activate the feature for any game listed. The technique uses Nvidia Variable Rate Shading to apply up to eight times supersampling to the tethered VR headset. The best part of this add-on is that Ready at Dawn did not have to update Lone Echo since developer integration is unnecessary, only that a title has DX11 with forwarding renderers and MSAA support.

Without the outside update, the gameplay remains outstanding still. Space is a playground, and gamers can explore it from the safety of their home. Jack comes equipped with a scanner, headlamp, wrist propulsion, and finger laser for solving any problem. No advanced gunplay is found here, only extreme zero-g parkour action with every object and surface interactable for the player. Key items used throughout the story solve puzzles, but the player has no inventory slots except their two hands making the gameplay even more unique and immersive. My favorites were the fun prop items, especially the remote-control model spacecraft. I bet there is a way to get into serious mayhem with it, but I could not get a speed boost from it. The hammer was a different story; it is excellent for propulsion but offends Liz when using her like a piñata despite the speed.

(Image credit: Ready at Dawn)

Two issues exist in the game, but they are not highly off-putting for a VR title. The first issue was when the player moved by in-game functions and not autonomously since the movement was jarring. It is easily noticeable at the start when Jack’s storage pod opens or when he rides any motorized spaceships. I did close my eyes on at least one trip since the movement did not feel natural as it does freely moving as Jack, but VRSS helped minimize it greatly. The second concern for me is the immersion factor. After longer play sessions, gravity suddenly felt unnatural, and I kept trying to push off everything for added speed. I have played other VR games set in space with zero-g mechanics, but I never needed decompression time before. A splendid issue caused by seamless gameplay mechanics but could still be problematic.

Lone Echo is short but has replayability built into its space parkour action. With the boost in graphics provided by Nvidia’s VRSS, the game feels like it has not aged a day since 2017. The only sad part about the title by Ready at Dawn is that it remains an Oculus exclusive. The Load Screen team eagerly awaits the continuation of Jack and Liv’s story in Lone Echo II when it comes out sometime next year.

Lone Echo

·         Platforms: Oculus Rift, Rift S

·         Developer: Ready at Dawn

·         Publisher: Oculus Studios

·         Release Date: July 20, 2017

·         Played on: Oculus Rift S