Category: ready at dawn

Posted on

Long-delayed ‘Lone Echo II’ to Release on Oculus PC in October

Lone Echo II, Ready at Dawn’s long-awaited sequel to the sci-fi adventure Oculus PC exclusive, was supposed to make its grand entrance back in August, but was delayed at the last minute to “later this year.” Now the studio says it’s officially set for launch on October 12th.

Update (September 28th, 2021): Ready at Dawn today announced in a blog post that Lone Echo II is set to launch on Oculus PC on October 12th. This includes Oculus Rift and Quest via Link or Air Link.

The original article announcing the game’s last delay follows below.

Original Article (August 13th, 2021): The studio released a message on Thursday stating that Lone Echo II is being delayed from its August 24th launch date to “later this year.” Here’s the full message from Ready at Dawn below:

To Our Lone Echo Community,

It was heartwarming to see the outpouring of love and excitement last month when we announced the Lone Echo II launch date. Like many game studios over the past couple of years, our team has tackled new obstacles in development, and has needed to be inventive and resourceful to reach this point. We have been working hard to deliver the very best experience possible and we are eager to have you join Liv and Jack in their adventures once again. However, as we get closer to launch day, it has become clear that we needed a bit more time to polish and reach our desired quality level. As such, Lone Echo II’s launch date will be moved to later this year.
The decision to delay a game is always a tough one, but we believe you all deserve to experience the very best we can deliver.

We thank you for your patience and understanding.
Be safe, and see you around the rings of Saturn…

-The Ready At Dawn Team

Lone Echo II has been delayed now a number of times since it was originally announced to arrive in 2019. Like the first in the series, the space-faring adventure is set to be a graphically intense game targeting Oculus PC headsets (Oculus Rift and Quest via Link or Air Link). It’s also set to be the last PC-only title funded by Facebook, both through direct funding and by now actually owning the studio that produces it.

Since we’ll be waiting until another release date materializes, the original Lone Echo (2017) is currently on sale for $10. It was Road to VR’s 2017 Rift Game of the Year, and still holds up as a class-leading PC VR game in terms of polish and immersion

Now two years old, Ready at Dawn’s 15-minute gameplay video still gives us the best look of a new mystery and a few puzzling challenges you’ll face in your story-based jaunt through space as Jack, android companion to the human Captain Liv.

The post Long-delayed ‘Lone Echo II’ to Release on Oculus PC in October appeared first on Road to VR.

Posted on

Lone Echo II Has Been Moved to Late 2021

Lone Echo 2

This summer was set to be the season of big virtual reality (VR) blockbusters with the likes of After the Fall and Lone Echo II both landing after several delays. As sure as autumn follows summer more delays have inevitably happened with Ready at Dawn confirming today that Lone Echo II has been pushed back to later this year.

Lone Echo 2

It was only last month that Ready at Dawn announced the 24th August launch date, now changing its mind only three weeks later that the sci-fi adventure for Oculus Rift won’t be ready. It’s understandable considering how well the original did and how highly anticipated the sequel is.

In a blog post, the studio said: “We have been working hard to deliver the very best experience possible and we are eager to have you join Liv and Jack in their adventures once again. However, as we get closer to launch day, it has become clear that we needed a bit more time to polish and reach our desired quality level. As such, Lone Echo II’s launch date will be moved to later this year.”

Unfortunately, the ambiguous statement indicates the team might need a while longer to finesse Lone Echo II’s gameplay considering a new date hasn’t been set. Lone Echo II is now going to be one of the big winter releases by the looks of it, maybe Facebook Connect will unearth new details?

Lone Echo 2

It seems a long time ago now but VRFocus did preview Lone Echo II during Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2019. Saying at the time that it: “still looks as detailed and stunning to look at as the first instalment, having that broody looking horror sci-fi feel as if you’re in a scene from Alien.” Now we’re even more intrigued to see how much has changed.

In Lone Echo II you continue your role as Jack, an android tasked with aiding Captain Olivia Rhodes’ survival in deep space. In complete zero-g environments, you can explore by grabbing hold of objects or using wrist-mount boosters. You also have a range of tools built into your hands to solve various puzzles.

The original Lone Echo from 2017 is still available at a discounted rate of £7.99 GBP ($9.99 USD) which was supposed to last until the 24th. It’s unclear if this will be extended so if you’ve been thinking about grabbing the title now might be a good time. For continued updates keep reading VRFocus.

Posted on

Lone Echo II Delayed To Late 2021

Less than a month after announcing the Lone Echo II release date Facebook’s Ready At Dawn opted to move it back to later this year, with no solid date attached.

The sequel to 2017’s powerhouse single-player PC VR title was originally to release on August 24th — the date was announced just a few weeks ago on on July 20th.

Here’s the statement from Ready At Dawn on the delay of the last Rift-exclusive title:

To Our Lone Echo Community,

It was heartwarming to see the outpouring of love and excitement last month when we announced the Lone Echo II launch date. Like many game studios over the past couple of years, our team has tackled new obstacles in development, and has needed to be inventive and resourceful to reach this point. We have been working hard to deliver the very best experience possible and we are eager to have you join Liv and Jack in their adventures once again. However, as we get closer to launch day, it has become clear that we needed a bit more time to polish and reach our desired quality level. As such, Lone Echo II’s launch date will be moved to later this year.

The decision to delay a game is always a tough one, but we believe you all deserve to experience the very best we can deliver.

We thank you for your patience and understanding.

Be safe, and see you around the rings of Saturn…

-The Ready At Dawn Team

Posted on

Oculus Rift Exclusive Lone Echo II Finally Lands in August

Lone Echo 2

The day has finally arrived for eager Oculus owners with the long-awaited confirmation of a launch date for Lone Echo II. Originally unveiled back in 2018, Ready at Dawn teased earlier in the year that Lone Echo II would be arriving this summer as an Oculus Quest exclusive, with an August date putting the launch just over a month away.

Lone Echo 2

Lone Echo II is a direct continuation of the first title where you take the role of Jack, an android tasked with aiding Captain Olivia Rhodes’ survival. One of the first VR videogames really classed as a AAA title, the sequel will continue the epic narrative and zero-g controls whilst expanding upon the gameplay dynamics which made the first such a hit.

As Jack, you’ll be able to explore environments either by launching yourself from a stationary object or using your wrist-mounted thrusters for true weightless freedom. Jack also comes supplied with a range of useful tools to complete puzzles and discover new secrets. This sequel will also develop Rhodes and Jack’s bond as they fight to survive the harsh realities of deep space.

Ready at Dawn may still term Lone Echo II an Oculus Rift exclusive but the headset has now been officially discontinued. Of course, thanks to Oculus Link or Air Link Lone Echo II is fully compatible with Facebook’s Oculus Quest platform as long as you’ve got a VR-capable PC.

Lone Echo 2

Lone Echo II will officially launch on the Oculus Store for Oculus Rift on 24th August 2021 priced at £29.99 GBP/$39.99 USD. If you do buy the videogame then you’ll also receive a free VEGA X-3 chassis for your Echo VR avatar, the same as Jack’s from Lone Echo II. If you’ve not yet played the original Lone Echo from 2017 then now’s a good a time as any. From today until 24th August Lone Echo is discounted to £7.99 ($9.99).

Reviewing the original all those years ago, VRFocus said of the sci-fi epic: “Lone Echo has been one of those massively talked about titles that you wonder if it could ever live up to the hype. Well in this instance it does. Ready at Dawn has created an experience that every Oculus Touch owner needs in their library.” Hopefully, that trend continues next month.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of Lone Echo II as the launch date nears, reporting back with further updates.

Posted on

Lone Echo II Launches August 24 On Oculus Rift Platform

The last announced Oculus Rift exclusive title, Lone Echo II, will launch on August 24 for $39.99 and it will be playable on Quest from a VR-ready PC via Oculus Link or Air Link.

Lone Echo’s impressive single-player campaign in 2017 was one of consumer VR’s early standouts for hand-controlled interaction and the original game will be priced $9.99 until the release of Lone Echo II. So if you haven’t already experienced the compelling story of Liv and her artificially intelligent companion Jack, now is a great time to get caught up on the mechanics of zero-g gameplay before the launch of the sequel. We’ll have to test it when Lone Echo II launches, but many Rift platform games are playable on other PC VR headsets via hacks like Revive.

Lone Echo likely represents a swan song for Facebook’s Rift platform and effectively marks a finale to one of its first efforts in consumer VR. Facebook acquired Oculus in 2014 and funded a series of PC VR games as it learned through trial and error that players enjoyed VR games with tracked hand controls over those played with traditional gamepad. Facebook’s efforts in PC VR ran parallel to those in mobile VR, which won favor with consumers as Facebook progressed from Samsung’s Gear VR phone-powered headset to the underpowered Oculus Go and finally to Oculus Quest, which combined the room-scale and tracked hand controls that made Rift compelling with a standalone wireless form factor.

People who buy Lone Echo II will get a new Jack-themed chassis for their avatars in Echo VR. Last year Facebook acquired Ready At Dawn, the developer of all the Echo games, after the studio adapted the zero-g mechanics it pioneered in Lone Echo into a competitive sport that also ran on Oculus Quest. The free-to-play game is one of VR’s best competitive sports titles. Facebook provided the render below showing the VEGA X-3 chassis players will get for purchasing the game.

Facebook teases that players will get “a new assortment of tools to overcome complex challenges and startling discoveries of deep space in the far future” in Lone Echo II.

Will you be playing Lone Echo II when it launches in August? Let us know in the comments below.

Posted on

‘Lone Echo II’ Coming to Oculus PC in August, Original ‘Lone Echo’ Discounted to $10

The long-awaited sequel to Ready At Dawn’s space adventure Lone Echo (2017) is nearly here. Lone Echo II is now set to arrive on August 24th, likely making it one of the last PC-only games funded by Facebook to arrive on the Oculus Store.

Lone Echo II has been delayed multiple times since it was originally slated to arrive in 2019, but the wait is almost over. The game, which launches on the Oculus Store for Rift and Quest via either Link or Air Link next month, will be priced at $40.

In a bid to get more people interested in the now four year-old game, the original Lone Echo is getting a steep cut from its regular price of $40, bringing the game to just $10 for a limited time.

Lone Echo follows the exploits of Captain Olivia Rhodes and an artificial intelligence named Jack (that’s you) who look after an advanced mining facility around the rings of Saturn. As Jack, you use futuristic tools, solve puzzles, and fly around still one of the most detailed and immersive VR games to hit the Oculus platform.

Image courtesy Ready at Dawn, Facebook

Since you’re a consciousness backed up on local servers, getting killed isn’t nearly the same corporeal drama as it might be for your companion Captain Rhodes. You simply wake back up in a new artificial body and continue with the narrative adventure.

No spoilers here, but in Lone Echo II you reprise the role of Jack as you embark on new adventures with Captain Rhodes. Although it’s possible things have changed over the past two years, a 15-minute gameplay video gives us the best look of a new mystery and a few puzzling challenges Jack must overcome.

Ready at Dawn, which has since been acquired by Facebook, says that anyone who purchases Lone Echo II will also receive a free chassis for their Echo VR avatar, which matches Jack’s new chassis (seen above). Echo VR is the studio’s sportier cross-platform little brother, which is kind of like a zero-gravity version of ultimate frisbee.

The post ‘Lone Echo II’ Coming to Oculus PC in August, Original ‘Lone Echo’ Discounted to $10 appeared first on Road to VR.

Posted on

‘Echo VR’ Launches Season 2 Battle Pass Featuring More Premium Cosmetics

Echo VR (2017), the zero-gravity sports game for Quest and Rift, has just started its second ‘Echo Pass’ season, which for a limited time lets players nab limited-time cosmetic rewards earned through playing matches. It’s open to everyone, although users with the paid Premium Echo Pass can skip the line and go straight for the gear.

Echo VR (formerly called Echo Arena) was originally planned to be sold for $20, but was made indefinitely free thanks to a partnership with Oculus. Developer Ready at Dawn, which was acquired by Facebook in 2020, has recently focused on funding development with a monetization model that offers its users the chance to grind or buy cosmetic-focused reward tiers.

Launching on June 8th and ending on August 22nd, the studio brings Echo Pass Season 2 to Oculus Quest and Rift players, letting them earn cosmetic items across 50 reward tiers. Ready at Dawn says this includes character customizations, heraldry, personal Tier Experience Points (TXP) boosts, group TXP boosts, and Echo Points.

Here’s a look at some of the stuff you can earn (or buy) during the Echo Pass Season 2. There’s new boosters, bracers, banners, emblems, and tags—many of them in splendiferous new colors and styles, and a few seemingly inspired by Ancient Egyptian mythology like the cool scarab booster and Anubis helmet.

Image courtesy Ready at Dawn, Oculus

Like the game’s first season of Echo Pass back in March, TXP is earned by playing matches, which then unlocks those sequential reward tiers.

Alternatively, you can buy an ‘Echo Pass Premium’ with 1,000 ‘Echo Points’, which can be purchased as add-on content through the Oculus Store. With the premium pass, you can then unlock specific reward tiers in 200-point bundles. Here’s how that converts into actual cash.

  • $5 – 500 Echo Points
  • $10 – 1,000 Echo Points +50 Bonus = 1,050 Total Echo Points
  • $20 – 2,000 Echo Points +140 Bonus = 2,140 Total Echo Points
  • $50 – 5,000 Echo Points +450 Bonus = 5,450 Total Echo Points

Ready at Dawn says it will be offering more ways to redeem Echo Points at some point later this year. Like with its battle passes, as long as that monetization model doesn’t hurt balance and keeps people engaged, you might see it as an overall win since players regularly return for new content and the studio stays engaged in further development.

The post ‘Echo VR’ Launches Season 2 Battle Pass Featuring More Premium Cosmetics appeared first on Road to VR.

Posted on

Echo VR Season 2 Starts June 8

Echo VR’s second season kicks off on June 8.

An Echo Pass launched in March offering seasonal reward tracks with in-game cosmetics for progress in one of VR’s most popular sports. The seasons are expected to last a few months before resetting, with rewards earned throughout the season offering customizations that do not offer an in-game advantage.

The first season, which ended on May 23, added new chassis, boosters, bracers, medals, emotes, emblems, banners, tints, patterns, tags, and titles. For season 2, Ready At Dawn revealed some of the boosters that’ll be unlockable, including a ladybug and bee that look like they’ll be pretty cool to blast around with in zero-g.


Given that there’s some time left until the start of the next season we’d expect Ready At Dawn to tease more of the rewards that’ll be unlockable soon.


Ready at Dawn is a Facebook-owned studio that’s also working on Lone Echo 2, the sequel to the incredible single player game from 2017 that helped pioneer the zero-g mechanics that are so satisfying in the team sport of multiplayer Echo VR. The sequel launches on the Rift store this summer.

The first season for Echo Pass featured a reward track available to all players that could be converted to a Premium pass for additional rewards. The Premium Pass was sold for roughly $10 in U.S. currency, or 1000 in-game Echo Points.

Echo VR is one of the games that supports 120 Hz mode on Oculus Quest 2 and the title is free-to-play as well as one of the best games available in standalone VR, so if you haven’t checked it out already we recommend giving it a try.

Posted on

Lone Echo II Launches This Summer for Oculus Rift

Lone Echo 2

If there’s one videogame longtime Oculus fans have been eagerly awaiting its probably Lone Echo II by Ready At Dawn. The original Lone Echo in 2017 was a massive Oculus exclusive, showcasing just what the medium could achieve way before Half-Life: Alyx. Today, as part of the Oculus Gaming Showcase, Lone Echo II is confirmed for a Summer 2021 launch.

Lone Echo 2

Not unexpected, as the Oculus Gaming Showcase announcement did mention Lone Echo II, with everyone awaiting news of its arrival. It’s still a shame that it’s just a summer window with no concrete date as to the sci-fi adventure’s exact arrival. When it does land it’ll still be an exclusive for the now discontinued Oculus Rift platform with support for Oculus Quest via Link – you can always utilise Virtual Desktop or Oculus Air Link to keep it wireless.

Lone Echo II continues the exploits of Captain Olivia Rhodes and her trusty android sidekick Jack. Weaving a rich sci-fi narrative, as Jack you’re tasked with aiding Rhodes’ survival in the depths of space, exploring the zero-g environments with a wrist-mounted thruster and solving various challenges along the way.

“Lone Echo ended with an unanswered question; what does the future hold for Liv and Jack now that they’ve arrived in the 26th century? We’re excited to continue their story and reveal how the events of the first game have impacted the future they are about to encounter,” said Ru Weerasuriya, Founder, Head of Studio, Ready At Dawn in a statement. “With Lone Echo, we opened the door to building a true connection with an NPC inside a virtual world. With this sequel, we are diving deeper into the relationship between Jack and Liv, and giving the player the opportunity to explore new bonds with new characters.”

Lone Echo 2

Ready At Dawn confirmed Lone Echo II was underway in 2018, offering a playable demo during the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2019 with an eye on launching the title in 2020. Like many studios, the move to remote working during the pandemic significantly impacted development of the videogame with the studio having to push the release window back. So now there’s Lone Echo II to look forward to in a few months.

As further details on Lone Echo II are released, VRFocus will let you know.

Posted on

Ready at Dawn to Monetise Echo VR With Seasonal Pass

Echo Pass Season 1

Dedicated online multiplayer Echo VR has always been free for Oculus Quest and Rift owners, so in a bid to help monetise the videogame Ready at Dawn will be launching a new seasonal event pass called Echo Pass. 

Echo Pass Season 1

Much like other free-to-play videogames, the seasonal Echo Pass will only offer players cosmetic rewards. No reward will provide an in-game advantage of any sort. There will be a free version with 10 rewards to unlock, whilst the Premium version will let players access a further 50 items. To earn them all they need to do is play matches.

The Premium pass will retail for 1000 Echo Points ($9.99 USD), purchased in-game or through Oculus DLC. After they’ve bought the Premium Echo Pass players can choose to purchase further tiers costing 200 Echo Points each if they don’t have time to earn the necessary Tier Experience Points (TXP). It’s unclear how long the season will last and therefore the effort required to unlock everything without paying.

The various Echo Points bundles:

  • $4.99 – 500 Echo Points
  • $9.99 – 1000 Echo Points +50 Bonus = 1050 Total Echo Points
  • $19.99 – 2000 Echo Points +140 Bonus = 2140 Total Echo Points
  • $49.99 – 5000 Echo Points +450 Bonus = 5450 Total Echo Points
Echo Pass Season 1

Ready at Dawn notes that it has overhauled the in-game customization system enabling players to get more creative. When it comes to body customizations the: “Chassis is no longer restricted by game mode and can be used everywhere,” whilst the new Boosters and Bracers offer more visual options.

Another new form of customization is Heraldry. Banners, Tags, Emblems, Patterns and Tints, Medals, and Titles give players further chance to stand out from the crowd.

Before all of this is rolled out Ready at Dawn has opened a limited Private Test Server (PTS) this week to test features and collect community feedback. The studio recommends players use an Oculus Quest 2 for the PTS as Rift and original Quest players may experience performance issues.

Ready at Dawn has yet to confirm when Echo Pass Season 1 will commence, just that its ‘coming soon’. As for the studio’s other big VR title, Lone Echo 2, there hasn’t been an update since October 2020, hopefully, 2021 will be the year. For further updates on both videogames, keep reading VRFocus.