The Order: 1866 developers dive into VR with Lone Echo

Depending on whether you welcome Virtual Reality’s presence on the gaming scene, one of the two old adages may apply: it never rains but it pours, or you wait for one bus then two come along at once. Either way, what with the Tekken, Batman, Gran Turismo and Final Fantasy franchises all having played host to VR modes lately, the technology is here to stay.

That’s presumably why we’ve received word this week of the team behind such acclaimed AAA releases as God of War: Origins Collection, Ōkami and The Order: 1866, joining forces with the creators of the Oculus Rift head-set to delve into those same reality-bending realms with their next project.

Takeaways:

• Currently going by the intriguing name of Lone Echo, the first ever collaboration between Ready at Dawn and Oculus Studios takes players on an interplanetary trip to Saturn’s rings, where they’ll encounter an “unknown anomaly” while exploring a desolate space station with their human companion. What could possibly go wrong?
• Discovering the devastating answer to that not-so-rhetorical question will require no shortage of cunning or bladder restraint either, with the developers teasing “stomach twisting zero-G mobility” and “real-time problem solving” challenges in the single-player campaign for both the player and their avatar, one Captain Olivia Rhodes.
• For now it’s exclusively a PC release with no other platforms teased at this stage, but nothing’s out of the question given Ready at Dawn’s past dabbling with Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony hardware alike, not to mention the latter corporation’s development of dedicated PlayStation VR hardware for titles like this one.

In the event that we’ve followed Leo DiCaprio’s lead in Django Unchained by capturing both your curiosity and attention, then rest assured that there’s not long now standing between you and Lone Echo’s launch, since this 2017 space odyssey will make its debut on the Oculus Store alone in just a few days’ time – July 20^th, to be precise.

Be sure to let us know your thoughts on the latest addition to the ever-densifying VR pantheon – as well as the debatable merits of the technology’s exponentially enhanced influence on the industry in recent years – below, and stay tuned to D-pad Joy as the year progresses for all the latest coverage on such projects and their all-important hit record.