Lone Echo II is a pristine example of how a sequel can be better than the original in every way. More mature and varied gameplay elements, impressive graphics, and a story that wouldn't feel out of the place in a novel make this the must-have swan song of the Rift platform.
Lone Echo 2 is the perfect sequel for those who have loved the original title. All the others must be prepared for a wonderful VR adventure with basic puzzles and an enormous amount of dialogues.
Lone Echo II boldly crafts a stunning and near-perfect space sim, but repetition and lack of replay value aren't enough to pass on Oculus' last Rift exclusive.
Lone Echo 2 is just as much a solid blend of narrative and puzzle solving in the VR space as the first one was and continues to show Ready at Dawn has a winning formula for VR players of all styles and comfort levels. [Tested with Oculus Quest 2 via link to PC]
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. While it's nice to be introduced to some new and important characters, they don't see much development, which contributes to a plot that doesn't feel very impactful. The game doesn't do much to challenge the player in combat or puzzles, but it excels in immersion. Between its intuitive zero-G locomotion and (at times) open map design, it's just a bit magical to feel like you're really outside of a derelict space station orbiting Saturn. The game could have benefited from better pacing and a bit more threat and tension, but if you liked doing space chores the first time around, you'll enjoy it here too.
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. Despite arriving four years after the groundbreaking original, there’s very little that will surprise you here and, although well written, the drawn-out character dialogue quickly wears thin. It’s still held up by a fantastic locomotion system with first-rate immersion alongside a solid story with believable performances, but the startling spark of blockbuster innovation that fuelled the first game has long-since died out. Jack and Liv’s mission to get back to the past makes for a fun ride, but parts of Lone Echo 2 were stuck there to begin with.
I never thought I'd experience anything close to Alyx for many years - but Lone Echo 2 not only delivered, but even transcended what I thought was possible in VR. First you may not notice it, LE2 may look like LE1, but it isn't. See how extremely detailed Olivia is when you get very close? See her skin, her eyes her lips - this is way beyond npcs even in Alyx. And later in LE2 you will meet npcs that truly will knock your socks off (in case you're wearing any ;-) While Alyx is a lonely game with rare friendly social npc encounters, LE2 is like being in a real movie. This no longer feels like a game: I do not play Jack, I am Jack.
The level of immersion provided in this game - and the story, is second to none. Sure, Alyx has much better performance, but Alyx does not have better graphics. Also in Alyx you only got hands, in LE2 you got a full body. Alyx never got under my skin, but LE2 does in spades. This is the new VR reference, 17/10 rating ;-) The game works perfectly with Revive. My rig: Asus Strix OC RTX 3090, 10900K and 32GB. I use both Rift CV1 and Valve Index. Rift CV1 works great using ss 2.0 and High settings, but you might have to lower ss to 1.7 to get solid 90 fps. Index works fine using same settings, but res 200%, in 80 Hz. Keep res as high as possible, deactivate 1) auto-res in-game and 2) reduction of objects in the periphery. Keep TAA on and do not activate MSAA for best image quality and performance. These guidelines are for users of RTX 3080 or better. Btw, this game is the epitome of CV1 gaming - blacks are awesome. If fact I don't mind using either CV1 ss 2.0 or Index res 200%, both are awesome. TAA is totally sharp using the Rift CV1. Even if the game does look good using lcd when forcing high res to reduce TAA blur, I believe the CV1 was the original design target for this game.
{Personal Experience: Personal Experience}
6/10 - Average.
[Smoth for about 2 hours, after that the crashes happened. Crash every 5-30 min. The game itself is interesting and enjoyable, but the crashes bring down the playing experience a lot. I thought the issues from the first one would not be brought over to this one but i was wrong.]
{GamePlay: World/Level Design, Quests/Missions/Objectives, Difficulity (Deffault/Normal), Co-Op/Multiplayer Aspects}
7/10 - Good.
[The World/Level design looks fantastic, it feels like you're at an infested space station.
The Objectives are ok, they are to go from A to B or Find this item.
The difficulty is ok.
No Multiplayer in this game tho, but that's a standalone game called Echo Arena.]
{Narrative: Dialogue, Cutscenes}
9/10 - Great.
[The Dialogues are fantastic and keep things entertaining most of the time.
The only thing that can be considered a cutscene is at the beginning where they tell you the events of the first game. Tho cutscenes are rare when it comes to VR games in my experience.]
{Visuals: Graphics, Motion Capture/Voice-Sync}
10/10 - Fantastic.
[The Graphics looks fantastic and feels fairly realistic.
Fantastic Motion Capture, and fantastic Voice Sync.]
{Technical: Bugs, Performance}
4/10 - Bad.
[And now we're at the point where the game fails hard.
The Performance was terrible after 2 hours into the game, as the game was crashing every 5-30 min for the rest of the PlayThrough.]
{Story: The Story}
8/10 - Great.
[The Story was enjoyable, it continues where the first game left off and does it great.
Tho due to the ending, I'm doubting there will be a Lone Echo 3. sadly.]
{Replayability: Replayability (Alternate Endings, Secrets, Multiplayer, etc)}
5/10 – Bad.
[This game is play once and done kinda game.]
"7/10 – Good.
Playing a Good game is time well spent. Could it be better? Absolutely.
Maybe it lacks ambition, or is too repetitive,"
~DeathKillerNOR~
️ IN MY OPINION ️
Complete and udder garbage, The game released in such a broken state that the graphics engine cant even run on a RTX 3070 without low framerate, stuttering and blur so bad that I thought I had accidentally changed the render resolution by accident. It runs so poorly that it cant even run smoothly on the absolute lowest settings possible on a 3070.
Its been four months and the game has received not a single patch to solve the absolutely atrocious performance issues still plaguing the game.
DO NOT BUY THIS GARBAGE, They will never patch it and you will have wasted your money on something you cant even play.
PC specs:
GPU: msi RTX 3070
CPU: Ryzen 5 5600X
Ram: 16GB Ddr4 hyperX
PSU: 800Watt Corsair
Storage: 2TB m.2 Samsung SSD
SummaryJack and Liv are back in Lone Echo II. Return to the rings of Saturn in this highly-anticipated sequel, to unravel the mysteries of Lone Echo and journey deeper into space – past the very boundaries of time itself.