Of Lies and Rain enters early entry tomorrow, providing a story-driven VR journey in a post-apocalyptic world, and we tried it on Quest 3.
After preventing a twenty-year conflict in opposition to a rogue AI known as A.D.E., the floor now belongs to the machines. Survivors cling to what scraps of civilization are left under. You get up above floor to search out out you aren’t human. As an alternative, you’re a “knowledge type” with no reminiscence of who you might be or why you’re right here within the first place.
Then, a guiding voice says it’s time to push ahead to face A.D.E. and get well your recollections of the previous. Fragments of reminiscence unlock throughout this unusual, blocky panorama, hinting at your function within the epic conflict in addition to your reference to the AI.
Transferring Into The Knowledge World
In Of Lies and Rain, you sometimes switch right into a secondary realm known as the Knowledge “World” to perform duties that enable you to within the overworld.
A locked metallic door in the principle world, for instance, will be cleared by discovering an entry level, shifting into Knowledge World, and clearing a firewall. Breaking by way of that digital barrier disables the lock outdoors to let me move. At one other level, the trail forward is destroyed, and conducting my job in Knowledge World rebuilds the bridge.
The Knowledge World incorporates a pleasant mix of fight and high-flying aerial maneuvers alongside its puzzles. In these realms, a gravity gun pulls you throughout huge distances whereas flinging you excessive within the air towards pulsating varieties and elevated platforms.
Gameplay captured by UploadVR
It feels good correcting course mid-fight to achieve an angle over machines which can be blocking my path, and total the expertise is just like flinging across the maps in SWARM 2. Motion can get complicated at occasions, however these Knowledge Worlds ship a number of the sport’s finest moments.
Graphics on Quest 3 look higher than most video games I’ve performed on the system. Some segments present heavy aliasing, although I solely encountered a number of of those throughout the six hours I’ve performed the sport.
The world is uneven, at occasions feeling like a convincing, hostile place, filled with the economic grit of a ruined world. At different moments, flat lighting robs rooms of depth, and low high quality textures develop into apparent.
Gameplay Captured by UploadVR
Some props and set items seem to jitter unexpectedly. It’s frequent to witness occasional physics misfires, corresponding to a physique twitching unnaturally and turning into caught in partitions or tables, or gadgets and enemies clipping out and in of existence randomly within the warmth of a battle. I would not say it ruins the expertise, however within the present construct I performed, there’s the fixed reminder that the sport remains to be in Early Entry improvement.
The voice performing is nice however quiet, leaving ambient sound to do nearly all of the work. Mechanical groans and the distant scurrying of bug-like AI-driven machines create a continuing feeling that one thing else is shifting close by.
After which there’s the rain.
Gameplay captured by UploadVR with voiceover by Don Hopper
For practically forty minutes, I walked below a mercury downpour whereas my in-game persona gasped for air each few seconds. It is probably the most uncomfortable gameplay sequences I’ve encountered in VR in a very long time. This aspect of the sound design drove dwelling the specter of suffocation from the poisonous ambiance, activating a worry of suffocation from listening to that audio repeatedly in my ears for nearly an hour. I thought-about muting the sport. The dev group ought to scale this again, or give gamers an choice within the consolation settings to show this explicit impact off.
Easy locomotion and snap turning are each current on Quest 3. Within the Knowledge World, the gravity gun’s motion is intense with speedy elevation modifications that could possibly be troublesome. Consolation choices embrace vignettes and snap turning. Tight corridors may have an effect on those that may really feel claustrophobic and the audio of poisonous rain sequences will be overwhelming.
Fight & Interplay
Fight in Of Lies and Rain is comparatively gradual and methodical, with the opening hour principally a strolling simulator. There are some wonderful, stop-you-in-your-tracks visible moments interspersed between easy encounters in opposition to ground-based AI machines taking pictures simply avoidable laser beams.
Gameplay Captured by UploadVR
Drones come later within the sport. These lengthy, spindly machines appear like Sentinels from The Matrix however ordered from TEMU, they usually require a brand new plan of assault. I rapidly begin to duck behind cowl, lean round corners, and watch for the hum of the enemies’ engines to dissipate earlier than taking my photographs. I do not suggest taking them on with the base-level pistol. After discovering the shotgun, the drones develop into much less of a problem and extra of a nuisance.
Gameplay captured by UploadVR
It is a reduction to search out the primary improve sphere within the sport. Stepping inside presents you with improve paths for character, weapons, and equipment. Spend purple cubes right here, referred to as GPUs, for some main enhancements. Fight instantly feels higher after the primary set of upgrades, with improved accuracy and fewer frustration with enemy encounters.
Enemies can look stiff, and their patterns repeat too typically, with lots of them simply strolling straight at you and begging to be shot. The slower-paced fight makes firefights extra about positioning and problem-solving than simply twitch reflexes. As talked about earlier, the setting may also be the enemy, with a number of spots crammed with poisonous gases or different hazards that may kill rapidly.
Early Entry & Wishlisting
Castello at the moment plans to maintain Of Lies and Rain in Early Entry for as much as a 12 months. The core options and full storyline are already carried out, however optimization and polish are ongoing. Castello states:
“Of Lies and Rain is coming into Early Entry to collect suggestions from you, our gamers. That is our second sport ever and we’re a really small group. We consider that one of the simplest ways to create a tremendous VR expertise is to develop it alongside our gamers as we did with our first sport.”
Efficiency-wise, Quest 3 options some dynamic lights and fundamental particle results with refresh fee choices of 72, 80, 90, and 120Hz. PC VR and PS VR2 promise increased decision textures, dynamic shadows, full particles, and post-processing. We’ll have a graphics comparability as quickly as we will between Quest 3 and PC VR variations, just like our earlier appears to be like at Metro: Awakening and Alien: Rogue Incursion.
The messaging from builders means that, proper now, when you don’t get pleasure from tough builds, you must wait to purchase this. Of Lies and Rain presents a story-driven journey that mixes fight, puzzles, and dual-realm mechanics into one thing memorable. Castello has constructed a robust basis, combining overworld exploration and Knowledge World traversal with the GPU improve system, gravity gun, and intriguing puzzle mechanics all working collectively for a worthwhile exploration.
Of Lies and Rain is out tomorrow in early entry on PC VR and Quest, and you may count on it on PS VR2 finally as properly.
