Meta shut down Echo VR, one of its best-performing VR games, in early August. At the time, it seemed like there was little hope for fans to ever play again, but now a modder has released an experimental project that brings unofficial online matches back to the zero-G sports game.
Created by David ‘Xenomega’ Pokora, the so-called ‘EchoRelay’ mod for the PC VR version of the game has brought back online services, which includes both Echo Arena and the game’s VR shooter variant, Echo Combat. Since it’s a PC mod, there’s no such solution for the Quest version of the game unfortunately.
The mod, which the creator calls a “proof-of-concept”, allows you to either run your own server or connect to other community servers. While Pokora states in the EchoRelay’s GitHub page that it’s “not intended to host unofficial services for the public,” the project is public and can be downloaded by anyone. Granted, you’ll need a copy of Echo VR on PC to begin with, which is no longer available via Meta’s PC Store.
Moreover, Pokora says the project won’t include continued support. “This project will never aim to go beyond the scope of personal educational research,” Pokora says, maintaining that there won’t be any further feature completion beyond what’s already available.
Still, while the GitHub page has been archived, enterprising modders can still fork the project and make changes there—something that Meta may or may not condone.
Check out the features below:
Extended Echo VR command-line arguments to launch the game:
As an offline client (no server)
As a dedicated game server
In windowed mode (no VR headset)
In headless mode, a console-based process with no graphics or audio
Use -noovr without -spectatorstream, allowing demo profiles with a VR headset or in windowed mode
Support for most standard in-game features:
Social Lobby
Echo Arena
Echo Combat
Local AI matches
Public or private match game types
NO Cooperative AI matches
Spectator and Game Admin (moderator) support
Support for different client flows (e.g. -lobbyid, which requests joining a specific lobby by UUID)
NO Partying-up with friends in a squad
NO Persisted armor changes/updates across game sessions
Support for basic server operator and administrator flows:
Kick users from game session
Ban accounts until a given date/time
Enforce allowed/denied clients through IP-based Access Control Lists.
Modify server-provided resources such as accounts, login settings, channel descriptions, etc.
Support for most network messages, e.g. profile fetches and updates, server resource fetching, matching, etc
Tomorrow, Meta and Ready at Dawn are shutting down Echo VR, the free-to-play game that helped pioneer VR sports. Get in now before they pull the plug.
Meta made no secret it was shutting down the zero-gravity sport Echo VR and its PC-only squad shooter variant, Echo Combat, having announced earlier this year it was sunsetting the games come August 1st at 10 AM PT (local time here). That means fans only have a few hours left to play before the multiplayer-only games are unceremoniously disconnected from Meta’s servers.
Echo VR fans didn’t go down without a fight though. Some spirited protests against the shutdown even included a dedicated fan group flying an airplane-towed message over Meta’s HQ in Menlo Park back in March, stating “ZUCK, DON’T KILL VR ESPORTS FIGHTFORECHO.COM”. Both online and offline protests fell on deaf ears though. The URL mentioned above now leads to a 404, and it’s pretty clear by now that Meta didn’t change their collective minds.
The studio recently released the Echo VR OST on YouTube, which feels like small recompense for killing consistently one of the best-rated and most popular free titles on Quest. Ready at Dawn, which was acquired by Meta in 2020, explained earlier this year the shutdown was made for “many good reasons [,] chief among them is the studio coming together to focus on our next project.”
Both Ready at Dawn and Onward studio Downpour Interactive found themselves caught up in one of the multiple rounds of layoffs to hit Meta earlier this year. To boot, Ready at Dawn has yet to reveal what’s next. Whatever it is though, we’re hoping it has many of the same hard-won learnings baked in, like Echo VR and its narrative games Lone Echo did. In the meantime, check out the OST playlist below.
Echo VR’s days are numbered, as Meta announced earlier this year it would soon be pulling the plug on one of its most successful games on Quest. But hardcore players of zero-G sports game Echo VR and its shooter variant Echo Combat aren’t going down without a fight.
Organizers behind a protest group called ‘The Fight For Echo’ are looking to keep their favorite game alive, and they’re apparently ready to take drastic measures.
On Wednesday, March 1st, the group commissioned an airplane-towed message to fly over Meta’s HQ in Menlo Park, California, which then circled the heart of Silicon Valley for over three hours for all to see. The message was directed at Meta founder & CEO Mark ‘Zuck’ Zuckerberg, stating: “ZUCK, DON’T KILL VR ESPORTS FIGHTFORECHO.COM”
You can see the plane in action, courtesy of a YouTube livestream by ‘rev2600’, one such dedicated Echo VR player:
While we are extremely passionate about these games and are very supportive of the team at Ready at Dawn and the Echo Games franchise on the whole, we think we can still help Meta and Ready at Dawn by continuing to be the testing ground and supportive community we always have been and provide a place where larger ideas for other VR games can be tested.
We cannot do that however without some kind of game server being provided to the community to host ourselves, or minimal infrastructure to play on and the permission to work with the people required to do it.
We understand that there is a future direction being taken; and that it is tied to regulations and compliance, and our intention is not to hold anything back. We only wish to continue to do what we’ve always done and be the ambassadors of VR that you want us to be.
At the time, the studio said the decision to shut down the game “was made for many good reasons and chief among them is the studio coming together to focus on our next project.”
Undeterred by the airplane-towed plea, Meta sent out the following message to Echo VR players last night:
We are reaching out to let you know that Echo VR servers will shut down on August 1st, 2023 – 10: 30 AM Pacific. On this date, both Echo VR and Echo Combat will no longer be playable.
Add-ons are no longer available for purchase in the Quest store. Echo Points are no longer available for purchase in the Echo Shop. Any Echo Points currently in your account can be used until August 1st, 2023 – 10: 30 AM Pacific, with items heavily discounted in the Echo Shop.
While a reversal of the shutdown seems less likely now that Ready at Dawn has completely neutered the free-to-play game’s in-game currency, the founders behind ‘The Fight For Echo’ initiative have setup a change.org petition so others can show their support. At the time of this writing over 25,000 people have signed.
Another Axiom, the indie studio behind wildly successful VR game Gorilla Tag, hinted that it’s now pursuing a project inspired by Echo VR.
Kerestell ‘LemmingVR’ Smith, the lead creator of Gorilla Tag, originally started working on the game thanks to his love of Echo VR, the zero-g sports game created by the Meta-owned studio Ready at Dawn.
Late last month though, Meta announced it will be shutting down Echo VR this summer as the team pursues other projects. As you’d imagine, this didn’t sit right with the small but dedicated playerbase, Smith included.
And Smith isn’t just any fan; he’s competed in and won several Echo VR competitions with his team ‘ec.lip.se’, making the loss of the game decidedly more personal.
In a recent tweet, Smith hinted that a new project is on the horizon which will be a zero-g sports game of sorts—undoubtedly a response to Meta pulling the plug on Echo VR.
Another Axion hasn’t tipped their hats beyond Smith’s tweet, so we’ll just have to wait and see what’s in store from the creator of Quest’s most-rated game, which has surpassed even the Meta-owned rhythm game Beat Saber in the number of user reviews it’s garnered.
In fact, the game has been so successful it generated $26 million in revenue from in-app purchases. The gorilla-themed game of tag has also reported a staggering (for VR) peak monthly active user count of 2.3 million in December 2022, further stating that over 760,000 users played on Christmas Day.
Thanks to Sven Viking for pointing us to the news.
Meta and its child-studio Ready at Dawn today announced plans to shut down the popular free-to-play multiplayer game Echo VR, with plans to turn off severs come August 1st.
Echo VR has had a storied journey, having originally launched as an Oculus Rift exclusive title all the way back in 2017. In 2020 the game made the leap to Quest, allowing cross-play multiplayer between Rift and Quest players. Shortly thereafter, Meta announced that it had acquired the game’s developer, Ready at Dawn.
Although not mentioned specifically, it’s hard to imagine that the broader layoffs at Meta (and other major tech companies) has nothing to do with the announcement. Especially considering that Ready at Dawn released its last game, Lone Echo II, more than a year ago; ostensibly the studio has been well at work on its “next project” for quite some time now.
In addition to being one of the platform’s most popular free multiplayer games, Echo VR also had one of the most robust in-app purchase offerings of any VR title so far, with a battlepass-style system that allowed players to pay for the chance to unlock cosmetic rewards over the course of seven seasons. Unfortunately the studio has confirmed that refunds for in-game content will not be offered.
Image courtesy Ready at Dawn, Oculus
As a parting gift, at least, the studio says players who play the game between now and when it shuts down will receive a heap of premium cosmetic items for free:
From now until August 1, 2023, play just one match of either Echo Combat or Arena to unlock:
All Epic + Superb rarity chassis/booster/bracer sets from Echo Pass seasons 1–6 Season 7 rewards to be released at a later date
All Chassis Variants
All non-3D rewards from Echo Pass seasons 1–6 Season 7 rewards to be released at a later date
All Echo Shop items Including Starter Bundle
All previous event rewards
Some previously unreleased rewards
The following rewards will NOT be included in the event
VRML rewards
LE2 Chassis
Legendary rarity chassis/booster/bracer sets from the previous 7 seasons
Leveling Track Rewards
Leveling Track
We will now be granting all leveling track items at lvl 1 so everyone gains access to these rewards without impacting matchmaking quality.
Echo Shop
We will place all legendary chassis/booster/bracer sets for sale on the Echo Shop at reduced prices until the game shuts down.
And last but not least, Ready at Dawn confirmed that Echo Combat, the lesser-played FPS variant of the game (which never made the leap to Quest) will also be shutting down as of August 1st, and is already no longer available for purchase.
Not ready to plonk down your first $100 on Quest 2 games? Thankfully there’s an impressive number of free games, experiences, apps, and social VR platforms to keep you playing before you’re paying.
We have however included App Lab games. If you want to see more, SideQuest’s search function is a great resource for finding free stuff and demos. Below you’ll find some of the top App Lab games in addition to those hosted on the official store.
Free Games
Blaston
This shooting game just went free-to-play, letting you take on friends, family and foes head-to-head in 1v1 dueling action. Refine your loadout and jump into the action as you scramble for weapons and send a volley of hellfire as your enemies, all the while Matrix dodging through this innovative bullet hell meets futuristic dueling title. Spend money on cosmetics, or don’t: it’s a massive slice of fun any which way.
There aren’t a ton of free-to-play shooters out there that promise multiplayer action, however Gun Raiders fits the bill with its multiple game modes that let you jetpack through the air, climbing from wall to wall, and shoot down the competition. There’s the same sort of microtransactions you see in bigger games, but it they’re all avatar skin stuff, so no pay-to-win here.
Ultimechs should look pretty familiar: it’s basically Rocket League, but instead of driving around in cars, you’re given rocket-powered fists to punch balls into the goal. Online multiplayer includes both 1v1 and 2v2 matches, offering up tons of opportunities to earn cosmetic gear that will let you outfit your battle mech into something unique. There are also now two paid battle passes too, offering up a ton of cosmetics to set you apart from the competition.
Battle Talent is one of those fighting sims that let you go ham on ragdoll baddies, which in this case are wily goblins and loads of skelingtons. This physics-based roguelite action game lets you climb, run and slide your way through levels as you slash, shoot, and wield magic against your foes.
From the studio that brought you the award-winning puzzle game, I Expect You to Die, comes the room-scale mixed reality experience Home Sweet Home, which offers up a new way to defuse potentially lethal situations, and all in the comforting backdrop of your own living room thanks to Quest 2’s passthrough mixed reality function.
Ever wanted to play Counter-Strike on Quest? Pavlov Shack offers up a pretty comparable experience, as you play in either deathmatch or co-op mode. It’s got all of the realistic gunplay and much of the fun of the paid PC VR title, but it’s still going strong with a free open beta on Quest.
Zero-g sports aren’t possible unless you’re stationed on the ISS, and even then you probably shouldn’t muck about. In this fast-paced game of ultimate frisbee-meets-hockey-meets-whatever you’ll launch at speed to the goal, evade the opposing team and chuck your Tron-style frisbee-thing for the win. Remember: you can smash your opponent in the face, but please follow the same suggestions mentioned in Gorilla Tag above.
Freshly launched into open beta, this 4v4 arena-scale shooter requires space and Quest 2 (or Quest Pro) owning buddies—both of which you may not have. Still, it makes for an incredible time that is basically the best version of laser tag you’ve ever played. You’ll need SideQuest to download this one since it disables Quest’s guardian system, but it’s well worth jumping through the hoops to get working if you have everything else.
This humble game of tag has taken both SideQuest and App Lab by storm with its infectious gameplay, and it’s now made its way to the official store. You’ll be lumbering around a tree-lined arena using its unique grab-the-world locomotion style that lets you amble around like a great ape. Chase the other apes and infect them or climb for your life as the infected chase you. Pure and simple. Make sure you’re far from TVs, furniture, babies, and pets because you will punch something in the mad dash for sweet, low-poly freedom.
No real cash gambling here, but PokerStars VR not only let you go all-in on games of Texas Hold’em, but now a full casino’s worth of table games a machines that are sure to light up the dopamine starved pleasure centers of your brain. It’s all free play, so you won’t be risking real cash unless you buy in-game chips, which cannot be turned back into real money: it’s only to keep your bankroll flush for free play.
Gym Class – Basketball is the solution if you’re looking to shoot some hoops and dunk like you probably can’t on a physical court. Online multiplayer lets you go head-to-head for a pretty convincing game of b-ball thanks to the game’s physics-based and full-body kinematics.
This plucky roguelite dungeon crawler is still in beta (still!), but there’s a reason it’s become an App Lab favorite. Explore a vast dungeon to explore, housing plenty of baddies just asking for the steel of your sword, knives, and arrows. You’ll climb over deep pits, dodge lethal traps, and search for hidden treasures. Smash all the pots and crates you can before it officially launches on Quest sometime in the near future.
Would-be wizards, this is your time to shine. Explore a magical laboratory and take on the job of apprentice wizard. The lab is full of gadgets and magical stuff to mess around with; as one of the games that natively supports Quest’s hand tracking, you can put your controllers down and get experimenting with this little slice of the dark arts.
Since the recent Fishin’ Buddies update, this classic VR title has gotten a whole new lease on life as a multiplayer VR fishing game that lets you sit back and crack a cold one with the boys as you reel in the big’uns. The additional social areas also let you sit back between your fishing adventures to take part in casual mini-games.
Without a doubt one of the most fun, and most expansive VR titles out there… and it’s free. Sure, you can pay real cash for in-game tokens to buy spiffy clothes for your avatar, but that’s really up to you. Gads of mini-games await you in both first-party creations such as the ever so popular co-op Quests—that could be games in their own right—to user-created stuff that will keep your pocket book gathering dust. It’s social VR, so meet people and have a ball for zero dollarydoos. Fair warning: there’s a ton of kids.
If you’ve been anywhere near the Internet in the last few years, it’s likely you’ve already heard about VRChat, the user-generated social VR space filled with… well… everything you can imagine, re-pro games included like Among Us, Mario Kart, and even a version of Beat Saber. Fashion your own avatar or download the millions of user-generated avatars out there so you can embody SpongeBob, Kirito from Sword Art Online, or any one of the million anime girl avatars that you’re bound to see there.
Horizon Worlds is still taking baby steps, although recent efforts have brought more tools and user-generated content to the platform which has rounded out things to make it more competitive with Rec Room and VRChat. You may want to check in just to see the state of Meta’s first-party VR social platform—and then check right out again—but at the price of ‘free’, you may just find an environment or community you really gel with, which is the whole reason behind social VR in the first place.
