Ready at Dawn have done fairly well out of the ‘Echo’ franchise so far. Though less popular than its successors, Lone Echo nonetheless got critical praise, and multiplayer spin-off Echo Arena drew in substantial crowds of Oculus Rift users. The developers are still trying to tweak the second multiplayer spin-off, Echo Combat and are soon to launch a third open beta weekend.
Open Beta periods are fairly important times for developers, as the larger player base can let some serious analysis on multiplayer balance be performed, and observe how the title performs under load. For those who might have missed the first two open beta periods, this is also a chance to get in on the ground floor.
Echo Combat is an evolution of Echo Arena, adding team-based gameplay and objectives to complete. The currently available game mode involves a payload, which must be either protected or attacked.
The defending team need to stay close to the payload or it will refuse to move, but the payload itself travels a wide area with little cover, making strategic movement on coordination between the three-person teams vitally important.
Attackers get a simpler job, as all they need to do is slow or stop the payload from moving, which can be done by simply staying close enough to the payload as the clock runs down, but this puts them in range to be gunned down by the defending team.
The core gameplay remains very similar to Echo Arena, though left-handed players will be pleased to note that a left-handed weapon options has now been added in, which adds the possibility of dual-wielding along with making life easier for those of a southpaw persuasion.
The third open beta is due to take place on the weekend of 16th August, 2018. To take part, users will need to login to Echo VR during the beta period and matchmake into Echo Combat. For future coverage on Echo Combat and other new and updated VR titles, keep checking back with VRFocus.
via Mint VR