Lies and Rain enter early access tomorrow, offering a story-driven VR adventure in a post-apocalyptic world, and tried it out in Quest 3.
After fighting 20 years of war called illicit AI ade, Currently, surfaces belong to machines. Survivors are stuck with what remains of civilization scrap below. You wake up on the ground to know that you are not human. Instead, you are a “data form” that doesn’t remember who you are or why you are here in the first place.
The guide then says it’s time to move forward in the face of ADE and regaining memories of the past. Snip of memory unlocks this strange, blocky landscape, hinting at your role in the epic war and connection to AI.
Transfer to the world of data
In the midst of lies and rain, you sometimes move to the secondary realm called the “world” data, “world”, and accomplish the task of helping you in the overworld.
For example, locked metal doors in the main world can be cleared by finding an access point, moving into the world of data, and clearing the firewall. Breaking through that digital barrier it disables the outside lock and lets me pass. At another point, the road ahead is destroyed and the bridge is rebuilt by accomplishing my work in the world of data.
The world of data incorporates a fantastic blend of combat and flying air maneuvering along with puzzles. In these areas, gravity guns will pull you into vast distances and dive in the air towards a platform of pulsating shape and height.
Gameplay captured by gamebixby
It’s nice to modify the course mid-pite to get an angle around the machine blocking my pass, and overall it’s similar to getting away from the Swarm 2 map. Movements can be confusing at times, but these worlds of data offer some of the best moments in the game.
The graphics on Quest 3 look better than most games I’ve played on the system. Some segments show heavy aliasing, but I ran into some of these in the 6 hours I played the game.
The world feels uneven, sometimes persuasive, hostile, and filled with the industrial grit of an abandoned world. At other moments, flat lighting robs the depth room, revealing poor quality textures.
Gameplay captured by gamebixby
Some props and set pieces look unexpectedly jitter. It is common to witness physics misfires, with unnaturally twitching bodies, trapped on walls or tables, or randomly present or cutting out enemies in the heat of battle. I’m not saying that it ruins the experience, but the current builds I’ve played always reminds me that the game is still in early access development.
The voice acting is excellent, but quiet and leaves behind an ambient sound to do the bulk of the work. Mechanical moans and the distant running of bug-like AI-driven machines create a constant sense of something else moving close by.
And it’s raining.
Gameplay captured by UploadVr using Don Hopper’s VoiceOver
For almost 40 minutes, I walked under a mercury downpour every few seconds while the in-game persona was breathing for the air. This is one of the most unpleasant gameplay sequences I’ve encountered in VR in a long time. This element of sound design drove the threat of choking from the toxic atmosphere, and activated the fear of choking from the repeated listening of the audio in my ears for an hour. I thought about muting the game. The development team should either scale this back or provide players with a comfortable setting option to turn off this particular effect.
Smooth movement and snap turning are both present in Quest 3. In the world of data, gravity guns are moving violently and rapid elevation changes are difficult. Comfortable options include vignette and snap turning. Tight corridors can affect people who may feel claustrophobic, and the sound of toxic rain sequences is overwhelming.
Combat and interaction
The battle between lies and rain is relatively slow and systematic, with opening hours being primarily a walking simulator. There are incredibly incredible visual moments scattered between simple encounters with terrestrial-based AI machines shooting easily avoidable laser beams.
Gameplay captured by gamebixby
The drone comes later in the game. These long spinning machines look like sentinels from the matrix, but are ordered from Temu and require a new attack plan. I immediately start making ducks behind the cover, tilting around the corners, waiting for the enemy engine ham to dissipate before taking a shot. It is not recommended to carry them with a basic level pistol. After finding a shotgun, the drone becomes an annoying rather than a challenge.
Gameplay captured by gamebixby
Finding the first upgrade sphere in the game is a relief. Step inside and you’ll see upgrade paths for your characters, weapons and gear. For some major enhancements, we use the red cube, known as the GPU, here. Combat will feel better soon after the initial upgrade set, improve your accuracy against enemy encounters and less frustration.
The enemies can look stiff, their patterns repeat too often, and many of them beg you to walk straight and be shot. Slow-paced combat involves more gunfights about positioning and problem solving than just a Twitch reflex. As mentioned before, the environment is an enemy, with several spots filled with toxic gases and other dangers that can quickly kill you.
Early Access and Wish List
Castello currently plans to maintain lies and rain with early access for up to one year. Core features and full storylines are already implemented, but optimization and polishing are ongoing. Castello said:
“The lies and the rain We are entering early access to collect feedback from you, our player. This is our second game and we are a very small team. We believe that the best way to create an amazing VR experience is to develop it alongside the players, as we did in the first game. ”
Performance-wise, the Quest 3 features several dynamic lights and basic particle effects with refresh rate options of 72, 80, 90, and 120Hz. PC VR and PS VR2 promise high resolution textures, dynamic shadows, complete particles, and post-processing. There will be a graphics comparison as soon as possible between Quest 3 and PC VR versions.
The developer’s message suggests that for now, if you haven’t enjoyed the rough build, you should wait to buy this. Lies and Rain offers story-driven adventures that mix combat, puzzles and dual liam mechanics into memorable ones. Castello has built a powerful foundation that will connect Overworld Exploration and Data World Traversal with GPU upgrade systems, gravity guns and interesting puzzle mechanics all for valuable exploration.
Lies and Rain will occur tomorrow in early access to PC VR and Quests, and you can expect it on PS VR2 as well.
