More signs of Echoes of Mora begin to emerge

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Underwater adventure with sci-fi elements playable in either VR or flatscreen modes

Most VR games come as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition: You either have the required headset or you don't, and flatscreen users are out of luck. The reverse is true as well. So it's a refreshing change when a game offers both ways to play, like the upcoming Echoes of Mora, an underwater adventure from the all-women German developer Selkies Interactive.

The game is set in a rural village near "a cursed violet lake." Or rather, an abandoned village IN the cursed violet lake after the water levels suddenly rise without warning and submerge it. Having been separated from her little brother just before the flood, Mora "takes it upon herself to rescue him" and literally dives in. To find him, she'll need to collect orbs, solve puzzles and activate "Echoes," which are time portals that "reveal moments from the village’s past." As you uncover more details from before the disaster, you may even find a way to avert the flood from ever happening in the first place.

Echoes of Mora can be played like any first-person, free-roaming 3D adventure, but for a more immersive experience that lets you get some cardio in while you're at it, you can try the VR mode instead, even switching seamlessly between them at will. The game utilizes motion tracking, so you'll "move your arms to smoothly navigate the sunken landscape" and interact with various elements in the environment. While there are obstacles to overcome, the game seems to focus less on challenging puzzles and more on open exploration of its vast and varied waterscapes, as well as collecting clues to "unravel the villagers' secrets" and piece together the "emotional" and "multifaceted" narrative mystery of what happened in this place – and between Mora and her brother in particular – while on land. Play it smart and what you do in response will enable you to "influence the course of the flood and alter the village’s fate."

There is no target release date for Echoes of Mora just yet, but whether you're interested in the VR (compatible with "all PC-based VR headsets") or flatscreen version, or both, the game is ready for wishlisting on Steam.