Tuesday, 9 September, 2025 UTC
Summary
Of Lies and Rain enters early access tomorrow, offering a story-driven VR adventure in a post-apocalyptic world, and we tried it on Quest 3.
After fighting a twenty-year war against a rogue AI called A.D.E., the surface now belongs to the machines. Survivors cling to what scraps of civilization are left below. You wake up above ground to find out you are not human. Instead, you are a “data form” with no memory of who you are or why you’re here in the first place.
Then, a guiding voice says it’s time to push forward to face A.D.E. and recover your memories of the past. Fragments of memory unlock across this strange, blocky landscape, hinting at your role in the epic war as well as your connection with the AI.
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Transferring Into The Data World
In Of Lies and Rain, you occasionally transfer into a secondary realm called the Data “World” to accomplish tasks that help you in the overworld.
A locked metal door in the main world, for example, can be cleared by finding an access point, shifting into Data World, and clearing a firewall. Breaking through that digital barrier disables the lock outside to let me pass. At another point, the path ahead is destroyed, and accomplishing my task in Data World rebuilds the bridge.
The Data World incorporates a nice blend of combat and high-flying aerial maneuvers alongside its puzzles. In these realms, a gravity gun pulls you across vast distances while flinging you high in the air toward pulsating forms and elevated platforms.
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Gameplay captured by UploadVR
It feels nice correcting course mid-fight to gain an angle over machines that are blocking my path, and overall the experience is similar to flinging around the maps in SWARM 2. Movement can get confusing at times, but these Data Worlds deliver some of the game's best moments.
Graphics on Quest 3 look better than most games I've played on the system. Some segments show heavy aliasing, though I only encountered a few of these across the six hours I've played the game.
The world is uneven, at times feeling like a convincing, hostile place, full of the industrial grit of a ruined world. At other moments, flat lighting robs rooms of depth, and low quality textures become obvious.
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Gameplay Captured by UploadVR
Some props and set pieces appear to jitter unexpectedly. It’s common to witness occasional physics misfires, such as a body twitching unnaturally and becoming stuck in walls or tables, or items and enemies clipping in and out of existence randomly in the heat of a battle. I wouldn't say it ruins the experience, but in the current build I played, there is the constant reminder that the game is still in Early Access development.
The voice acting is good but quiet, leaving ambient sound to do the majority of the work. Mechanical groans and the distant scurrying of bug-like AI-driven machines create a constant feeling that something else is moving nearby.
And then there's the rain.
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Gameplay captured by UploadVR with voiceover by Don Hopper
For nearly forty minutes, I walked under a mercury downpour while my in-game persona gasped for air every few seconds. It's one of the most uncomfortable gameplay sequences I’ve encountered in VR in a long time. This element of the sound design drove home the threat of suffocation from the toxic atmosphere, activating a fear of suffocation from hearing that audio repeatedly in my ears for almost an hour. I considered muting the game. The dev team should scale this back, or give players an option in the comfort settings to turn this particular effect off.
Comfort
Smooth locomotion and snap turning are both present on Quest 3. In the Data World, the gravity gun’s movement is intense with rapid elevation changes that could be difficult. Comfort options include vignettes and snap turning. Tight corridors might affect those who might feel claustrophobic and the audio of toxic rain sequences can be overwhelming.
Combat & Interaction
Combat in Of Lies and Rain is relatively slow and methodical, with the opening hour mostly a walking simulator. There are some amazing, stop-you-in-your-tracks visual moments interspersed between simple encounters against ground-based AI machines shooting easily avoidable laser beams.
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Gameplay Captured by UploadVR
Drones come later in the game. These long, spindly machines look like Sentinels from The Matrix but ordered from TEMU, and they require a new plan of attack. I quickly start to duck behind cover, lean around corners, and wait for the hum of the enemies' engines to dissipate before taking my shots. I don't recommend taking them on with the base-level pistol. After finding the shotgun, the drones become less of a challenge and more of a nuisance.
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Gameplay captured by UploadVR
It's a relief to find the first upgrade sphere in the game. Stepping inside presents you with upgrade paths for character, weapons, and gear. Spend red cubes here, known as GPUs, for some major enhancements. Combat immediately feels better after the first set of upgrades, with improved accuracy and less frustration with enemy encounters.
Enemies can look stiff, and their patterns repeat too often, with many of them just walking straight at you and begging to be shot. The slower-paced combat makes firefights more about positioning and problem-solving than just twitch reflexes. As mentioned earlier, the environment can also be the enemy, with several spots filled with toxic gases or other hazards that can kill quickly.
Early Access & WishlistingCastello currently plans to keep Of Lies and Rain in Early Access for up to a year. The core features and full storyline are already implemented, but optimization and polish are ongoing. Castello states:
“Of Lies and Rain is entering Early Access to gather feedback from you, our players. This is our second game ever and we are a very small team. We believe that the best way to create an amazing VR experience is to develop it alongside our players as we did with our first game.”
Performance-wise, Quest 3 features some dynamic lights and basic particle effects with refresh rate options of 72, 80, 90, and 120Hz. PC VR and PS VR2 promise higher resolution textures, dynamic shadows, full particles, and post-processing. We'll have a graphics comparison as soon as we can between Quest 3 and PC VR versions, similar to our previous looks at Metro: Awakening and Alien: Rogue Incursion.
The messaging from developers suggests that, right now, if you don’t enjoy rough builds, you should wait to buy this. Of Lies and Rain offers a story-driven adventure that mixes combat, puzzles, and dual-realm mechanics into something memorable. Castello has built a strong foundation, combining overworld exploration and Data World traversal with the GPU upgrade system, gravity gun, and intriguing puzzle mechanics all working together for a worthwhile exploration.
Of Lies and Rain is out tomorrow in early access on PC VR and Quest, and you can expect it on PS VR2 eventually as well.