Echo Arena (2017), the futuristic multiplayer sports game from Ready at Dawn and Oculus Studios, is getting into the holiday spirit with an upcoming seasonal Halloween Bash that looks to be a devilishly fun time—a great incentive to get more people to download the game for free before the free download window expires on All Saints’ Day (Nov. 1st).

Starting today, you’ll be able to float around in a newly designed haunted lobby area, play with the gruesome collection of new toys, and unlock 20 new cosmetic styles  that you can take with you before they vanish on November 1st.

New cosmetic items can be earned after you complete at least one public match, where you’ll automatically be granted “5 ghoulish patterns, 5 creepy tints, 7 unnerving decals, and 3 eerie emotes.”

Ready at Dawn previously stated that the free 3-month download window, which allows anyone to download and keep the game permanently for free, would end on October 20th, but the studio says in a blogpost announcing the Halloween Bash that its November 1st conclusion “also coincides with the end of the 3-month period where you can add Echo Arena to your Oculus library for free.”

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The Halloween Bash begins on October 20th at 12:00pm PST (your local time here). The spooky lobby and the ability to claim the Halloween-themed items will disappear in the afternoon of November 1st, but users can continue to flaunt the spooky items (and smugly answer the question: “where did you get the skull helmet?”) long afterwards.

Download ‘Echo Arena’ for Free

If you haven’t played Echo Arena yet, definitely take the chance to download this zero-g, adrenaline pumping game now for free before it becomes a paid app in November—unless you’re planning on buying the single-player adventure Lone Echo, which gets you the multiplayer Echo Arena for free at any time.

The Tron-like sports game boasts a healthy player base, and while substantial updates may be a little sluggish, the Halloween Bash represents one of the first big changes (albeit temporary) to the game since its last public beta. We’re hoping once the game heads into paid app territory that it’ll bring with it more substantive changes including more maps to keep people coming back for more.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Luke

    supercool!! thx!!!!

  • J.C.

    If Oculus ever supports my hardware directly, I’ll be buying Lone Echo anyway, so I’ve got no incentive to pick this up now.

    Oculus’ catalog of exclusive games IS quite nice, and I’d happily spend a couple hundred bucks on their store, but they clearly have no interest in my money. Steam, on the other hand, works diligently to make sure all VR headsets work on their store. When proper v2 headsets come out, I’ll base my purchasing decision on which one has the best hardware, not “which one holds content hostage”. Oculus wants to pretend the headset is “like a console”, but it isn’t. It’s the tv; my PC is “the console”.
    If they want me to use their store, they need to support whatever tv I bought. How many consoles would Sony have sold if they required a Sony tv to work?

    • Walextheone

      Well I guess you could that.
      I have my VR gear for having fun not making politcical statements, so I buy the apps and games that seems to be the most fun :-p.

    • Justos

      Oculus does allow you to use Revive. If thats not good enough for you, then wait for OpenXR.