In the world of Espire 2, advanced military and virtual reality technologies meet, allowing Espire Agents to take on the role of a super spy, piloting deadly Espire Model 1 Operative espionage droids remotely from the safety of the Control Theatre. Set in the year 2036, Espire 2 marks the return of Espire Agent POE (the Primary Operator of Espire).

After emerging from a seven-year coma, POE is thrust back into the world of dark espionage as the centerpiece of the Espire project. Now, with the help of two bleeding-edge droids called “Frames”, and an all-new arsenal of weapons and tools, POE must embark on a mission to eliminate the global threat imposed by the deadly terrorist organization, OPHIS.

Developer Digital Lode has big plans to expand upon the success of the original Espire 1: VR Operative, adding a wealth of new features and improvements to Espire 2's gameplay. 

Virtual reality developer Digital Lode Immersive Media and publisher Tripwire Presents are proud to announce that the next setting for Espire 2, will be your own home. Coming later this year, players can continue the fight against OPHIS on their own home turf with the Espire 2 Mixed Reality Mode: literally. The free update will be supported on the Meta Quest 3, Quest 2 and Quest Pro headsets.

Announced during the UploadVR Showcase, the Espire 2 Mixed Reality Mode features a series of stealth missions that grow and adapt to the player’s personal playspace. Missions are deliberately focused and optimized for all environments ranging from small areas to multiple rooms. Play as Tempest, an agent who must pass a series of Mixed Reality Missions to earn their stripes and be cleared to pilot an Espire Frame. Each mission offers a variety of objectives, constantly changing familiar surroundings as you move; engage with enemy soldiers, bipedal mechs, electronic threats, and more that emerge to prevent you from completing your objective.

Mixed Reality Missions were designed utilizing key hardware features from Meta Reality, including color passthrough, scene understanding and passthrough occlusion. These tools allow users to have the ability to see the real-world environment around them, while giving developers unique abilities to customize player experience. Despite all items, threats and interactables being procedurally placed in your environment, all missions were handcrafted by the development team to ensure a thrilling stealth action experience for each user.

Espire 2 Mixed Reality Mode Key Experiences:

• Experience Espire 2’s signature stealth sandbox as all of its 1:1 tracked game mechanics translate perfectly into a mixed reality experience.
• Espire Vision: Raise your hand to your head and squeeze the trigger to use Espire Vision - your real world environment is tinted green and exposure is adjusted so darker shadows become bright!
• Hold Up Guards: Raise your hand to your mouth and speak to the guards. Your spoken commands are interpreted by Meta’s voice SDK AI assistant and translated into game commands. You can hold up a guard right in your living room.
• Take Down Guards: Squeeze the trigger on your controller and see a tranquilizer launcher pop out of your own forearm! Aim your arm at guards to fire darts for a silent takedown.
• Lockers are available in your real world. Open up the locker to find and collect resources like weapons, charge batteries and tranquilizer darts. Use the locker to stash an enemy guard’s body, or hide in the locker yourself. Peek through the slats in the locker and see the MR ‘real world’ beyond. Open the door and transition from VR into MR.
• Large blast windows will appear on your walls, dramatically extending your real world environment into the virtual world beyond the window. Peer through the windows to see large Hangar installations, store rooms, surveillance centers and other environments, with guard patrols to avoid, and resources to collect.
• Large boxes and crates can be utilized to create makeshift cover and hide from guards.
• Use your repair tool that’s built into your wrist to disable electronic threats like tripmines, cameras and turrets, and hack data from PC terminals.

Key Features:

• Immersive Single Player Campaign: Take on missions across the globe in sandbox environments designed to allow the player total freedom over their play style. Sneak past guards, create distractions, and think strategically to achieve objectives or charge forward, guns blazing. Espire 2 offers the thrill of both stealth and action-focused strategies to each area, all presented with immersive VR technology.
• Multiplayer Co-op campaign: Players can now team up with a fellow operative in a new multiplayer co-op campaign that bridges the gap between Espire 1 and Espire 2.
• Control Multiple Espire Frames: For the first time, players can control and can switch between two unique Espire frames. Each frame is suited with their own special abilities and attributes, offering strategic benefits for players to discover while playing through both of Espire 2’s campaigns.
• Unique Gadgets: The player’s entire array of tools and gadgets is now fully integrated into the Espire frames, offering a vast variety of accessible options for handling objectives before they even draw their weapon.
• Rule the Play Area: Espire Vision gives Agents a strategic, accessible view of the situation, allowing players to see through walls, mark the location of enemies, predict patrol paths, and more.
• Voice commands: Players can utilize voice commands to distract, hold up and interrogate the enemy. Interrogation commands include “empty your pockets” and “where are your friends?” Espire 2 can be played without voice commands, if players prefer.
• Cutting Edge Graphics and Spatial Audio: Espire 2 boasts next generation VR graphics and spatial audio systems that will take full advantage of the power of the Meta Quest 2.
• Stealth AI System: The stealth AI system has been rebuilt from the ground up with a focus on core stealth mechanics, enemy engagements and player agency, bringing even more depth to Espire 2’s variety of gameplay options.
• Immersion and Presence: Thanks to Espire 2’s accurate “arm IK” system, players see their virtual forearms where their real ones would be and experience VR interactions in lifelike detail.
• Enhanced Control Theatre: The technology behind the “Control Theatre” lies at the heart of the Espire 2’s movement and control system. Utilizing the Meta Quest 2’s additional rendering capabilities, the innovative “Control Theatre” comfort system makes its return in Espire 2, with enhanced features, a new user interface, and easier accessibility. This “VR within VR” system allows for precise full freedom of movement, maintains immersion, and also eliminates “VR motion sickness” for almost all players. The Control Theatre is fully customizable to suit the player’s level of comfort, up to fully disabled for those already comfortable moving in VR.

Espire 2 is available for Meta Quest 2 (Meta Store).