Voice-controlled “There Came an Echo" Coming on February!

Quick question: How many games can you think of used voice as a control interface? I’ve got Tom Clancy’s EndWar off the top of my head and that’s pretty much it, with other examples feeling like shoved-in gimmicks. Designing games around alternative control inputs is no easy feat but I’m glad to see that one studio hasn’t given up just yet.

Iridium Studios, an indie outfit that debuted with rhythm-RPG Sequence, have just announced that their voice-controlled RTS There Came an Echo launches on 24 February. Its Kickstarter campaignraised over US$100,000 in 2013 and drew additional interest for featuring geek celebrity Wil Wheaton as the narrator.

Joining Wheaton are famous voice talents Ashly Burch, Yuri Lowenthal, Laura Bailey, Cassandra Lee Morris, Cindy Robinson, and Rachel Robinson – search their names up and you’ll definitely recognize the games they’ve worked on.

Things also seem impressive in the music department, with Ronald Jenkees, Jimmy Hinson, and Judith de los Santos as contributing musicians.

There Came An Echo is one of the first to use Intel’s RealSense technology, presumably its voice-recognition bits. It’s hard to say how it all works out once the game is finally exposed to the dozens of accents out there but for now, we’ve got the following trailer to help convince us that things are coming along great.