ECHO

Echo was made by a small but highly talented team and the end result rivals production values of many AAA games even 8 years after release. It is a sci-fi stealth action game with a unique mechanic where enemies cyclically learn your abilities. It is set in an astoundingly beautiful palace automatically rebuilding itself. The audio and visuals are amazing although I would have liked some more music (most of the soundtrack is atmospheric highlights). The game has a unique art style making use of intricate repeated patterns to generate different visuals and it accentuates the complex maze-like levels built by some sort of machine really well. The atmosphere of the game is outstanding, both in the few outside sections and the varied palace levels. The gameplay combines stealth with action well and because of the learning mechanic, the way you adapt your strategy influences the level enemies. This makes for an interesting gameplay loop involving constant decision making. The story is interesting, well-written and outstandingly voice-acted. It manages to paint the picture of a much bigger world with the equivalent of a few brush strokes. The game maintains a good pace and is about 10 hours long, more if you want to get all the collectibles (which can be a challenge given the intricate levels). Here is where some of the limitations of the game come in. Sometimes in service to the story the character movement is slowed down for dialogue to come through (a bit clunky) and some of the walking segments are a bit long (although very atmospheric). It would have been great to have the large universe hinted at in the story expanded upon and to see more work by this team. The game unfortunately didn't sell well enough and the developer shut down. They thankfully maintained availability of the game on digital storefronts so more people can discover this gem. Several of them went on to have big careers so it worked out but it would have been great to see more of this world.

Games like ECHO show the shortcoming of the common review system. It's a visually appealing, aesthetically distinctive, nicely dubbed, innovative, somewhat repetitive at some point, stable piece of puzzle game software sprinkled with elaborated narrative and worldbuilding. Not a scam, worth its price, might be enjoyable for you. That's as far as you can go objectively. I think the best way to go beyond that would be to introduce myself. I'm a mid twenties cognitive psychology student with a background in game design and an interest in philosophy. Among my favorite games, in no particular order, are Deus Ex, Control, Alan Wake, Bioshock, Dishonored and Portal. Among my favorite novels, in no particular order, are Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheeps, Fahrenheit 451 and 1984. I like overthinking things, creative problem solving and mind benders. I have a... Peculiar relationship with grieving. Although I think that science is the only way to knowledge and do my best to be the most rationnal agent possible, I'm fond of symbolism, occultism, metaphysics and all things mystical. I also love architecture, especially brutalism and art-deco. I'm currently playing Manifold Garden with great enjoyment. I love ECHO passionately. This game sticks with me like few could. If I had to pick 10 games to save from oblivion, this would definetly be one of them. The rest is up to you.

The game looks absolutely beautiful. The game play is innovative and unique. The story has amazing pull and sets a lot of question. What are the bad parts? The game starts to be repetitive after few hours, since it is the same from the begging and bring some changes 1 hour before the end. And the worst part is the ending which is unsatisfying and answers little to no questions. Still worth playing thou and I am happy to play it. I would recommend to get it in sale.

Let me begin by saying this is one of the most gorgeous games I have played in recent years. Pros: Production values -Art and gfx -Sound design -Atmosphere -Writing and the dialogue - story and narrative structure are fantastic -Great voice acting -Imaginative concept- unique Cons: The gameplay (minus some elements, they are ok) Now, here is where my rant starts. From the first moment, at the unique menu screen, I was intrigued and the first mins of the game, before the core gameplay started I was mesmerised. The gfx, the narrative, everything was drawing me. I so wish this game had chosen a different genre like adventure puzzle game, or even a shooter mixed with stealth or at very least, approached stealth differently. My biggest problem is the core mechanics of the game dictates that the knocked out enemies rise up again every like 30 secs and undoes everything. To me, while this is a cool narrative concept and ties in well with the story, is a very frustrating gameplay element! I will only go through and try to finish this becase of its fantastic writing and I want to know where it ends up but seriously, wish they redid the some of the gameplay and released a version 2.0 because this game deserves to be played by everyone and be loved. So, why is my score so high? Because everything else, and even some of the gameplay elements work really well, but some of the game end up being the biggest annoyance and make the game into a slog. :( So be warned, my stars are probably too forgiving.

Echo reminds me of Timeshift, in the sense that both are showcasing original mechanics, have really good gameplay, but lack in story department. The learn/unlearn mechanic is something everyone must see. Where else you can spend a few minutes eating grapes, playing piano and harp to guarantee that for the next few minutes enemies will be bumbling idiots unable to open doors? Where else you can teach them to extend bridges and guarantee yourself every route open? The story is there to fill the gaps and give you a break from constant stealthing and light/dark cycle; don't expect much there.