Posted December 01, 2019
Since I just finished it for the third time the other day, ECHO.
One of the so-called "indie AAA" - or just "AA" - games released two years ago (the other major one being Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice).
Developed by now defunct Danish studio UltraUltra (made up mostly by former employees of IO Interactive, iirc) ECHO was and still remains one of the most unique takes on the TPP stealth genre, mainly for its core mechanic:
"ECHO's gameplay revolves around an adaptive AI function. The game's world is a Palace which creates copies of En, the player character. En calls those copies "Echoes". Echoes serve as the game's main enemies, which the Palace modifies to adapt to En. The Palace undergoes a five-minute cycle constantly, at the end of which there is a Blackout. While the power is on, the Palace records all of En's actions. The player is notified of their actions being recorded by En leaving a bright outline of herself behind when she performs an action the Palace is unaware of. Once the Blackout occurs, recorded actions are taught to the Echoes, and previous known actions are deleted. For example, if En is seen shooting her gun, vaulting a low wall and opening a door, the Echoes will do the same at the next cycle, but if En does not do any of the above during that cycle, they will have forgotten how to do so by the next one. During Blackouts, the Palace cannot record En's actions, leaving the player free to act as they wish. However, existing Echoes can still kill En."
Which ties in just perfectly with the aesthetics as well. The so-called "Palace" (an ecumenopolis or planet-wide structure) combines outdoor Giger'esque biomechanical environments with indoor 2001: A Space Odyssey art deco-architecture for an unusual but at the same time surprisingly coherent and believable sci-fi setting.
Last I heard an adaptation for the big screen is still in development, and who knows, if it's done right it might raise enough interest for the IP to be picked up again, maybe by another studio for at least another installment in the same universe.
The other relatively unknown game I'll never tire to recommend picking up, is Battle Brothers (and its expansions, Beasts and Exploration and Warriors of the North).
Which is what you get if you take the mercenary management of Jagged Alliance, the rogue-like aspect as well as a morale system similar to Darkest Dungeon, a Heroes of Might & Magic-like turn- and hex-based battle system (with environmental factors like elevation) and have it play out on seed-based procedurally generated world maps (with random encounters and optional wildly differing start conditions for each campaign), all set in a low fantasy, grimdark Darklands-like alternate version of medieval Germany.
One of the so-called "indie AAA" - or just "AA" - games released two years ago (the other major one being Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice).
Developed by now defunct Danish studio UltraUltra (made up mostly by former employees of IO Interactive, iirc) ECHO was and still remains one of the most unique takes on the TPP stealth genre, mainly for its core mechanic:
"ECHO's gameplay revolves around an adaptive AI function. The game's world is a Palace which creates copies of En, the player character. En calls those copies "Echoes". Echoes serve as the game's main enemies, which the Palace modifies to adapt to En. The Palace undergoes a five-minute cycle constantly, at the end of which there is a Blackout. While the power is on, the Palace records all of En's actions. The player is notified of their actions being recorded by En leaving a bright outline of herself behind when she performs an action the Palace is unaware of. Once the Blackout occurs, recorded actions are taught to the Echoes, and previous known actions are deleted. For example, if En is seen shooting her gun, vaulting a low wall and opening a door, the Echoes will do the same at the next cycle, but if En does not do any of the above during that cycle, they will have forgotten how to do so by the next one. During Blackouts, the Palace cannot record En's actions, leaving the player free to act as they wish. However, existing Echoes can still kill En."
Which ties in just perfectly with the aesthetics as well. The so-called "Palace" (an ecumenopolis or planet-wide structure) combines outdoor Giger'esque biomechanical environments with indoor 2001: A Space Odyssey art deco-architecture for an unusual but at the same time surprisingly coherent and believable sci-fi setting.
Last I heard an adaptation for the big screen is still in development, and who knows, if it's done right it might raise enough interest for the IP to be picked up again, maybe by another studio for at least another installment in the same universe.
The other relatively unknown game I'll never tire to recommend picking up, is Battle Brothers (and its expansions, Beasts and Exploration and Warriors of the North).
Which is what you get if you take the mercenary management of Jagged Alliance, the rogue-like aspect as well as a morale system similar to Darkest Dungeon, a Heroes of Might & Magic-like turn- and hex-based battle system (with environmental factors like elevation) and have it play out on seed-based procedurally generated world maps (with random encounters and optional wildly differing start conditions for each campaign), all set in a low fantasy, grimdark Darklands-like alternate version of medieval Germany.