If you are a history nerd, Ponder thoughts extensivly or simply are looking for a new experience I can not recommend this game highly enough. My only wish as is the way with these sorts of things, is to be able to purge my memoroy of playing and experience it anew all over again!
I can not express enough how wonderful this game is. If you have a love of classic JRPGs then you will love this game, if you have felt that those games are far too complex then you will also like this game. Removing many of the general annoyances of classic JRPGs Chained Echoes Takes both the story telling and mechanical conventions of the genera and brings them in line with more modern gaming. Things like auto healing after battles allows people to cast spells and tactically play each battle with all their resources unlike most other JRPGs that have you saving your mana and big attacks. This also allows the game to lean into map exploration more then older games aswell, as players are not balancing the cost of exploration against the benifits. In turn the developers have made dungeon exploration extensive and highly rewarding. The story takes influnence from many of the classics of the genera while bringing a modern perspective aswell as a culteral difference. English speaking and german influences are felt in the story that makes for a refreshing change of perspective. Also the characters are very interesting and a few of them go through interesting arcs. The roster ends up with more then ten characters in your party so not everyone can have a satisfying story. Even the thinner ones add to the world in unique ways and bring different game play styles to the party. If a burn out on the industry i have mostly stayed away from modern games, this one caught my eye and i can say it is the best money i have put into the gaming industry in 15 years. It is clear it is a project of passion and from a team that loves their work and has been mulling over the idea for a very long time. I am excited to see what is next from these guys but if this is the only thing they ever make i think they have made a fantastic contribution to the gaming world. I can not speak highly enough of this game. There are some pacing flaws and UI annoyances but that is nitpicking. Buy it son!
