Echoes of the End - Review

When Echoes of the End was revealed back in June, there was something about the game that grabbed my attention. Now I couldn’t put my finger on it back then, but I knew there was something about this game that made me want to play. Having now done that, I can say that there was no singular element that drew me in, but a few. Did it live up to my expectations, or was I drawn in by nothing more than an echo of hope?

The world of Aema is a place where magic is real and there are people called Vestiges, who are capable of truly powerful magic, so much so that are often shunned by the world. Ryn is one such person, she was the apprentice to her father and together they would keep the wilds around their home safe. But with her father dead, she is left to complete her tasks with her half-brother Cor. While completing what they believe to be a standard loop of the wilds, they encounter a broken ward, which triggers a chase across the land. Wards are giant crystals that are imbued with so much magic, they effectively raise a shield across the land. The Dalman, a group of folks from another region seek control over all and with another vestige, begin to shatter the wards and if all of them fall, they can invade.

Ryn begins her adventure with Cor, but she eventually heads out with Abram, a man of advancing years, who knows a thing or two about vestiges and the power they can wield. Together, they venture across the land, attempting to stop the Dalman and their forces, from taking over Ryn’s home. There is more that happens with the story and characters, but for spoiler reasons, I won’t say anything further. What I liked about the story was that, while predictable at times, it still felt like a complete story. Yes, this is a new fantasy world that is brimming with terms like Aema and Vestiges, but the way that lore is explained and discovered, never leaves you feeling like you are missing out. The more that Ryn encounters enemies, both human and not, the more her journal fills up with notes. As I said though, there are some predictable moments with some of the characters, but the overall story is fun.

The gameplay is however, mixed to be nice, there are some good elements here, but some weird choices as well. The game basically divides itself into combat and puzzles, with you exploring the places between. Combat is ok, it won’t reshape how combat works in videogames, but it does a solid job. Where the issues with the combat come through is that the parry system does not work most of the time. Ok, so it does work, but the timing on the hit is so small, that if you are a moment to early, or late, you just get hit. Later on, there are some enemies that can land numerous attacks on you, and if you try to parry one and miss, you get thrashed. The game also has no issues with letting four or more enemies wail on you in the later parts of the game, so you have to be on your toes. Now Ryn is not without skills, she has magic after all and you can use your powers to throw enemies into each other, drain their life force or even summon a tornado in their midst.

The issue with the magic is that its reliant on your target, be they enemy or object, being in view. The game also requires you to wait until it has a chance to target things, because if you press the buttons too soon, either nothing happens or you just blast air. There were countless times when I would be aiming to grab one soldier, but the game would opt to select the one next to them and as there is no manual selection, I either waste some magic or try to pivot and use them. The catch is that again, all the other enemies will come after you. The magic also impacts the gameplay outside of battles, you will pull platforms to you, or grab things from afar. The games issue again is that it will have a reticule appear when you are close enough to interact with something. There were a few times when I was leaping across a giant gap, only for the game to not focus on the thing I need it to and I fell to my death.

Which brings me to the death of the game, the technical death that is, because it crashed on me, a lot. This is not hyperbole, but there were numerous times, usually after cutscenes, where the game would just lock up and then crash. One time it happened after a boss fight, so when I loaded back into the game, I had to do the boss fight all over again. Now if that were a one-time thing, then I would not care too much, but sadly Abram also had issues. There were multiple times when he would just stand still, failing to move forward with the task, that he said he would do. One instance would not clear at all, to the point where I had to start the game over, all my progress, wiped, in order to get through a door. The developer is a small studio, so they will likely correct these many technical issues, but for now it has far more problems than is passable.

These issue also carry across to the games presentation, which when you see them, will become a thing. For the most part the game is quite beautiful, at least the world is. Now it does feature the standard sort of magical world aesthetic at times, especially when you are exploring ruins. Beyond buildings though, the world visuals is heavily inspired by Iceland, where the studio calls home and as such there are some stunning vistas to enjoy. Where the issues come in is with the loading of assets, I often saw textures be slow to load or elements pop in and then out again. Once instance had the door I was going to use vanish for a frame, letting me see beyond it. I would have said nothing, but the game crashed twice after that, so I got see that same issue repeat. I also encountered a number of lights that would basically fade up to full and then back down to normal. Out in the world, it was not such a big deal, but in dark tunnels, having them become tunnels made of light, was weird.

The characters, for the most part, look fantastic. The issues that I have with them is just down to how little they emote at times. There are some heavy scenes in the game, and when these happen, a lot of the animation is done by head movement, someone looking down for example. The faces have detail, but I just feel they were not used correctly.

On the sound side of things, there was a lot for me to enjoy. Much like how the worlds visual design felt familiar, so too does the games soundtrack. It does not feel like its take from other fantasy worlds, but when you hear things, it feels fantasy, if that makes sense. The voice acting was something that I did enjoy as well, there is an Icelandic lilt to all the voices, which is fine, as it helps establish that this is not just another generic English fantasy world. There are some lines that feel like they were not delivered the best, usually from the background characters, but the rest do a wonderful job.

I really like Echoes of the End, but with all the technical issues, it became frustrating to play. The world, story and gameplay all feel fresh and exciting, but the constant frame drops, characters not doing what they are meant to and hard crashes really dampened the fun. The developer has committed to fixing all the issues that they can, which is good to hear, but until they fix things, maybe don’t rush to the end just yet.

The Score

7.5

Review code provided by Deep Silver

The Pros

The world feels like a fresh take on fantasy, even with some familiar vibes to it

Magic can be great fun, especially when used to solve puzzles…

The Cons

… but in combat, it can be irksome when the game selects the wrong target

The constant crashes, frame drops and other technical problems make it frustrating to play