Quick Look: Echo

Boy I sure do hope this is more exciting than it was on the playdate. That was the worlds most boring walking simulator.

This game looks fucking cool so far. Or at least i'm really down with what it's doing conceptually.

Haven't played Echo yet, but based on other videos I've seen, the Playdate was a really bad representation of this game.

The start of the game is like an hour long and pretty atmospheric, The chat during the playdate was in full "when do we get to the fireworks factory?" mode, which was kinda annoying honestly.

@loktarogar: It really picked up around when Vinny stopped playing, tbh. Everyone would have had a better impression if the save had been a bit further along and it got into the real Hitman type stuff.

This is one stylish game.

@johnymyko: I can absolutely see how, for some, it would be considered incredibly dull but for me personally I really enjoyed the storytelling. I'll certainly concede that it was hardly a pulse-pounding, high-octane sequence I got a general impression that the writing and acting were absolutely solid and that's what got me hooked.

I can sympathise that, with it not carrying over Vinny's save, that was a huge bummer.

Yeah I really enjoyed the storytelling as well, but I think the hook for this game is definitely the style and the gameplay mechanic of the "clones" learning from you.

Great to see a quick look of this. That play date stream really got me interested. It's one of the few times I was more interested in the game than the conversations going on.

Most people will brush it off as a glorified walking simulator & it'll just go over their heads. But there's no accounting for bad taste.

To most good story telling & atmosphere is shooting dudes in the head with generic blank protagonist man while things explode around them.

One quicklook later, I'm still not hooked. The wait for a cross country Divinity 2 QL with Rorie and Vinny continues.

This Nier: Automata dlc looks weird.

I thought it was Mercy from that Thumbnail

I wouldnt mind it if the game was nothing but walking around and cutscenes tbh haha. The gameplay is ok I guess but the atmosphere\vibe in this game is just killer. I could soak in that sci-fi for daaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyys.

It's an interesting central gameplay hook, but I'm not sure about the execution. It looks frustrating, and not in a good way, to actually play.

I think I preferred the Playdate view of the game; a stylish Sci Fi walking simulator seems like a better time.

I've played about 3 or so hours and am just past where they are in this game.

I was hooked on it at first too, but there are a lot of rough edges to this game. The mechanic isn't explained super well, even with it spoon feeding information. But the main problem with the game is that you are wandering around collecting orbs to unlock a door and then looking for a key to unlock a door. It's been the exact same thing. I like the game's look, although it get's a bit repetitive (and I thought it looked better before all the lights came on and there were no more shadows). It has a cool idea, but it just isn't fleshed out well enough to remain engaging.

As a huge fan of systemic AI this game is extremely exciting for me. But as far as the gameplay goes, it looks kind of alright but not great. Hopefully after you get further in and the environment gets more varied it becomes a cool chess match against your clones, but so far it seems like something I'll wait for a heavy sale on.

Hmm, I thought this game was going to be way more punishing. From what Vinny did in this quick look it looked like a whole lot of heading to the objective mashing b instead of planning out what route to take and what to let them learn for your next reset. That's a huge bummer because the setup and world they showed off on the play date was incredible!

This feels so much like a "Metal Gear Solaris"

”A Karl Lagerfeld Metal Gear Solid” is such a amazingly spot-on analogy.

The quick look ends just about where imo the game becomes repetitive and tedious. It repeats these same objectives over and over all the way until the end. I finished the game in 12 hours, and never felt like I was encouraged to make use of the learning mechanic. In fact, I'd say "learn" is a very strong word for what is happening here. Echoes randomly choose actions you performed in the previous cycle when applicable, that's it. Their actual behavior remains the same, they just have a player-controllable set of verbs at their disposal. I fell into a routine of sprinting around, avoiding echoes, just long enough for the next blackout (about a minute), and then stealth killing the closest echo and hiding on reboot. The palace environments change a bit as you progress, but every corner looks the same, so there is no value in exploration. All that said, I really dug the look of the game, the design of Em, the giant fractal palace, and the voice-acting. I stuck with it because I felt compelled to find out where it is going, but I can't recommend it.

Man, this game seems fucking rad, a real surprise. I was already into it from what I saw of the playdate, but seeing a larger gameplay scenario really sold me on this.

Conceptually this game is fascinating to me and I love the setting and atmosphere. The first time in a long time on a GBE Playdate I was more focused in on the game then the actual conversations being had.

This is intriguing. I'm glad to hear that it's short – hopefully it retains its mystique to the end.

I like the look of this and the aesthetic; it's very pure sci-fi with a hint of horror. There's almost a Tarkovsky quality to it. But the gameplay does seem a bit samey.

For some reason every time a clone got Vinny I had a really big jump scare.

Every time the chunks get too close it sounds like the beginning of Vince McMahon's theme.

Nomination for title screen of the year?

I like the concept of this very much, but I would hope that the game is more than just 'pick up keys and open doors.' Still, it seems pretty cool.

I really need to pick up this game, I love weird sci-fi settings that feel less familiar or traditionally dramatic, and I was really impressed at how deliberately slow-paced the first hour of this game is. It's slow, but it still continually provides the setup at enough of a pace to still be intriguing, while effectively setting up the space where the main game takes place.

I'm about 6 hours in and the game is REALLY GOOD. Set up is creative, I enjoyed the walking simulator part even, not normally into that kind of thing. The writing and voice acting is top notch, and the gameplay speaks for itself. Pick it up if you're on the fence.

@metalsocks: Cheesing it becomes incredibly difficult, and sometimes basically impossible in later levels. Also to be fair it pained me to see him run and gun so well in places where I was meticulously planning my moves out haha.

I absolutely disagree. I thought that intro was amazing. It made me buy the game and I already knew about Echo and the actual gameplay mechanics. I just didn't expect the worldbuilding, atmosphere and acting to be as good as show in those early parts.

"It's like Karl Lagerfelds METAL GEAR SOLID" might be my new favourite game description!

"Eat grapes, make them dumb again"

I genuinely now want to see a grape-eating playthrough. The way you can play around with the AI in this stealth game has me wanting to play it more. I've installed it but this QL convinced me to play it over other current games right now.

God, them looking for that elevator for that long was killing me.

MFW when seeing that much chromatic aberration.

"As long as that doesn't summon any cenobytes, you're good."
"Well..."

Yup. Definitely getting this game! Looks really cool!

"Chunk 2 will remember that..."

Your enemies are the same throughout the whole game. What changes is the layout of the rooms and locations of objectives. Depending on the layout you will have to approach things differently, such as choosing between which action you prefer to do each cycle; "Do I choose to teach them to open doors or vault over objects this round?". This does almost get old, but I think they cut things off and change things up at the end just in time before that happens. I was hoping for a little more puzzle in the game by teaching them an action specifically to solve a level, but this never happens. It is mostly a Metal Gear in space. I did enjoy it though.

The chromatic aberration is intense in this one.

This game sounded really cool on the beastcast, but seeing it in action makes it look a lot less interesting. I thought enemies would retain their memory of all your previous actions and eventually behave sort of like drivatars in an action game. Instead, they only take a few behaviors from your last 5 minutes. I would make this game so boring, since i would just approach it like a stealth game and never resort to shooting / running in the light. Even if enemies learn some annoying traits, you can just wait in a corner until the next cycle happens. The hard cuts to a black screen are also jarring to me.

Yeah the first like 30 mins of the game was the best part. I really just wanted more of that instead of this stealth puzzle stuff.

This game and the GB playdate made such an impression on me I came looking for it 6 years later. Can't believe I found it.