Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - Hier 04:13

Echoes of the End – Review

Sometimes, bigger publishers decide to publish AA projects that tend to fall flat or seem like generic affairs. We were under the impression that Echoes of the End would be such a title for Plaion, as Unknown 9: Awakening was for Bandai Namco: generic, somewhat enjoyable, but forgettable and unpolished. Even though Echoes of the End sadly had some ‘jank’ present that is common for AA projects, we were pleasantly surprised by this capable project by Myrkur Games. Even with some wonkier bits, we quite enjoyed what this adventure title had to offer. Story In Echoes of the End, you’ll be thrown into the world of Aema, with little to no context at the start of the game. You’ll be playing as Ryn, who is accompanied by her brother Cor, to check out local wards that their father used to check and protect. Ryn is a so-called Vestige and can use potent magic abilities that normal human beings can’t. Other people who can use magic have to use focal braces, allowing them to cast a spell or two. Cor is shortly after abducted by the evil magic caster that was shown in a short introduction clip, and that’s somewhat the main setting of the story. Ryn will have to step up as a Vestige and get her brother back, while also holding off an evil invading empire. Luckily, Abram, an older scholar, joins her crusade, and together they form a formidable team. The narrative never becomes too complex, but it’s an enjoyable story nonetheless. Graphics For a project with not the highest budget, Echoes of the End looks surprisingly pretty. The environments are gorgeous, the character designs are great, and it’s simply a lot of fun to see what the game has in store for you as you progress. Sadly, the cracks start to show when you look closer, as the game reuses many assets repeatedly. On top of that, there’s a lot of clipping, and it often feels as if your character is disconnected from the actual world. There is so much terrain that does not react to your footsteps, water effects seem to be missing when plowing through the water, and you awkwardly snap into place when grabbing onto walls and ropes. These items tend to break immersion from an otherwise interesting-looking title. Sound The sound design of Echoes of the End isn’t half bad. You’ll be treated to a decent soundtrack, albeit somewhat generic in the sense that none of the melodies truly get stuck in your head. Even so, the music accentuates the unfolding scenes and lends them a more cinematic atmosphere. The sound effects are also decent, and spells and attacks have a proper oomph to them. The star of the show here, however, is the voice acting, which is surprisingly good for an AA project. Often, productions such as this only have a limited budget for voice acting, but Myrkur Games really managed to impress here. Gameplay Echoes of the End is an action-adventure title with loads of environmental puzzles. The game has a nice balance between combat and puzzling, and while linear, it’s still rather amusing to explore. The offset is fairly simple, and Echoes of the End does nothing we haven’t seen in other titles before. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but there are still quite a few rough edges in this AA project. Even so, everything follows a familiar pattern of unlocking more skills and abilities as you progress through this fairly short adventure. You’ll probably clear the game in roughly ten to twelve hours, depending on how quickly you figure out some puzzles and if you decide to explore your surroundings here and there. The game does offer a few difficulty levels, ranging from easier combat to more punishing battles. The combat itself is fairly entertaining, as you have your typical sword slashes, dodge, and parry available, but also interesting magical abilities. These magic spells could help you knock enemies into each other, or even off a cliff, but they can also drain HP or outright deal damage. The game also has quite a bit of enemy variety, making sure that battles don’t grow too stale. We did find the lock-on system a bit finicky at times when it came to swapping targets. All in all, Echoes of the End does a good job bringing a somewhat original adventure to an already saturated gaming landscape. Sadly, it also comes with quite a few flaws, which have to do with a smaller studio developing the project. Some things could have been used a bit more polish, such as the general controls and the aforementioned animations where you snap into place. Other than that, we were fairly impressed by the overall quality of this project, and even the shorter duration felt spot on. The game never overstayed its welcome, and the flow and pacing felt just right. Conclusion Echoes of the End doesn’t break any new ground, and it shouldn’t, as it’s a fairly enjoyable bite-sized action adventure title that knows not to overstay its welcome. The general gameplay loop proves to be engaging, if you can overlook some general jank in terms of clunkier mechanics and some lack of polish. While this title will not be winning any game of the year awards, it’s just an enjoyable experience through and through. Considering the fact that this was made by a fairly small developer, they put down a tremendous effort to provide players with a better experience than some AAA projects.