When I had first seen Echo, I imagined it to be somewhat similar to last year’s Hitman reboot. Maybe it was the stark white colors of the levels or the emphasis on spatial awareness. What’s definitely common is that you’ll be killing. It’s the way you kill and the consequences of your actions that set Echo apart from any other game you’ve played.
You play as En, who has waken up from stasis and is seeking to bring back to life a loved one. In her quest, she lands on The Palace, a place of ancient power and technology. As she enters the Palace, she activates something beyond her power, which sets off a security system that learns from her actions and then uses it to kill her. And that’s the core of Echo, making it irresistibly addicting and compelling.
The AI in the palace is constantly trying to learn from your actions and embed it into humanoid forms that replicate them against you. So if you start shooting, then in your next encounter they will in turn shoot at you. If you resort to sneaking and stealth, they’ll in turn try to sneak up on you.
The gameplay then revolves around you trying to teach your enemies the wrong thing so as to come ahead in the race. It’s a fascinating twist on common gameplay caveats, and it’s realised really well in Echo. There are constant blackouts that reset the ‘Echoes’, so they will unlearn tactics that were not used right before the blackout. Also, for a brief period during the blackout, the AI will not be learning from your actions, and you are free to run wild with your strategies. This gives you wriggle room to play with, and plan ahead.
The levels themselves are cleverly designed, and offer significant challenge. You objective is to move through them and activate elevators that take you to the next section. The design is beautiful and stunningly opulent. Stark whites and deep blacks make for some great contrasts. The choice of colors and overall design makes Echo stand apart from the average crop.
You have an AI companion who keeps feeding you information and a lot of the backstory. The World in Echo truly is fascinating, and I really enjoyed learning more about it. The story is also interesting, mostly due to the sci-fi setting, though I do wish that it was a bit more fleshed out. However, given what the development team has achieved with the budget, Echo is nothing short of genius.
Echo is one of the most interesting games I played this year, and I am eager to see what Ultra Ultra does next. This is clearly laying the foundations for an expanded story and gameplay ideas. Echo is not exactly tough, but it always makes you think about what you want to do because it is constantly trying to use your actions against you. It’s immensely satisfying to figure out the best routes through obstacles and planning ahead for upcoming challenges.
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