Echoes of the End Review – WHAT IS THIS GAME?

Now, if you saw this game and immediately thought 
“Is this some kind of God of the Witcher: Ragna-Geralt knock-off?” Congrats! You win a choccy milk! Though surprisingly, Echoes of the End isn’t as bad as you’d think. In fact, I’d say it’s definitely better than MindsEye. Alright, that’s not saying much, but bear with me here, okay?

Almost Epic

While it doesn’t have the crunch of Kratos or the flair of Clair… Obscur, its unique platforming, puzzle-solving and exploration challenges will pop up everywhere to keep you on thy toes. In this Icelandic-themed world, main character, Ryn will dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge all over the place. And for a first-time dev team, it’s impressive, to say the least. As you go along, you’ll start to notice little nuggets of inspo from the usual suspects like Zelda and God of War in its design, but also other IPs such as The Lord of the Rings and It Takes Two, which are appropriately paced out.

How’s the combat? Well, hit and miss. While trying to be like Sony’s angry Spartan, slowing down time for big moves and chopping limbs off for that added “Ouuuu!” factor, something about it seems… off. I don’t know whether it’s the animation or the lacking sound design—quite literally—it just feels like it could’ve used more time in the oven. Ice, in this case. Yes, you can unlock and pull off some sweet-looking moves and mind-flick enemies off cliffs, which is satisfying. Yet, I couldn’t help but think “Budget, budget, budget” every couple of minutes.

Even more so when the game is full of immersion-breaking baloney. For example: falling through the floor, rowing a boat through the sky, or standing in mid-air like a Looney Tunes character. Almost like it’s a feature, not a bug. I mean, they’ll give you a good laugh or two, though they should not be anywhere near this common. It’s not unreasonable to ask for competent quality assurance, but all we got was Q-Ain’t-gonna-test-this instead.

Extra Pepper, Please!

And it’s not just the gameplay, the cutscenes have their own set of familiar issues, especially ones that are based around boss encounters. There just needs to be more ‘Omph!’ As the music and sound effects—or lack thereof—end up making the big-time moments feel as flat as a squashed Mario.

The story itself is… passable, even if several main characters aren’t fleshed out nearly enough. Ryn and her witty old sidekick, Abram drum up some decent banter, though our Forspoken 2.0 lead has that “Barthello, we’re leaving” kind of energy, which is fine in small doses, but she does end up sounding very much like an angry Karen at points.

What made me mad was how often this game would hang as you simply… moved forward. On PC, the game looks and runs pretty well, all things considered. Yet these freeze-frames began to royally stuff up my jumps far more than I could count. For a game that has you platforming around on the regular, this is just not on. There were also moments where I had to reload my save because I couldn’t complete a puzzle, since my companion got stuck behind a wall or barrier. Albeit, this only happened once or twice on my 12-hour journey.

Decision

Echoes of the End is a quirky, Icelandic-themed adventure blending awesome platforming, puzzles and decent combat, inspired by some of the biggest names in gaming. Its imagination and variety are impressive for a first-time dev, but the constant bugs, wonky animations and inconsistent sound design stop it from reaching its full potential. Though as the ending leaves things open for a sequel, hopefully they can come back and edge closer to glory.

By Anthony Culinas – Reviewed on PC

Good

Echoes of the End serves up some creative platforming, puzzle-solving and exploration in a gorgeous Icelandic-inspired world, with hints of Zelda, God of War and more sprinkled throughout. Sadly, the constant bugs, flat presentation and uneven combat keep this first-time effort from truly shining.

This game was reviewed using a download code provided by PLAION. The Beta Network uses affiliate partnerships, however, this does not influence reviews or any other content published. The Beta Network may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links that are on the website.