ECHO
ULTRA ULTRA · 2017 · Stealth, Sci-fi, Female Protagonist, Adventure, Indie
PC
Mostly Positive79% · 1,53872Metacritic
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About ECHO
✦ AI summary
Infiltrate an ancient Palace that learns your every move and weaponizes your own playstyle against you through AI clones called Echoes. Master the rhythm of survival by manipulating the Palace's learning cycles, where your choices in stealth, combat, and strategy directly determine how your enemies evolve to counter you.
ECHO is a Third-Person Science Fiction Adventure.
After a century in stasis the girl En arrives at her destination: A Palace out of legend, a marvel of the old civilization eons gone, still awaiting its first human occupants. Out here, using forgotten technologies, she hopes to bring back a life that shouldn’t have been lost. But nothing could prepare her for what she’ll face in the ancient halls below.
The experience starts as a character driven journey of discovery, but as it unfolds it evolves into something altogether more punishing. The Palace studies everything you do, everything you are, to use it against you. Gameplay revolves around stealth, action and manipulation, as you face off against the ultimate enemy: Yourself.
THE WAY YOU PLAY SHAPES THE GAME
In ECHO everything has consequence: As you try to wield its magical technologies it becomes apparent that the Palace has a will of its own… It creates “Echoes” – exact copies of you in every way – that behave like you and only do the things you do. So the way you play the game shapes your enemy. If you sprint, soon the Echoes will get faster. If you sneak, they will get stealthier. If you shoot, they will learn to shoot back. The game constantly reacts to your every choice and input.
LEARNING MECHANICS
The Palace "reboots" every so often, resulting in a blackout. This blackout-cycle is the rhythm at which the Echoes get updated with your latest behavior, learning and unlearning from your actions. During the blackout the palace is blind, giving you the freedom to act without consequence. This is the time to run and gun and do all the things you don’t want the Echoes to learn.
The experience is one of being up against your own choices from the last blackout-cycle, giving you a way of shaping the game from cycle to cycle. So no matter if you prefer to go stealth or action one thing is certain, you need to keep your wits about you if you want to survive the Palace.
RICH STORY AND ATMOSPHERE
At the heart of ECHO is the story. The game starts as a narrative experience, focused on En and her journey into the Palace and her past. Who is she and what is her connection to the Palace? Who is this man that she needs to revive, and what was the circumstances surrounding his death? Slowly these things are uncovered as she descends into the dark halls below.
After a century in stasis the girl En arrives at her destination: A Palace out of legend, a marvel of the old civilization eons gone, still awaiting its first human occupants. Out here, using forgotten technologies, she hopes to bring back a life that shouldn’t have been lost. But nothing could prepare her for what she’ll face in the ancient halls below.
The experience starts as a character driven journey of discovery, but as it unfolds it evolves into something altogether more punishing. The Palace studies everything you do, everything you are, to use it against you. Gameplay revolves around stealth, action and manipulation, as you face off against the ultimate enemy: Yourself.
THE WAY YOU PLAY SHAPES THE GAME
In ECHO everything has consequence: As you try to wield its magical technologies it becomes apparent that the Palace has a will of its own… It creates “Echoes” – exact copies of you in every way – that behave like you and only do the things you do. So the way you play the game shapes your enemy. If you sprint, soon the Echoes will get faster. If you sneak, they will get stealthier. If you shoot, they will learn to shoot back. The game constantly reacts to your every choice and input.
LEARNING MECHANICS
The Palace "reboots" every so often, resulting in a blackout. This blackout-cycle is the rhythm at which the Echoes get updated with your latest behavior, learning and unlearning from your actions. During the blackout the palace is blind, giving you the freedom to act without consequence. This is the time to run and gun and do all the things you don’t want the Echoes to learn.
The experience is one of being up against your own choices from the last blackout-cycle, giving you a way of shaping the game from cycle to cycle. So no matter if you prefer to go stealth or action one thing is certain, you need to keep your wits about you if you want to survive the Palace.
RICH STORY AND ATMOSPHERE
At the heart of ECHO is the story. The game starts as a narrative experience, focused on En and her journey into the Palace and her past. Who is she and what is her connection to the Palace? Who is this man that she needs to revive, and what was the circumstances surrounding his death? Slowly these things are uncovered as she descends into the dark halls below.
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
[h1]FOR IT'S TIME AND EVEN NOW [/h1] [b]This was and is a 'decent' looking game. [/b] Something looking like the inside of 5 star hotels, looks great. This has for VA (voice actor), [u]Rose Leslie [/u] and accompanying [b]Nicholas Boulton [/b]. [h3]There was clear indication for the progress of the story into a FILM, to date we haven't further detail on that. [/h3] It's played in third person VIEW, there is a psychological effect in what appears to be you against yourself. Initially. Though, you're introduced to these cloned enemies. As the game progresses it's 6 chapters, it FOR ME, was mostly a stealth-fest. You have your 'hand-gun' and various other combat moves such as stealth take-downs. [i] There is the opportunity to level up yourself. [/i] You obviously must give attention to detail to do that. Even so, and probably because I had to give attention to that It was difficult for me, the game IS SO BEAUTIFUL to look at, though after some time in game, it feels 'samey' and if you save and have to get up and wash the dishes, you may find it difficult to just step back in. If you liked it and just connected to what was going on here. You continue. [b]There is a narra…15 found this helpful
i got more than halfway through this game but ultimately couldn't bring myself to keep going so this is a do not recommend unless you are very into stealth games. the core mechanic is interesting, but not enough on its own to sustain a game of this length.1 found this helpful
Interesting concepts for a stealth game but turns annoying and repetitive at the last segments. The story is forgettable.1 found this helpful
Useless. No in-game sound effects. Cut scenes and dialogue work fine, but only silence once play gets underway.
ECHO is a masterclass in creativity, stealth, and unique problem-solving. In an industry often bloated with excess and imitation, it stands as one of the handful of games built around a single brilliant idea that it introduces and continually expands upon to impressive length: the notion of a physical environment possessing genuine memory and adaptive intelligence. The Palace is an endlessly expanding self-learning superstructure — imposing, beautiful, and severe. Gargantuan regiments of massive marble pillars, serene pools with lush vegetation, and dismal dark endless corridors of glass adorned with all manner of ornate, pristine detail create a space of divine yet hostile grandeur. With each regular system restart cycle, the porcelain-like entities known as ECHOs literally learn from the player, absorbing every individual encounter, movement pattern, and tactic before evolving to counter them with chilling precision. This core concept makes for some super difficult but profoundly rewarding gameplay that demands patience and careful planning for smooth success. Stealth here transforms into a psychological duet against a living architecture that improves alongside you, forcing cons…
My favorite backrooms game.
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