Chained Echoes is one of the most unique JRPGs I have played so far. Below I’m going to elaborate my notes of my 55 hour long playthrough as spoiler free as possible. Please consider that I WILL compare some aspects to other games. Usually I try to avoid that, but in this particular case I’ll make an exception because this game stood out to me in so many ways within a pool of otherwise generic JRPGs that don’t invent anything new.
[h3]UI[/h3]
To start off I'd like to mention that while I enjoyed the retro-like yet high-detailed pixelated graphics, I do have some mixed feelings about the UI though. While it looks nice overall, I especially had issues within the first couple of hours where I accidentally executed an action that I didn’t want to – just because I would mix up the pool of every possible color and icon and therefore didn’t recognize which action is selected. But perhaps that was just a layer 8 issue on my end, since I eventually got used to it and the issue disappeared.
[h3]Story[/h3]
The story itself and the way of storytelling can easily keep up with my favorite retro JRPG games of all time: Tales of Phantasia and Secret of Mana. What seems like a generic plot of “Defeat villain 1, then villain 2 and finally the big antagonist” unfolds into something far more complex if you consider the entire context. It doesn’t simply say “Antagonist wants to destroy the world because he’s evil”, but rather “Antagonist acts and thinks that way because of reason xxx.” And the word ‘antagonist’ isn’t even fitting here – the game has no real antagonist. Every faction acts and attempts to “save the world” according to their own beliefs.
The continuous, partial reveal of the plot details is also very well done. In fact, so cleverly done, I can’t even put it into words without exceeding the char limit for steam reviews. When I eventually realized the reason for the title ‘Chained Echoes’ and got to the backgrounds of Glenn, Lenne and Victor, my jaw just dropped to the ground. Both the cast of fictional characters and the writer have my greatest respect. As Egyl once said: “The tears do not want to stop running”.
[h3]Side activities and characters[/h3]
Some characters can start off as selfish or arrogant. They have flaws, traits and habits. However, this is required as it allows for some top-notch character development later on. The further I progressed into the story, the more obvious it became that they inspire each other, grow, and work on their flaws, yet still retain their true selves. They’re not perfect from the beginning and this is what gives them room to grow. When they felt sad, I felt sad. When they were angry, I was angry. When they laughed, I laughed. When new plot was revealed, I was just as shocked as they were. I felt these emotions because the game and the world gave me a reason to immerse myself. To actually care so to speak.
The sidequests reject crappy tasks such as “kill 10 monsters”. Instead every single one offers a fully fleshed-out story that serves the world or the background story of a character. While the amount of side content may not be huge, those that do exist add value to the world. It is clear that quality was prioritized over quantity.
Listen up, Square Enix, Bandai Namco and Atlus: THAT is how you design an authentic game! Put the player into a world with real depth and they will naturally get invested in both the world and the cast within it. Give the characters genuine personalities and quirks, but leave out the exaggerated (anime) stereotypes. And most importantly: Avoid the stupid stunt of forcing a minigame detour right after a major plot twist - for what? Just to hunt for bikinis, so the player can see half-naked Tifa and Aerith on the beach. For the love of god, PLEASE.
[h3]Music / Sound Design[/h3]
While the soundtrack might not match the epicness of Clair Obscur, the determination of Secret of Mana or the melancholy of Tales of Phantasia, it perfectly evoked their classic vibes within my heart. It captures the grand sense of an RPG adventure from the SNES/GBA-era. The sound assets are also very iconic and remind me of these retro rpg games.
[h3]Exploration and QoL[/h3]
While every area was gorgeous and unique, exploration and navigation sometimes became frustrating. As soon as I was left loose at the start of the adventure, I got almost immediately lost within the Rohlan Fields, because it branched out into every possible cardinal direction. Other areas were better to explore.
Don’t get me wrong – I like it if a game doesn’t hold the hand of the player. But a couple of QoL-Features for exploration would have been nice. Something like a minimap and custom markers on the big menu map. I mean they already implemented QoL-Features elsewhere: Interactable NPCs have red markers and enterable houses have green markers. So why stop there and not add more features to improve exploration if that is such a big part of gameplay?
Also, in some cases the game warns you when you’re about to trigger a boss fight or a point-of-no-return. But in some other cases it absolutely does NOT tell you when you’re about to accidentally trigger said scenarios and therefore miss out on other paths. A bit more consistency would have been nice – for example a toggleable confirmation prompt in the settings, which then consistently warns you “You feel a strong presence. Are you prepared to continue?” at the end of every dungeon, cave, tower, area, section and so on.
[h3]Combat[/h3]
Combat is smooth, flashy, and complex once more skills get unlocked. There are also interesting gimmicks that keep it fresh. Due to the character limit for reviews I will only explain one core mechanic: The “overdrive system” that introduces a new, interesting layer of complexity into JRPG-combat. It requires matching specific action types to keep the “overdrive gauge” inside a green safety window. Leaving it to the left into the yellow removes your buffs, while overheating right into the red inflicts disadvantages.
Initially I didn’t like this restriction: I was forced to execute actions and skills that I didn’t really want to execute in a particular situation, such as a healing spell even though everyone was close to full hp – just to avoid the red area.
However, after the initial hours I switched my opinion: This is a genius way to avoid boring repetitiveness in combat! Issues which I experienced in Dragon Quest, Sea of Stars and modern “Tales of”-Games. You must think a couple of turns ahead to control the ground and therefore the flow of the battle.
Players that dislike or especially like this system can give themselves a bigger or smaller margin of error with a setting in the menu.
This focus on strategy gets additionally underlined by the fact that after every battle the characters get fully healed! This avoids tedious out-of-combat management with healing spells and items. By removing this “juggling”, your brainpower remains focused strictly on what matters: The strategic depth of combat and exploration.
However, one criticism stuck with me to the very end: Skyarmors. While promising on paper, the execution doesn’t work out. I can’t quite put it into words… I’m not sure why… But somehow I didn’t feel the same excitement as when I was having ‘normal’ encounters.
[h3]Closing Thoughts[/h3]
I must admit I did not expect this level of quality in a game like this one. My expectations were completely surpassed in every way: Combat, cutscenes, animations, music and story.
This game is a love letter to everyone who is looking for a classical retro-(j)rpg but with a modern take of the classical 8/16-bit aesthetic and I loved every single second of it (except the skyarmor encounters *shishishi!*)
Big thanks go not only to solo developer Matthias Linda, but also everyone who crowdfunded the game via Kickstarter or PayPal. Also thank you Film- und Medienstiftung NRW (public funding agency here in germany) for additional support during development!
