As packed as this month is for video games, it’s still nice to see titles like Myrkur Games’ Echoes of the End. Developed by a team of 40 developers (which started with only 16), the action-adventure title’s recent gameplay showcase generated some interest.
However, you shouldn’t expect a God of War or Ragnarok-length adventure. Speaking to WCCF Tech, game director Halldór Snær Kristjánsson revealed that it’s about 14 to 15 hours long if you focus on the story.
“The game length is generally, I would say, 14 to 15 hours during our playtests when we get people in to try the game out. It’s longer than we set out to do. One of the reasons we offer for that as well is that we have 10 main chapters in the game, and each chapter in the game actually has a distinct environment and visuals.
“But we really wanted this game to feel like an adventure, like you’re traveling throughout the different biomes and seeing different parts of the world, and that’s exciting on a visual level, but also on top of that, each level will have its own kind of key mechanic in the game. So, as Ryn and Abram are going throughout the game, once you get into a new level, we’re gonna throw a new kind of mechanic at you to interface with, and that’s a promise that we give out to players.
“Once they play the first two chapters, they’ll start to realize, okay, they’re switching it up every so often. The way that we talk about this internally is that Ryn is a hammer and Abram is a screw, and they’re solving problems together or dealing with different things. We always throw completely different problems, and those are usually tied to the biome that you’re in and the story of the biome that you step into.”
Some of those mechanics are teased in the initial announcement trailer, says Kristjánsson. Each chapter will introduce and then expand upon these mechanics, making them “more complex.” You can also look forward to about 20 unique enemies. “Then, of course, the bosses on top, and those are also quite tied to the themes of the chapters. So you might see an enemy in one chapter and not in any other.”
Echoes of the End launches on August 12th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. The story follows Ryn, who teams up with explorer Abram Finley to save her brother. Venturing through the Iceland-inspired Aema, the former utilizes swordplay and magic to topple enemies while the latter can assist in various ways. Head here for more details on the combat system.
