In a world where we often get big-budget games that are trying to be the “next big thing”, Echoes of the End ends up being an interesting experience largely because the ambitions behind the title don’t seem very high. Sure, there’s an epic story about an unprovoked war being told, and there’s also plenty of world building with different proper nouns thrown at you quite early on that might be a bit tricky to remember.
When it comes to actually playing the game, however, in many ways, Echoes of the End ends up feeling like a throwback to an older style of action RPGs that we often saw during the PS3 and Xbox 360 era, and by no means is this a bad thing.
“As far as stories go, Echoes of the End doesn’t really do anything mind-blowing.”
The story setup is quite simple; you – in the shoes of powerful magic user Ryn – along with your sibling Cor, are out in the countryside on a routine quest to make sure that the Wards that protect the borders of their country are safe and functional. After mopping up a few of the local threats, however, things start getting out of hand when you come across soldiers from the neighbouring kingdom Reigendal. Once you actually get to the main Ward, this invading army is also revealed as having a character named Ryn among them, who has figured out a way to destroy these Wards from within.
As you might expect, a showdown takes place and in a series of events, Cor ends up getting kidnapped by the invading forces. We know he’s safe because they need a local guide to wage a stealthy war of conquest against your country. Things aren’t completely hopeless, however, since Ryn is rescued by a friendly scholar who just happens to be in the area – Abram Finley. After discovering that Abram also happened to be an acquaintance of Ryn’s deceased father, the two then set off to try and warn the nearby military camp of the incoming invasion before it’s too late.
As far as stories go, Echoes of the End doesn’t really do anything mind-blowing. However, what it does quite well is set up some appropriate stakes that melds a personal quest, getting Cor back, with the larger threat of the incoming invasion of Reigendal looming on the horizon.
“Abram also acts as an excellent sounding board for Ryn.”
Considering the character-focused nature of the game, it is worth noting that some of the most interesting writing in Echoes of the End comes from Ryn’s interactions with her travelling companions. You get a great look at the relationship she has with Cor in the early chapters of the game, as well as a decent idea of how the two got estranged, how their father treated both of them, and how Cor’s mother was a contentious person in their lives. While Ryn comes off as a bit cold in the beginning, with acts like refusing to hold her brother’s hands, reasons for this are quickly explored, and it largely just comes down to Ryn’s desire to protect her brother.
Abram also acts as an excellent sounding board for Ryn. Since he knew her late father, he tends to have some interesting insight into the man. At the same time, we get to see Ryn warming up to Abram and seeing him as a friend in real time thanks to both of them coming to terms with the horror of an invasion making them realise exactly what’s at stake. The character writing is pretty great, and while some characters might feel like they’re one note, they start getting plenty of depth. The only downside here is that we don’t get to see the antagonists as often as we should, and instead, we only really get to fight faceless and nameless soldiers.
While the story might be a great setup, the gameplay feels like the glue holding everything together. The moment-to-moment gameplay feels like a pretty bog standard take on a Souls-like action system that has been toned down quite a bit in terms of difficulty. You’re often facing between 2 and 5 enemies in levels that feel like they were built for fights to break out, and you’re also given plenty of tools to let you deal with them in smarter ways than just slowly drawing them closer one attack at a time.
“Enemy encounters in the game are often separated by various environmental puzzles that Ryn and Abram must often work together to solve.”
Abram also plays a vital role in the combat, since; you can have him attack your target, stunning them for a short duration and leaving them open for a big attack or two. Abram will also occasionally help you out in fights by holding an enemy down, leaving them vulnerable for a quick kill. Much like Ryn, Abram’s abilities can also be upgraded through the skill tree, giving him access to more attacks and more varied ways of supporting you in battle.
Ryn has a few magical abilities of her own to wield. These largely revolve around gravitational forces; the most basic ability you start out with, for example, is Shift, which lets you pull or push enemies in specific directions. This move can be used to great effect by, for instance, pulling an enemy into another one, knocking both of them down in the process and leaving them open for a few swings of your sword. More powers are unlocked over time, greatly expanding Ryn’s capabilities especially when it comes to dealing with multiple enemies at the same time. However, it is also worth noting that many of these abilities are also simply upgraded versions of your base abilities.
You also have a few defensive options that you can make use of to better manage the multiple enemies that are often thrown your way. Aside from the standard blocking and dodging, Ryn can also time her block perfectly to execute a parry, leaving the enemy open for a counter attack. These defensive options can also be further expanded upon through the skill tree by giving you new follow-ups. A parry, for example, can be followed-up with a magical blast that throws your opponent away. Similarly, well-timed dodges can be followed-up with a ground smash that damages the enemies surrounding you.
“Ryn’s capabilities also play into things outside of combat.”
Despite the moment-to-moment combat having incredible potential for being fun, unfortunately, we don’t really get to see much of this depth explored thanks to enemies often feeling one-note. You’re not going to see regular soldiers pulling off some new moves, and even the ones that are equipped with more unique weapons seldom use them in interesting ways. Rather, the game’s idea of introducing more variety in fights largely boils down to throwing multiple archers in your way. Even more encounters where the soldiers are equipped with the grappling hook-styled tool Abrams would be welcome. Instead, you’re largely stuck with standard enemies and sometimes-interesting boss fights.
Speaking of which, abilities are unlocked through a simple leveling system where fighting enemies and finding collectibles gives you experience points. Getting a certain amount of experience points, in turn, rewards you with a skill point that can then be spent on new abilities, improvements to existing abilities, and even more mundane upgrades like getting more health or regenerating mana to cast your spells at a faster rate. While this might sound like a bit of a let down, especially when compared to action RPGs with much larger skill trees, it certainly helps the overall gameplay pacing of Echoes of the End and helps keep the focus on the narrative and strong character writing between Ryn and Abram.
Ryn’s capabilities also play into things outside of combat. Enemy encounters in the game are often separated by various environmental puzzles that Ryn and Abram must often work together to solve. Some of the game design chops at developer Myrkur Games are on clear display with these puzzles and how they’re designed to gradually introduce new mechanics to the player before they’re thrown into progressively more and more complex puzzles to solve using a combination of platforming and making use of Ryn’s abilities to manipulate the environment. While there are a few places where you’re going to get into back-to-back fights, the game also tends to give you plenty of breaks by introducing simple platforming challenges along the way, or even a puzzle that might involve manipulating a series of bridges and pulleys. This also helps give Ryn and Abram more time to talk, further diving into the strong character writing of the game.
“It’s a downright gorgeous game, and Myrkur definitely knows this since there are also plenty of scenic vistas peppered throughout the game to let you appreciate the landscape.”
The overall gameplay structure of Echoes of the End harkens back to a much older era of gaming, where fights took place in specific arenas that were often separated with puzzles or platforming challenges. In many ways, the DNA of the design can go as far back as the PS2 era. However, Echoes of the End is a much more polished affair, and platforming isn’t nearly as core of a gameplay mechanic for it as it used to be for action-adventure titles of the past.
One of the key areas where Echoes of the End excels at is visuals. It’s a downright gorgeous game, and Myrkur definitely knows this since there are also plenty of scenic vistas peppered throughout the game to let you appreciate the landscape. Along with some of the more idyllic beauty captured by the title, there are also some solid depictions of more gruesome things, like a burning village, or even a cavern that was thought to have been long abandoned but is currently occupied by a mythical creature that feasts on the dead.
All of these visuals were also quite well optimized, and while I did see a couple of frame drops here and there, they largely disappeared once I was beyond the first chapter of the story. For context, I reviewed this game on a PC with an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, 32 GB of RAM, and an AMD Radeon RX 7800XT GPU. Throughout my time with the game, with all of the visuals set to max and motion blur disabled, I was getting stable frame rates of between 80 and 90 FPS.
“Echoes of the End feels like a great first stab for a studio’s debut outing.”
The visuals pair excellently with the soundtrack which tends to largely stay out of the way. While there are grand, sweeping orchestral tracks in Echoes of the End, most of the time, the music is much more understated, with the game focusing more on providing a quiet atmosphere to match the idyllic mountain paths or the melancholy of the brutal sight of a village getting destroyed. Even in gameplay terms, the sound effects do a great job to depict the impact of Ryn’s swords, and even the force of her enemies getting flung into each other.
Echoes of the End feels like a great first stab for a studio’s debut outing. The story hints at grander things happening in the background while still keeping things relatively personal for protagonist Ryn, and the gameplay is well paced, with epic fights punctuating environmental platforming and puzzle solving. Generally speaking, the title never really feels like it’s overstaying its roughly 14 hours of runtime. The combat, while not too deep, still feels quite fun when you can pull off the perfect use of Ryn’s abilities and Abram’s ability to stun foes. The quieter times afforded by the platforming and puzzle segments also help elevate the game’s pacing quite well.
Ultimately, Echoes of the End is a pretty fun action adventure game with some light RPG elements that is easy to play through over the course of a weekend thanks to its strong presentation, compelling writing, and fun combat.
This game was reviewed on PC.
