It's relevant to the plot, some of the actions taken are possible due to the species the characters are. You aren't going to get that meta-ness as seen DDLC and the game isn't really about dating cute furries even when the game sometimes acts like it.Īnd yes the elephant in the room I haven't addressed, yes it's furry. Echo does play with some "dating sim" tropes (sometimes to horrifying degrees) and VN tropes, but it bills itself as a horror story first and foremost. DDLC is visual novel that "sells" itself as a dating sim that plays with the tropes of VN/Dating sims and completely subverts them to tell a horror story. And also to compare it to the breakout hit visual novel that got mainstream attention "Doki Doki Literature Club", it doesn't really play those kind of tricks. This is 100% a visual novel and not some kind of hybrid. The routes are non-linear so you don't do things in order and do a "true ending" type of deal but with the game being developed and released over 6 years there are definitely plot points you might want to see first.Īs far as "gameplay" you are making choices to get either good or bad endings. There are plenty of things to figure out and piece together and see how everything is connected and it doesn't hold your hand in you figuring these things out. There is a definite feeling of satisfaction once certain dots connect as the mysteries unravel across the 5 different character routes. It could be something completely supernatural at center stage or focus on the absolutely horrible things that were already occurring with the people living there. And when I came back to another route I was presented with almost different styles of horror where different parts of the town take center stage in how they are terrifying. After finishing the first character route I was left aghast at what just occurred that I had to spend time processing it and then go back in immediately staying up til 2 AM on a work day just so I could see more and what secrets/horrors the game still held.
The reason I compare it to Hereditary is that a big part of that movie (at least up the first half climax) is watching the madness start to seep in and wondering which things were real or not, and Echo does a fantastic job of towing that line of where the town's supernatural influence begins and people's personal grievances/traumas end.Īlso this is that good slow burning horror, that feeling that something is wrong and keeps building up and up to a crescendo where things explode into some absolutely huge "holy shit" moments. While that in itself is it's own brand horror the town itself has a super natural effect on people that seem to amplify their worst qualities and fears.
If I had to describe the game using other properties I would describe it as "Silent Hill x Hereditary (the movie) x BEASTARS." Echo, the town in the game, is a town on it's last legs full of a lot of broken and drugged up people.
Eitherway, Echo is not keen on letting them go." Chase is now forced into a situation in which he must help his friends either face, or escape their demons.
Odd and unexplained memories that he always blamed on an overactive childhood imagination may not have been imagined at all.įinally, an event is triggered that turns these fears into something much more tangible and dangerous. On top of that, Chase begins to realize that Echo itself may have its own secrets. Being back in the town digs up old and painful memories secrets that lead to rifts in the group that have been boiling under the surface for years. Unfortunately, Chase begins to realize that their memories of Echo may have been a bit rose-tinted. He's joined by five friends, who grew up with him in Echo, taking the chance to have a little reunion. " Echo is a horror visual novel about a small, isolated, desert town located somewhere in the southwestern states.ĭuring spring break, Chase, a young otter who grew up in Echo, is back for a school project aimed at documenting an event in the 1870's that may have lead to the town's current state. So what is Echo? Echo is a indie visual novel that has been in development for the last 6 years and has had it's final update/release earlier this month.