Echo is a third-person sci-fi adventure created by Ultra Ultra using the Unreal 4 Engine. The dev team is made up of just eight people who are mostly ex-IO Interactive (Hitman).
In Echo, players take the role of a female space traveller called En (voiced by Rose Leslie from Game of Thrones). En awakes after a century in stasis when she arrives at a mysterious Palace. During the game En forms a love-hate relationship with London (Nick Boulton, Dragon Age, Mass Effect) her sentient starship.
Watch the Echo launch trailer below:
[brid video=”169446″ player=”531″ title=”ECHO LAUNCH TRAILER”]
The experience starts off as a character driven journey of discovery but evolves into something altogether more punishing. Gameplay revolves around stealth and action, as you face off against the strange workings of the Palace.
The Palace creates Echoes – exact copies of you in every way. They behave like you and only do the things you do. So the way you play the game shapes your enemy. If you run, soon the Echoes will get faster. If you sneak, they will get stealthier. If you shoot, they will start to shoot back. The game constantly reacts to your every choice and input.
View some screenshots of Echo in our gallery:
The Palace “reboots” every few minutes, 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. It is up to you whether you prefer to keep a low profile or if you choose to go head on and deal with the consequences later – one thing is certain you need to keep your wits about you as you face the ultimate enemy: Yourself.
EF Games will be brining you a full review of Echo later this month. Check out the official Echo website for more information on the game.
