Echoes of the End

Echoes Of The End does have a lot of good points. Visually it does not disappoint, the magic can be fun to wield, and the puzzles add a nice little change of pace. The combat is generally enjoyable enough, if a little awkward, especially targeting magic abilities with camera angles in the midst of battle. If you can put up with its little quirks and occasional glitches (I once seemed to manage to get myself stuck inside the landscape and was unable to move or even see the world properly), it does offer a nice little bit of fantasy storytelling and might be worth your while. If you are easily frustrated by games that sometimes seem to work against you, maybe give it a miss.

Echoes of the End brought everything that a AA-title needs, narrative-driven and showed a keen attention to environmental design.

Echoes of the End offers an engaging couple of days of play, thanks to its well-paced mix of combat and puzzles.

The Icelandic studio Myrkur Games delivers a fun and extremely well designed first game with Echoes of the End. The real standouts are the world and its inhabitants but the rest of the game doesn’t have to hide behind them. The game does suffer from extremely basic combat that only gets better if you invest your skill points in new and much more exciting moves that will make fights a lot more interesting. Puzzles are relatively barebones and don’t demand any creative solutions. If you still struggle there is a very handy and well implemented hint system though. Overall Echoes of the End suffers in many tiny aspects but the game as a whole comes together rather well.

Echoes of the End is an action game that aims high, but struggles to achieve its most ambitious goals due to stuttering gameplay, which is only partially offset by the beautiful vistas and excellent acting. Myrkur Games is a small team, and this is their first effort, so it's not a huge fault: but the result is still not entirely convincing.

For me personally, the lack of technical issues elevated the experience from “worth checking out” to genuinely engrossing. While others may remember their time with Echoes of the End as marred by stutter and frustration, I’ll remember mine as a seamless journey through a beautifully crafted world, one that managed to capture both my eyes and my emotions without ever breaking immersion. So here’s my verdict: if you’re fortunate enough to avoid the technical troubles that others report, you’re in for a rewarding adventure. Echoes of the End may not redefine the genre, but in the right conditions, it proves that sometimes a game doesn’t need to be perfect to leave a lasting impact.

It’s a good-looking, if not very well-performing Unreal Engine 5 game that shows us a cool world, it populates it with an interesting lore and rich characters, and gives them just enough meat to get through a couple sessions’ worth of single player third person action adventure campaign, with a combat that is just enjoyable enough to last the ride. If that sounds like your jam, it’s cheaper than most AAA games of this kind, launching at under 40USD/EUR, with even a 10% launch discount. The lower budget is felt in a lot of areas, but fans of the genre who can close an eye on such things should have a good time with Echoes of the End.

Ambitious debut from Myrkur Games with a fascinating game world but a lack of polish.

The debut from Iceland doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel of the action-adventure genre. Instead, it looks back, stripping away modern hybridizations and leaning on the classic pillars of platforming, puzzles, and combat. None of these elements stand out as exceptional, but none fall flat either. Its true strength lies in a heartfelt story, a likable duo of protagonists who grow over the course of their journey, and the stunning Icelandic landscapes that bring flavor to an otherwise grounded fantasy. With a runtime of around ten hours, it never outstays its welcome, even if it’s a game you’ll likely forget soon after finishing.

Echoes of the End is a mixed success. Its narrative, characters, and performances are excellent, and the world is impressive. Some of the game’s more logical environmental puzzles and its late-game combat are engaging, too. Unfortunately, the game’s overall pace is undercut by repetitive gameplay structures, far too many busywork puzzles, and flat combat that takes too long to get interesting. There’s a lot of great stuff in Echoes of the End, but it’s impossible to ignore what doesn’t work as well.

Echoes of the End is only halfway successful. The game boasts impressive technical features and a puzzle quality rarely found in an action adventure. While it's a pleasure to play, the Myrkur Games production suffers from a number of issues, including a rather crude combat system and, more generally, a fairly derivative story. In short, if the development team had been brave enough to take a few more months to iron out the flaws, we'd likely be talking about a product of a completely different caliber.

Echoes of the End is a very interesting action-adventure, characterized by an evocative setting and solid writing, despite a few oversights. In terms of gameplay, it is blatantly inspired by God of War and other entries in a genre that has long since stopped producing truly original experiences - though in this case, it often leans more toward outright imitation rather than passionate homage. Now, if the framework put together by Myrkur Games worked as it should, we wouldn’t be lamenting its derivative mechanics, but unfortunately the game lacks polish and reaches launch saddled with some significant issues that will inevitably take time to fix.

Nothing about Echoes of the End is original, but it’s worth a look if you’re a fan of flashy action and environmental puzzles.

Echoes of the End is an ambitious game with some really good ideas and a beautiful presentation, but also with technical issues and design flaws that detract from the experience. I would actually recommend it, but only if you can wait for a few updates.

Echoes of the End has strong puzzle foundations and a good grasp on difficulty, making it the type of challenge that is just right. That said, these puzzles dominate gameplay with action getting less of the spotlight, making for a lack of balance. This is a fantastic pick if you prefer brain-teasers over fisticuffs. But if you were looking for a thrilling escapade, you may be disappointed, as the action in this adventure mostly takes a backseat.

Great graphics, but the gameplay behind it still has room for improvement.

Echos of the End represents an ambitious fantasy action installment, featuring a broad array of mechanics and a nascent narrative. However, among the industry's leading titles, it exhibits several critical vulnerabilities.

Echoes of the End is the epitome of a serviceable but ultimately underwhelming PS Plus or Game Pass fodder game. The game is visually striking, to be sure, but performance issues detract from the overall graphical splendor. Then, as for the gameplay, despite the puzzle design being a constant highlight, the shoddy combat and platforming lead to quite jarring peaks and valleys in the action. The onus is then left on the narrative to make this endeavor worthwhile, and while there is impressive character depth, the core narrative is a paint-by-numbers fantasy tale that does little to set itself apart from the pack. If you like action-adventure, and need a quick fix, this can scratch that itch. But, a game to rival the AAA goliaths, this is not.

When everything runs as it should, Echoes of the End is visually pleasing, but the actual gameplay and animations are lacking. What the game does end up doing well are the variety of ways you can handle the combat as you progress. Many of the issues lie with how the combat itself has been handled, with animations from both your main character and enemies being sluggish and hard to read at times. With proper love and attention to ironing out those edges, Echoes of the End has the potential to transform into an amazing title.

Echoes of the End surprises with its inventive puzzle mechanics and engaging story presentation, showing plenty of potential. Unfortunately, Myrkur Games falls short on core aspects such as character focus and combat system, preventing the game from reaching that potential. The result is, sadly, a title that doesn’t rise much above mediocrity. To overcome the hard parts yet stumble on the fundamentals is, quite literally, “crossing the ocean only to drown in a stream.”

Echoes of the End is a game with undeniable potential buried under frustrating technical problems and uneven combat. Its rich world and strong narrative deserve praise, but until its mechanics and performance are polished, it’s hard to fully recommend.

Echoes of the End has more bad than good to it, and the jank of its technical issues running throughout all aspects of the game bring down even its best elements, like its strong visual presentation, character-driven storytelling, and some fun platforming and puzzle challenges. The combat both overall fails to innovate and pass the standard bar for interesting, and as a whole package it's likely not worth your time when you need to get five-chapters deep in a 10-chapter story to get to its best bits.

Echoes of the End makes a strong first impression with inventive puzzles and focused combat, but its uncompromising appetite for challenge and precision is painfully difficult to overcome, and undercuts the power of its protagonist in the process.

Echoes of the End begins with a promising story and stunning environments. The biggest drawback is the sluggish and unresponsive combat, worsened by technical issues and frustrating enemy encounters. Fortunately, that frustration is occasionally interrupted by well-designed puzzles. Myrkur Games had some good ideas for their first title, but they haven’t quite managed to turn them into a solid and enjoyable game yet.

Echoes of the End is a third-person action-adventure game with interesting puzzles and challenging combat. Although its mechanics have potential, the title fails to make good use of them, and it also suffers from technical issues and poor overall design.