Take up your sword and mechs in Chained Echoes, a roleplaying game that feels like a love letter to classic RPGs like Final Fantasy.
Ark Heiral crafted Chained Echoes, styling it to be similar to the classic Role-Playing Games from the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System). Visually the game looks and feels like those classic games, the characters especially remind me of the early Final Fantasy games. Those were some of my favorite games and this felt like the perfect homage to them. It was only missing a Chocobo and a character named Cid. Maybe I missed them in the game? Of course one big difference is the mech pilot combat.
The game follows a mech pilot and his comrades as they try to tear down the tyrant. With the mechs though your opponents will sometimes take to the skies, allowing you to enter the mech and go after them, adding a unique layer to the combat itself. Each fight is centered around the classic turn based JRPG styles prevalent in the industry but feels less clunky than others that have adopted it.
Overall I found the game to look and feel exactly like I hoped it would. However, it’s story didn’t suck me in liked the RPGs of the past did. This could be due to my no longer hoping every game was styled like this and the fact that even in an open war the action felt a bit on the light side, leaving me wanting more from it.