Chained Echoes Review: Not Chained to the Past

Retro-inspired RPGs have a very fine line they must walk; can’t take too much inspiration from games of yore or it just feels like a cheap imitation; too much pandering and it ends up coming across as a cheap cash grab. Chained Echoes, developed by Matthias Linda, has been on my radar for quite some time, but I had some reservations. After all, while I love a 16-bit RPG, and especially love turn-based combat, it’s a contender in a very crowded field this year, and I was uncertain that it would be able to differentiate itself enough to stand out. My fears, thankfully, were completely unfounded.

A War-Torn World

Chained Echoes has a story that hooks you from the very beginning. Taking place on the war-torn continent of Valandis, the game opens in the midst of an intense battle. You’ll take control of a talented young mech pilot and his partner, and it’s your mission to cut deep into enemy territory and destroy a strange gem. Unfortunately, destroying said gem triggers a devastating explosion that kills thousands of people. Terrified by what this might mean for their futures, the warring kingdoms agree to a cease fire, and an uneasy truce is announced.

You’ll steadily add more team members to your motley crew of protagonists, each hailing from a different part of Valandis with their own burning questions and desires, and all of them thrown together by nothing more than happenstance. There’s a solid amount of character development, and I particularly appreciated that no single character became the star of the show. It was honestly quite refreshing that the focus was spread out across the entire party, as RPGs frequently focus on a singular hero that experiences the most character growth and development, with a cast of supporting characters who are simply there for clever quips and support spells.

An Open-ish World Feeling

The world of Chained Echoes feels absolutely enormous. Not quite open world but not-not open world either, you’re given a lot of leeway to explore. And you should definitely explore, because hidden caves and secrets abound, and they’re frequently worth the detour. In a small-but-savvy decision, the developer very wisely chose to make enemies visible so that you can (usually) avoid them without too much trouble. That being said, there are also plenty of enemies hiding and they will ambush you when you least expect it, so don’t get too comfortable with the enemies you can see.

Another incentive to explore is the Reward Board, and it’s brilliantly unique. Arranged like an actual board game, there are spaces laid out that have extra objectives which you can meet. Objectives are varied, such as finding specific items or defeating enemies. When you complete a given objective, it gets marked off on the board, which comes with a modest reward. If you can complete adjacent spaces, however, you’ll begin a chain, and the longer the chain, the better the reward. It’s completely optional, but it adds a delightfully addictive layer to each area you visit.

Turn-Based Done Right

Combat mechanics in Chained Echoes are turn-based (which I admittedly have a weakness for), but it manages to feel surprisingly unique and refreshing. A maximum of four party members can engage in a battle at any given time, but for each person you have in play, you’ll also be able to partner them up with a team member that stays in reserve. When the active character’s turn arrives, you’re able to switch out with the character in reserve, and still act immediately. This is quite useful for changing your fighting style on the fly, as well as necessary when afflicted by certain status effects, or when you need to reduce your Overdrive bar. The Overdrive bar is another intriguing mechanic that makes you consider your moves more carefully than turn-based combat typically calls for. Three are three colored sections making up the Overdrive bar: yellow, which is your normal party state; green, which is Overdrive, in which you receive less damage from enemies while dishing out extra damage to them; and red, which is Overheat, in which you deal less damage but receive more from enemies.

The Overdrive bar is influenced by the actions you take in battle. Regular attacks and skills that have white text will increase the Overdrive bar, as will taking the brunt of enemy attacks, while skills with orange text and switching out partners will lower it. The skills that raise and lower the bar will change turn to turn, so you’ll want to keep an eye on the color of the text. It’s a balancing act that can dance on a razor’s edge sometimes, and you can find yourself Overheated at the worst possible time. There’s also an Ultra Move meter that builds up during battle, and once full, can be activated by any character when it’s their turn. Each character has a unique attack, with its own delightful animation and effects.

The Daily Grind

Leveling up in Chained Echoes breaks the mold from grinding for experience points to level up and increase your stats. Instead, when you defeat enemies, you’ll earn SP (skill points) that can be used to level up individual skills. To increase your character’s core stats and learn new abilities, you’ll need to obtain a special item from certain battles. Stat boosts and abilities are separated into tiers, and a set number of them must be learned before you unlock a higher tier. The choices are nicely varied – you can increase individual parameters such as attack or defense, and sometimes you’ll even get a bonus boost to some other stats, and you can learn new abilities such as offensive or supportive magic. My one complaint with this system is that earning SP can feel like a grind and a half, as you typically receive a very small amount of SP from casual enemies, and leveling up your skills requires a rather large amount of SP.

The aesthetics of the game are absolutely gorgeous. Environments are beautifully lush and it’s obvious a lot of love went into rendering every little nook of the world, from the huge, sprawling city to the cozy little forest. While I’m almost always a fan of pixel art, there are games that manage to take it above and beyond, and Chained Echoes is one such game. The soundtrack is beautiful as well, appropriately moody, cheerful, dramatic, and more when the situation calls for it.

Chained Echoes is an excellent game, but it’s not without its faults. The dialogue can feel awkward and stilted at times, though never in a way that breaks the immersion or ruins the story in any way. Grinding for SP can feel like a chore sometimes, though in fairness it’s not a strict necessity to progress through the game. The leveling system, while interesting and unique, doesn’t feel as balanced as I would like, and bonus stat points felt random and frequently not super helpful for the character in question. Still, the game’s shortcomings are quite short, and are only minor distractions in an otherwise amazing experience.

The Perfect Sleeper Hit to Close Out the Year

I’ve played a lot of retro-inspired games this year, and Chained Echoes easily stands out as one of the best – and it’s not even particularly close. With gorgeous artwork, addicting mechanics, and a world that blends steampunk with high fantasy seamlessly, Chained Echoes is a loving homage to old-school RPGs while still managing to proudly blaze its own path. If you’re looking for a challenging (but not punishing) RPG with an engaging story, enjoyable characters, and mechanics that will keep you coming back for hours at a time, Chained Echoes is an absolute must.

Final Verdict: 4.5/5

Available on: Nintendo Switch (reviewed), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC; Publisher: Deck13; Developer: Matthias Linda; Players: 1; Released: December 8th, 2022; ESRB: M for Mature; MSRP: $29.99

Editor’s note: The publisher provided a review copy to Hey Poor Player.