Chained Echoes

One of the most unique things about this JRPG is that it respects your time. Lets you save anywhere, escape any fight automatically, no random bs fights, even the minor fights can be a little challenging, if you lose a fight it lets you immediately retry it. I feel like the story moves quick. I love this game.

Nice little gem, took me ~54h to complete. The music was one of the best parts in my opinion and reminded me of Xenoblade at some points. The only thing I would criticize is the lack of presentation in the "cutscenes" and the game dragged a tiny bit to the end. But overall a really enjoyable game considering it was only developed by one German dude. Trotzdem richtig gut geworden. ;)

Amazing turn-based RPG — highly recommended for any RPG fan. Great music, great visuals, great story, and great characters. The only thing I found slightly annoying was the Overdrive Bar, which is the main combat mechanic. It adds a bit of RNG that isn’t really necessary, and at times it forces you to choose between making an unoptimal play or taking extra damage from enemies. That said, it wasn’t a deal breaker for me — and if you think it won’t be for you either, then this game is a must-play!

The first 10 hours are fun and the story/fighting mechanics are very good. The game doesn't give you a breather though as you will face pretty much constant uptime. My son likes that there isn't really an element of grinding to the game. If you like traditional JRPGs and you just want more of it, this is the game for you.

Overall a lovely game. Enjoyable mechanics, ways to make it your own, challenging at times without being overwhelming. The achievements aren't super cumbersome with one or two at the end that require a bit of a grind (I'm skipping those). A great value experience with a satisfying story and ending. If you're like me, reduce the run speed right when you start the game. I think the default is 3 and I switched it to 2 much later because the screen change was just too fast and jarring for me.

A true blast from the past!! amazing soundtrack.....classic turned based combat.........and great graphics.....story so far is engaging.

Short kings are canonically best suited for mecha pilot. 10/10 game

Fun game and battle mechanics. Hard mode can be extremely challenging. Story is serviceable. Characters likeable (mostly). Upgrading equipment gets annoyingly tedious midway through game. Overall solid 8/10 game.

Chained Echoes is a really great game that captures the feeling of old JRPGs while implementing QOL features from modern games to streamline the experience. The overdrive system is a fantastic puzzle to figure out, especially in later boss fights where you have to think about dealing damage, keeping the bar low, and future turns where it might hit overheat during the enemies turns. The music and art are also great at creating this charming world, but i would have liked to see some additional art for characters during emotional scenes. Overall i highly recommend this game if you love old JRPGs like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy, or Visions of Mana.

An exceptional JRPG that's all the more impressive since it was largely made by one person. The story follows a group of fighters trying to ease political tensions on the continent of Valandis. Various countries there have a bloody history and as a result, war wreaks havoc. It doesn't help that in the very beginning the Grand Grimoire is used- it's essentially a magical nuke whose true nature is shrouded in mystery, but everyone wants it because whoever holds it holds the power of the Gods. The main plot can be hit or miss; the game sort of throws you in the deep end, with various places and magical proper nouns being used. Some scenes can drag a bit, and the metaphysics is introduces can be somewhat confusing. I've seen that the main plot is a sticking point for some, but I think it makes up for it with the strength of the cast. Glenn is a solid protagonist, filled with a desire to do good in the world despite the fact that he lives by the sword. The rest of the part are no slouches either. You get magical princesses who wield spears, a healing priestess who uses an attack dog, a whole bunch of others. My two favorites were Sienna and Ba'thraz; the former is a femme fatale clad in a red kimono, who is not only super powerful throughout almost the whole game, but also is just an uber cool "gentlewoman thief" archetype; and the latter is a lizard person whose limbs are made of animated metal. His back story, when you find it out, is extremely compelling, and his fighting style, summoning weapons out of the air, is just so cool. The game has a lot of fun playing with classic RPG classes and archetypes; the aforementioned spear user is essentially the game's black mage, but she is presented as a melee fighter. Whenever I found the story to drag, the charaters helped maintain my interest both for how well designed they are and for their mostly compelling back stories. The gameplay is the star of the show here. It borrows from many different sources; for instance, like the Xenoblade games, there is an emphasis on exploring large, open ended environments, and your entire party completely heals after battle. While this sounds like it may make the game too easy, the fact that you heal up allows Matthias Linda to make more challenging encounters that demand a full use of your varied arsenal. After a certain point in the game, you can have 8 characters in your party at once; four in line, four in reserve who can be swapped out on their paired character's turn. Between that and how many skills you can unlock, there is a ton of room for experimentation, and if you do every side quest, you'll have a whoppping 12 party members by the end. I will say that some characters are way more useful than others (the aforementioned Sienna is basically a God if you build her properly, for instance, and meanwhile I didn't wind up using either of the tanks the game gives you all that much outside of a few specific battles). Fighting also has a unique meta loop. Using skills fills up an overdrive bar. Get that bar into the green, and your skills will do more damage and cost less tech points. If you let it get too far and go into the red, though, you will take more damage and skills will cost more. You can reduce the position of the overdrive bar by using different skill types, indicated in the top left of the screen, which encourages you to mix up your characters' skill loadouts so they have as many different types of skills as possible. The game rewards thoughtful preparation and party composition, and even though I only struggled on a couple of fights, it feels rewarding to melt bosses that once gave you trouble once you find the optimal party composition. Skill unlocks are also done by completing objectives rather than grinding for levels, which encourages constant forward play, a very nice touch that manages to avoid feeling grindy. Battles are given further wrinkles once Sky Armors are introduced. These are cool mechs, where your skills are determined by the equipment your mech is using. Ultimately, Sky Armors aren't quite as flexible as regular battling, but they're still a ton of fun to use and lead to some pretty neat boss battles. In a lovely touch, you can even tweak the colors and frames of the various armor types. Outside of battle, the game is filled with things to do. Often times, areas are not fully accessible your first time through, but returning to them sees various sub objectives open up. For instance, most areas have several Unique monsters to find by fulfilling various conditions within the space. There are hidden caves, hidden treasure chests, and sometimes very involved side quests that can lead to new party members, powerful pieces of equipment, or even just cool little side stories. There's a persistent Reward Board that gives you bonus money and skill points for completing specific objectives within each area, too. Between that and upgrading your arsenal and skills, the more you play this game, the more rewards it gives you, both big and small. The game shifts between linear progression, with many long story segments you can't warp out of, but the back half of the game is extremely open ended. There's an elaborate end game quest that involves exploring the far corners of every area for key items to open the path to the game's super boss. Not only are the optional hidden bosses tons of fun, each with distinct ways of combatting you, but it gives you an excuse to go and finish off a given area of objectives and hidden paths. The generous warp points mean that by this point, you can get almost anywhere with the press of a button. It homages Final Fantasy VI and Dragon Quest XI in this way, even if a lot of the content is optional. On top of all this, the game looks and sounds lovely. The pixel graphics are vibrant and colorful, despite the often dark subject matter, and the music is absolutely outstanding. Each area has its own distinct theme that gives it a vibe all its own; Rohlan Fields is an upbeat, "we're going on an adventure" kind of vibe, while Tormund, the City of Rain has a dour, opressive atmosphere (fitting since that's where one of the major antagonistic forces hails from). The production value here is just so impressive, and easily stands tall with the 2D greats. What else can be said? Chained Echoes is just an extremely impressive package from top to bottom. While its story can be hit or miss, the cast more than makes up for it, and the game is constantly rewarding the player in ways both big and small. There is so much to do, and each action you take makes you just that little bit stronger. It's rare for a debut title to feel this well executed, but this is up there with LISA: The Painful in terms of my favorite indie JRPGs, albeit for very different reasons. I really can't wait for the expansion later this year, which looks like it's going to add EVEN MORE great content and story.

Simple and intresting game play. Story is top notch. It has mature themes but not overly verbose. Gem of a game. Highly recommend to RPG fans.

The art and music are the kings of this castle. This has game has style for days! The "on foot" combat was very fun in the early and game, but became a bit bland towards the end. I wish some of the other skills you unlocked were actually worth using. Sky Armor combat was cool, but pretty uninteresting... here's hoping they improve upon it for their next game. Despite its shortcomings, this is solid RPG that I would recommend to any old-school fan.

good 8.5/10 Hoponestly tanking a bit after expedition 33 but it was a good rpg, lost of party building and customization, i wish you had a bit more options but it was otherwise good

Oh my god , Chained Echoes! Why wouldn’t you save after cut scenes!!!! Your difficulty spikes are ridiculous and I lost a ton of progress after the last spike because this game doesn’t auto save after cut scenes like every other game on the market!!!!!!! What the fuck? Save after every fight if you play this game and buy all the food, candy, and angel wings possible, even if you can’t afford anything else. Your time WILL be wasted if you don’t, or if it slips your mind. It is INCREDIBLY frustrating. In total, I’ve probably lost five hours of progress due to these issues.

Overall: 6.5/10. It's a solid game, but a hard sell. Since this review is positive, you can assume the basics are good, but just briefly: [list] [*] Art is very nice [*] Soundtrack is good (never annoying, doesn't get boring, but not really memorable IMO) [*] Story is objectively good (although subjectively, I found it annoying — more on that later) [*] Easter eggs and little language jokes are really good. Made me giggle quite often with item/enemy/NPC names and their lore. Played in English. [/list] Disclaimer: I've beaten 100% of the game, but I kept it at default settings. Maybe on hard difficulty some points would be different. Okay, so now let’s get into why my score is this low. And as always, the devil is in the details: [list] [*] Flashbangs: This game sure loves to use pure white screens — most loading screens, transitions, skill effects, etc. Almost everything, honestly, uses pure white. It’s been a while since any game made my eyes hurt, but I had to take longer breaks from this one because of it. In combat, in story, in cinematics, even sometimes in exploration — the game flashes you with <1 sec white screens. There’s a reason this is my very first negative point. [*] Story: This is honestly without any names, but some people may find it spoilery, so: [spoiler] For the first 5–10 hours, it feels like someone copied homework from FF12 and then went wild. Traitor, friend, nope — traitor again, double agent, triple agent, lore drop, sike — lies, you uncover the truth, nope — wrong again. You get betrayed, you get betrayed, everyone gets betrayed, etc. The author really likes betrayals, and honestly, by the middle of the game it was already getting boring — and it just kept happening. [/spoiler] [*] Side quests: Most side quests get marked on the map... but surprise — the ones that block major content don’t. "Hidden" quests (e.g. ones requiring you to return to obscure areas from the beginning of the game after ~25h) that gate multiple regions are a no-go for me. (Certain goblin quest is a prime example...) [*] Annoying exploration blocks: Only a few of them are justified (like needing to remove a blockage), but most of the time it’s just your character saying "It’s not the time" or "Wrong way" and turning back. [*] EXP system removed: Due to the lack of EXP, almost every normal fight feels pointless. Only those that grant high-tier upgrade materials are worthwhile — but you can’t really skip many fights (sometimes you can, but rarely). [*] Gear progression is bad: You can upgrade gear, sure, but max-upgraded gear has the same stats as gear from the next tier — which you get SO fast. There's really no point in upgrading anything. By the time you're done with inventory management, the story gives you new gear anyway. This doubles down on the EXP issue: why bother collecting upgrade materials when upgrades don’t matter? [*] Damage progression barely exists: From the start to the very end of the game, you maybe do 5× more damage. Swapping between gear tiers is barely noticeable. Sometimes I forgot to swap gear for 2–3 whole tiers and didn’t notice until much later. [*] Late party member unlocks: Why do we get the coolest companions only around 70–85% into the game? It’s not that they’re missable (well, they are, but not in a sense that you can walk past them at the start of the game), but they’re locked behind side quests, which are locked behind main quests. [*] Party formation gets randomized too often: The story moves fast and party members get swapped around constantly. Someone leaves, someone joins, etc. But every single time this happens, the game randomizes your formation — even if the one who left wasn't in your current party. Small nuance, but really annoying. [*] Character swap system is flawed: Maybe it works better on harder difficulties, but I found it counterproductive. Buffs and debuffs apply only to current party members. That means that whoiever you get into fight, is suddently left without any buffs, barely moves (no AGI buff) deals no dmg (no ATT buff), takes way too much dmg (no DEF buff) etc etc. As much as i wanted to play with it, simply using 4 characters and never swapping was 99% of the time was the answer. [/list] I'm well aware that most people will probably disagree with my story complaints, but I'm genuinely curious — were the other things just as annoying to others and they let it slide because the rest of the game was so good, or am I the only one these things bugged?

This game ticks all the boxes for a JRPG trying to bring something new to the genre. My issue with the game is the systems and difficulty curve are a just too unwieldy for me. One moment you fighting typical mob random encounter type battle, and then bam you land in the middle of mini-boss or boss battle you are just not ready for. I never feel like my characters or I are getting stronger and edge in the progress of the game. I feel like I am barely keeping up, and at that point the game stops being fun.

A fine game. Its well made and looks good, though I can't say its anything overwhelmingly special. Its is exceedingly competent, and certainly not a bad time if you are interested in a classic RPG experience, taking on elements of Chrono Trigger. However, it doesn't bring anything paticular special to the table. The story is okay, thought it kind of goes off the deep end about half way through. Additionally, while the game is about war and not a light hearted affair, there is a certain VERY upsetting topic that come up like a punch to the face with zero warning or build up, that left a sour taste in my mouth, esspecially since its a major motivation for a major character, but given only enough lip service to shock and nothing else. If your looking for an RPG, and this game catches your eye, you can't go wrong with it, that said, I believe there are far stronger options out there, even among the Indie 2D JRPG spaces. It's not bad, it's just okay in a space filled with Great JRPGs.

I was really, really enjoying this game. It was like a lovely return to FF6 and although simpler, was enjoyable. The combat was fun, the characters were sweet, the graphics were beautiful and the boss's designs were amazing. I didn't expect it to knock my socks off but I was enjoying it. Then the end of act 1 happened. There is an action a party member does that causes the immediate unravel of the entire plot and game. And I kept going a little to see if it got better, and no, it got worse. Much, much worse. Like the writing jumped out the window. I did a little googling and apparently it was just going to keep going that way until reaching a disappointing ending and so I am putting it down. Some observations: It is veryyyy obvious what the writers influences were, in some cases too obvious. FF6, FF9, A wheel of time and Berserk serve very much as the foundation for the entire story. But the writer seems to lack the depth and skill of these other creators to fill in the gaps or make it a not super shallow/less well done copy in a number of places. I didn't mind the overdrive system- until i got the sky armor. Then it got annoying. You can pet every cat and dog you see tho. So yea, if you dont mind poor writing- go for it. otherwise, play literally anything else.

Overdrive system kills the fun, you find yourself in situations where you have to block and swap out characters just to not take double damage or worse case you will have to use skills you don't need to use anymore(example stealing when they have nothing left to steal) because they are the only ones that will bring the "heat" down. Terrible combat system, might as well have just been a auto battle feature with how much the overdrive limits your ability to do what you want in combat. The story is inconsistent and boring, the character development (both storyline and gameplay) are almost nonexistent, and the maps are boring linear and very small. Chrono Trigger had bigger dungeons in the 90s than I have seen so far in this entire game. I'm sad I bought it so long ago that I can't refund it and to be honest I fear for the innocent people who might buy it as the reviews on this game don't actually reflect the reality of the game itself (guessing lots of bot reviews) and I fear the "mostly positive" rating will lure more unsuspecting folks into buying this turd.

This is a game for the redditor who likes fiddling with menus, moving gear around endlessly, and juggle fifty different abstract systems, rather than deal with actual gameplay. As you can see my playtime is only 50 minutes, but it didn’t take long for me to see all the problems with this overhyped mess. Problem One: The Overdrive system. Instead of turn-based combat where you pick your moves based on defeating an enemy, you’re going to be staring at the upper left hand corner of the screen while you fight the Overdrive system. The characters fighting on screen won’t be of any importance, what’s important will be picking the correct corresponding move that will make the little gauge creep to the left rather than continue moving to the right. It’s the goofiest thing I’ve seen in modern gaming, and that’s saying something. It’s combat designed for future office drones (or current ones) who like dealing with abstracted, hyper-rational methodologies rather than hot-blooded gamers who dream of fighting and conquering foes. Thirty years ago I was smashing in bandit heads on Vandal Hearts and watching blood spray into the sky, now in 2025 I’m picking which shape will make a little gauge go left rather than right. Problem Two: Too many systems. This is a case of nobody telling the dev to pump the brakes on some of their ideas. Usually in cases like this, a dev will try to cram too many ideas into one game, then the project will stall while the dev has a never breakdown after realizing they should have crammed a pokemon monster-trading mini-game in there, then everyone will leave and the game will (thankfully) die. But in this case the dev actually completed their project. Fifty minutes in and I was already fighting off tutorial screens like a horde of Dynasty Warrior enemies coming at me in waves, honestly I don’t see how you guys put up with it. I guess that’s fun for office drones? Problem Three: Marvel tier dialogue and story. I don’t know if it’s something about indie pixel art game devs, but they don’t hire writers so the dialogue sounds like something out of a Marvel movie. Soulless, no depth, fake cartoon characters who are cliche cutouts rather than an interesting character I will think about for years to come. As soon as I saw the “tomboy princess who wants to explore the world” followed by the “dutiful white knight who devotes his life to protecting her” I checked out hard. How many times do I have to see something like that in the course of my life? I realize stuff like that might be new to some of you younger gamers, but I’m old as can be, I’m the oldest person on planet earth, and there are some sights and some cliches that will wear you down… believe me, after long days of suffering through one unbroken pattern after the next, days of monotony in which nothing changes, you will come to despise the cliches that you once took for granted. The Untamed Tomboy Princess and her Dutiful White Knight are two of those cliches. I can only drop to my knees and give thanks to the creator of the universe that I was able to walk away after 50 minutes so that I would not be subjected to anymore of the undoubtedly painful cliches lying in wait within this game. Problem Four: Lore dumps. I think this is a young dev problem, they don’t know you need to present information about your world in digestible nuggets. You dump lore about made up kingdoms on people, they’re not going to care. Not if they’ve already seen fifty million fantasy worlds. Maybe a young gamer could put up with it, but not one who’s been there and done that. “In the year 8 billion, Gerblikistan went to war with Poomlandia but then Nationland turned on them” oh okay thanks, glad to know. Problem Five: They trick you with an explosive opening ONLY to delay the “boring first town” trope seen in so many bad jrpgs. You see that intro and it’s exciting so you think the game itself is going to be fun - don’t fall for it. They’re just trying to butter you up so you don’t notice that the first town is boring and filled with jokey nonsense townsfolk who have no business existing. I don’t know why so many jrpgs fall prey to this, probably a lack of vision. Game devs, hire an actual writer, you don’t have to populate your first town (or any of the towns in your game whatsoever) with boring people who have nothing to say, but love wasting your time while they say it. Then again, gamers put up with this type of thing all the time, so what do I know? Maybe I’m wrong and boring townsfolk babbling about nothing is the way to go. Problem Six: Game of the Year? Really??? No, definitely not. This is like the menu systems from fifty games (maybe a few of them were Games of the Year in their day) all cobbled together in a desperate attempt to impress. Looking at some other reviews, it sounds like some of the characters meet with some tragedy, and that’s great, but how in the world can anyone seriously get through all the menus and painfully boring dialogue to get there? Only an office drone psychologically equipped to handle hours of tedium and menu fiddling can brave the horrors of this quest in order to find the occasional interesting nugget. But not me!

The I like: Good Strong Interesting plot overall. Excellent music, Loving it very much. RPG elements. Puzzle solving. The I not like: Who the hell is writing the script?! Lots of childish lines and it disrupt the immersion and sometimes does not fit properly into the game's atmosphere. Summary: Game creator/s must have played a lot of JRPG, Bringing together a well crafted game with love and dedication. Totally a Gem and worth a buy.

this game is amazing , really challenging and complex i enjoyed almost every part of it . good job! cant wait for the DLC

A truly excellent game. Not perfect, but very memorable, lots of options, great side quests, and amazing twists and turns. Absolutely worth planning for an RPG fan.

This is my favorite game ever. I'm so happy I get to play it again

Everything I you could want in a old school Jrpg with some new twist!

Different and entertaining

Great old school RPG. Really soaked a lot of time on this game

Very fun game! I have been playing it for hours.

Great game. Worth your time.

This is the gold standard on new RPGs.

Far from perfect but very fun.

This game is so fkin good

great game

great game i loved it

funnn

Chrono Trigger Remake out!

Great Game