If you are a fan of the movie ‘Stranger Things’ or a fan of teenage supernatural adventure, you should check out Echo Generation. This pixelated game was published and developed by Cococumber and released for Xbox, PC, and Game Pass in October 2021. Echo Generation reminds me of a Paper Mario combat game with so many puzzles and mini-games on the side. It also reminds me of the good old days and how childhood could sometimes be. 

Leave the Paranormal Investigations for the Kids

Echo Generation takes you on an adventure like no other game on the market today. It’s a game about discovery, changing the world, and helping others. The game follows the adventure of two siblings and their pet, who witnessed some weird activities in their neighborhood and decided to investigate the mystery. 

The game begins with kids doing regular stuff like walking in the streets, interacting with friends, beating up raccoons, etc. Things quickly take a turn when the game begins introducing the monsters. Cute raccoon fights turn into gruesome battles with some creepy super strong creatures —definitely not a childhood activity for normal kids, but then, Stranger Things… When I first played the game, it felt like I was suddenly yanked out of my comfort zone and taken to a whole world where kids took on the responsibilities of adults. 

Something New and Different, Yet Familiar 

Echo Generation is not quite survival, although there are definite survival elements in it and some crafting elements. It’s not quite role-playing either — it’s technically an RPG, just not the kind of open-world RPGs you normally play. However, your character does gain experience points and levels up after completing quests and mini-games, and puzzles in the game world. Echo Generation is the first of its kind – a unique hybrid that blends several popular genres of games into one seamless universe with one story to tell.

The adventure never gets old, as you won’t run out of exciting quests and missions. For instance, you may be tasked with getting a particular item to unlock your mission. To get that item, you may need to find many other items to get to the real thing you intend to find eventually. 

Sharpen Your Fighting and Thinking Skills 

When playing the game, you will be tasked with defending your neighborhood from different terrifying monsters while figuring out what brought them to your town. It’s a fast game that requires quick thinking and coordination to survive. Most levels in Echo Generation are timed, so if you want top scores, you’ll need to be quick on your feet. 

The battles aren’t the easiest ones I’ve encountered in an Action-RPG game. To make matters worse, the system does not provide a difficulty level. However, you can always recruit Lily to help you fight battles. To recruit her, you must give her a traffic cone. 

Death is inevitable in Echo Generation due to the game’s difficulty level. Thankfully, the system does not award any penalties for death. You wouldn’t lose money or restart the level or game. Rather, you will wake up at the same spot you died. In a way, it would feel like you just fainted. 

Improve Your Skills to Get the Best from Every Combat

The combat gets interesting when you acquire as many abilities as possible. In Echo Generation, you can only learn advanced moves by reading comics. Cool right? There are so many comics available in the game, and you can get them through random pickups, or the system gives them to you as a reward for completing certain quests. Your character and Lily’s can improve their skills. Most of the skills are powerful and enable you to kill monsters with a single stroke. You will also get some abilities after recruiting a pet. I got a cat after talking to the grandma on my street. 

Exciting Action and Combat System 

Echo Generation offers some pretty cool features that make it easier to play and more fun. I’d say it is one of my best supernatural games. My favorite feature has to be that you can customize your character. You can also unlock different skills and abilities and level up over time. Some skills are better than others, so you’ll have to play around with different ones before deciding which one suits your style best. You can also find out which skills are best for fighting different bosses. 

Go Shopping for Some Healing Items

Once you acquire enough money from fighting battles, you can access different shops and buy stuff in the game. These stores are located in some unconventional spots. For instance, a shop is located in a treehouse just outside your home. I could not access the treehouse shop until I had spent over an hour playing the game. If you play hard, you may access it within a shorter time. 

Although you can find healing items in the shop, they are usually hard to find. Before accessing the shop, I always used my healing items wisely. I only use them during boss battles when it is necessary. 

Adults are Not Reliable in Echo Generation’s World

Kids in Echo Generation don’t rely on adults for any reason. I also noticed that the game characters don’t like adults so much. For instance, the game portrayed the characters’ school’s headmaster as a bad person. Unfortunately, I found out that he was a bad person after finally stealing his home keys after breaking into the school. The headmaster turned out to be a monster —just not the supernatural ones. We rescued a toddler who was trapped in a cage. We also found many other creepy things in the house as we explored the basement.

The boss fight with the headmaster was fulfilling as I got to punish him for all the bad things he had done. I also realized that the problem in the neighborhood wasn’t just about the aliens, as some of the adults were just as bad or even worse than the aliens.

Conclusion

One of my favorite things about Echo is that it takes you on a journey while also teaching you something new. The combination of action and storytelling is fantastic, and I hope it’s a trend we see more often in games moving forward. This title should be on everyone’s list to play in 2015. It will transport you back to an unforgettable time in history, but you won’t feel like an observer – instead, you’ll experience every moment as one of its characters.