Chained Echoes
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Critic Reviews for Chained Echoes
Indie JRPG Chained Echoes is a polished new 16-bit JRPG that brings out the best of the golden age.
While Chained Echoes has the advantage of decades of distance from the games it looks to for inspiration, it’s a better experience in many instances than those vaunted games from which it arose. I prefer this combat, storytelling, and approach to progression and exploration to many of the JRPGs I grew up so enamored with playing. That’s the highest praise I can heap on a game so removed in time from the games to which it might be compared. Whether you currently count yourself a JRPG connoisseur or fondly recall the ʼ90s heyday of the genre, Chained Echoes is well worth your time.
Chained Echoes is a wonderful mash-up of '90s JRPG tropes, masterfully woven together to produce an experience that feels simultaneously nostalgic and fresh. A well-paced story, unconventional progression system, tactical combat system, and expansive world all come together to make for a game that is shockingly one of the very best RPGs that we've played this year. Really, there's no place where it feels like Chained Echoes drops the ball, which is all the more impressive when you consider that the vast majority of it was put together by one person. If you consider yourself a fan of JRPGs, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up as soon as possible. Even if you aren't a fan of the genre, we'd still encourage you to snap this one up; it stands as a shining example of everything that makes RPGs great.
Chained Echoes is without a doubt the best RPG I've played all year, and should be pushed to the top of your backlog immediately.
If you like the classics of the 16-bit era role-playing, you will enjoy Chained Echoes like a pig in a puddle. It takes everything that has aged badly of the genre (random combats, rhythm ...) and brings it up to date with exquisite taste. For something it has been 7 years in development, and it is something that shows. Too bad it doesn't have texts in Spanish.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The best sequel to Chrono Trigger there's never been, with a pseudo-Japanese role-player that maintains a delicate balance between retro homage and modern indie game.
Valendis is a beautifully pixelated world with a rich history in this story-driven RPG. The initial introductions drag on a bit long, but once the story picks up it pays off in the end. Chained Echoes manages to introduce useful mechanics to its combat with the Overdrive system that work with the player while challenging them to change up their gameplay and strategy at the same time while still affording plenty of room for customization and accessibility.
Fans of SNES-era games (and especially JRPGs) will certainly love Chained Echoes, but there are plenty of quality-of-life improvements (like being able to save at pretty much any time) that keep the game feeling new and distinctly 21st-century. For all the aesthetics of games like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 6, Chained Echoes doesn't feel like a '90s game (a trap that many retro-leaning indies fall into). Chained Echoes is a fresh, smart adventure that celebrates classic JRPGs while not being afraid to push into new directions. It's sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking - and always fun. It's a must-play.
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