There’s a scene in the 2005 film remake of the classic television series Bewitched where Will Ferrel’s Jack Wyatt’s soon-to-be ex-wife is bewitched by Nicole Kidman’s Isabel Bigelow into signing the divorce papers and says, under a spell, that she’s moving out of the house that afternoon. When inquired as to where she’s going, by the very confused Jack, she says “Reykjavík. Where is it?” And Jack responds, “Iceland!” That was the only thing that ever came to mind when I thought about Reykjavík, until today. Enter, Myrkur Games, a small, 40-person studio based in Reykjavík, and their new AA game, Echoes of the End.
Dangerous Vestiges
Echoes of the End is a third-person action game, in the same vein as the God of War reboot duology, where you play as Raelynn “Ryn” Tsair, a ranger for her homeland Noi Syrouve and a “vestige,” meaning one who is gifted with magical powers, in the world of Aema (pronounced “ee-mah”). Typically, vestiges are cast out by their people, no matter where they’re from, as they’re regarded as too dangerous. But Ryn’s father, Valestin Tsair, chose to keep his daughter and raise her in his footsteps.
Ryn has a half-brother, Corwyn “Cor” Tsair, who’s father is also Valestin. As children, some sort of incident involving Ryn’s power caused a severe scarring to Cor, and Ryn was taken out of their home city by her father to keep her safe. At the start of the game, Valestin has passed away, and Cor, having chosen to join the rangers, has been reunited with Ryn and selected her as his mentor.
The two are out on a patrol when the story kicks off. Without going into too many details, the siblings become separated, and Ryn goes on a journey to reunite with her brother, for whom she feels responsible. Along the way, Ryn meets Abram Finlay, a scholar and pen-pal of Valestin, with his own reasons for being there. The two agree to work together to accomplish their goals, he joins as her companion, and the adventure truly begins.
Where They Spent The Money
Echoes of the End is a good game with some glaring problems. To start with, the scenic views and vistas are absolutely stunning. It is obvious that Myrkur Games took advantage of the scenic location surrounding their city and spent a lot of effort digitizing it. There’s hardly a moment when exploring the outdoor levels that one is not impressed by the artistic scope and the beauty of what they crafted.
One of the coolest things in the game is that it is possible to see where Ryn is going from a long way away or look back and see where she has been throughout the adventure. This isn’t constant, as there are many different environments, and Ryn crosses a very large swath of land, but on a per-level basis, you can see where the level began at certain moments. It’s impressive and shows the continuity of the landscape Ryn is traversing.
On the less impressive side are the character models. They do not look bad, but there was less attention to detail in their designs. The shadows of Ryn’s hair regularly shimmer, and in the very first scene of the game, her sword clipped through the hair. Additionally, the lip-syncing is serviceable, but not impressive when looking at the modern standard. The same can be said for most of the combat animations, with very simple sword swings, some collision issues with enemies, and other things along those lines. However, the developers have made it very clear that this is a smaller budget, AA game (the Echoes of the End’s MSRP is $40, with 10% off at launch), and when accounting for that, it’s not a surprise that some corners were cut.
A positive note, though, is in the executions of various enemies throughout Echoes of the End, of which there are many. There are a few execution animations for human enemies, and the same goes for most non-humans, leading to an easy dozen or more very impressive executions when all is said and done. But while we’re on the topic, let’s talk about the game’s combat.
Not Quite God of War
Combat in Echoes of the End is a mixed bag. Ryn has only a sword at first, but as she gains experience, she unlocks skill points (there are no “levels” in the game), which are then used to unlock magic abilities, sword abilities, enhance her health, boost companion Abram’s combat utility, etc. Unfortunately, until very late in the game, none of it feels very good. There’s no impact on Ryn’s sword swings, and there is no impact on Ryn getting hit, either. Magic has a cool flare, but even that lacks any true impact until very late-game spells. Also, at the time of playing, there was no support for DualSense functions, so there was no trigger tension, or even any haptic vibration; at least, there was nothing noticeable.
There are also a lot of strange, and to be honest, bad game design choices in combat. The most egregious of these is that there’s no animation canceling, meaning if Ryn is told to swing, she is swinging that sword, end of story…unless she gets thwomped out of it by an enemy. And because there’s no impact feeling to her swings, it’s hard to know if you should swing again, dodge, or block/parry. This led to some incredibly frustrating boss fights, especially early in the game when Ryn’s healing and magic usage is very limited. Thankfully, there are plenty of “cairns” around to regen Ryn’s health and mana post-fight.
Another bad choice is in those aforementioned really cool execution animations that are unskippable, Ryn is vulnerable to an attack at the tail end, around the time she’s removing her sword and preparing to fight again. It’s a ghastly choice, and it honestly feels like it may be a bug because it doesn’t make any sense. That said, by the end, a combination of more skills, powerful magic, and simple practice made the game much more fun, even resulting in a one-shot on the final boss, but its combat flaws are still there. The comparison to God of War is apt, but don’t go in ever expecting that level of polish or power.
When Ryn’s not chopping off Durtar and Dalsmen arms and heads, she’s solving puzzles, oftentimes with the aid of Abram. Each new level tends to add some sort of new puzzle mechanic, like beams of light to unlock a door, making an echo of Ryn to move past a gate before it closes, and other traditional puzzle mechanics. They work well, and the puzzles are not too complicated, plus the game offers a hint system that you may choose to activate by pressing right on the d-pad when prompted. There are some trophies associated with solving some puzzles with no hints, so trophy hunters, be advised. One optional puzzle was a little finicky with its direction of statues, but, overall, the puzzles were solvable and never a real roadblock.
Lots of Lore to Love
The game itself is structured into various, mostly linear levels with minor exploration. Funnily enough, the only two collectibles in Echoes of the End are health/mana shards for upgrades, and journal entries. Both types, upgrades and journal entries, are found in treasure chests off the beaten path. The journal entries are written in Ryn’s voice and are about the oddities discovered, ranging from a recipe list to a One Ring knock-off. There’s nothing to do with them except read them and learn more about Aema, but they’re a nice touch to fill in some of this fascinating world.
And to be clear, this world is fascinating. The remains of a fallen empire, split into distinct nations with their own cultures, with magic pillars called “Wards” that are basically Final Fantasy XVI crystals, makes for a really interesting place, and it would definitely benefit from a more expansive, exploration-focused game in the future. The story is fun, with just the right mix of tropes and originality. The writing is clever, with some well-timed quips and good banter between Ryn and Abram, which is important given how much time is spent with them. But it’s more than just that as each entry in the journal and each line about the history or stories of Aema just intrigues more and more.
Hopefully, An Echo of More to Come
There are not a lot of characters in the game, and a larger cast would enhance the feeling of immersion. Most characters that are not the main cast die before meeting them, are dead, or have a couple of lines in total. Once again, understandable for the scope of the game, and hopefully a sequel can expand on this. The only criticism in the realm of characters is that the voice acting does not stand out. It’s never bad, but sometimes there’s a sense that the actors are new or not interested. The best voice acting is the female antagonist, who does an awesome job throughout.
Finally, on the technical front, there’s nothing to note. Echoes of the End offers the typical quality and performance options, and on the PS5 Pro, it looked great in performance, there were no obvious hitches, stutters, or frame drops, and it appeared to be running at 60FPS the whole time. Additionally, there were no obvious bugs nor were there any crashes; it was very stable.
Echoes of the End is an enjoyable and usually fun game, despite its under-polished and, sometimes, bad combat design choices. Myrkur Games has done an honorable job in its first attempt, and anyone who purchases this game knowing what to expect will walk away satisfied with their purchase. Hopefully, we’ll get to see what Myrkur Games does with this universe next.
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