It took a long seven years for solo dev Matthias Linda to put his debut game together, and – after playing it over the Christmas/New Year 2023 break – I can safely say that every last day was worth it. At least from a player’s perspective. Chained Echoes ran a successful Kickstarter campaign way back in 2019, where Linda managed to capture the imaginations of a bunch of 30- and 40-something players that had been craving a return to the likes of Breath of Fire, Final Fantasy 6, and Chrono Trigger for generations.
But this isn’t a simple retread. It’s not an Octopath Traveler-like checklist of nostalgia, assembled cynically and clinically. No, it’s better than that; Chained Echoes observes the tropes and tricks that make the genre great and tinkers with the formula – much in the same way the first 10 or so Final Fantasy games did. When you’re not ogling the gorgeous 16-bit inspired pixel art, you’ll be beavering away in a battle that’s all about flow.
You’ll need to scroll through your commands and pop-out menus as you usually would, attacking with weapons and magic and selecting items as is likely second nature to you at this point, but you’ll also need to be aware of your flow and rhythm. Once you get into a torrent of attacks, you’ll be able to achieve Overdrive, where you’ll start dishing out more damage and attacking with more zhuzh. Over-reach and over-perform, and your party will leave itself vulnerable to crits from whatever oversized enemy you’re facing.
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