Chained Echoes Review

Chained Echoes is a rare example of one of these retro-inspired pixel art JRPG’s being more than the sum of its parts. Many parts are traceable to classics of the past (some more recent than others) and I could easily list where so many elements come from (and will, later), but Chained Echoes builds on the past in ways that demonstrate the indie JRPG truly has legs built of stronger stuff than nostalgia.

Chained Echoes is the story of several characters; Glenn, mercenary-turned-hesitant leader of a rebellion; Lenne, runaway princess of a tyrannical, militaristic nation; Victor, Shakespeare-esque bard of untold age with mysterious ties to both Glenn and Lenne; and Kylian, Glenn’s brother-at-arms who turns traitor on the party near the end of the first act and acts as a villain of various levels throughout the game.

With this group and the variety of characters that surround them (there are 13 playable characters in the game), a political tragedy unfolds as Lenne’s brother declares war on the land of Valandis, the central continent of Eldrea, in an effort to unify the land under his banner. The plot will take a couple of twists and turns as the game progresses, but it was surprising, as a veteran JRPG player, how focused the game remained on this central conflict.

Some narrative elements are cribbed from the likes of Final Fantasy VI and VII, with the extended cast including optional characters being especially reminiscent of VI, while gameplay is built on foundations set by Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger. Enemies sit on the field, waiting for you to enter proximity and trigger a battle, which happens seamlessly and occurs on that same field.

There’s a unique system setting Chained Echoes apart, however, and that’s party formation and swapping in battle. You have four characters who are active in battle at any time and four in reserve who can be swapped to, but not just at any time. Swapping is a free action, but a character can only swap to one tied to their reserve slot, so if you have, for example, Glenn leading and Victor in his reserve, that space on the battlefield can only be either Glenn or Victor. This restriction leads to some serious considerations regarding who’s even worth having in your party at all and, if they are, who will they be tied to?

Each character has a staggering number of skills considering the size of the game, as well, allowing for them to play as one of two or three different roles throughout your playtime depending on how you build them up. To be honest, it was a little bit overwhelming in the endgame, when all the characters I used already had set roles and all the skills I would need for them to adequately perform said roles, but I kept killing bosses and getting levels. They probably could have paced bosses out a bit more in the late game to account for this, but I also recognize that I went out of my way to fill out a substantial portion of the reward board which got me a number of extra levels.

Speaking of the reward board, let’s talk about collectibles, loot, and the board itself. The reward board is unlocked as you progress through the game and enter new areas, and by completing objectives you activate tiles. By having more and more adjacent tiles, you get rewards like class unlock items, level ups, and even one or two items necessary to create ultimate weapons. It’s very, well, rewarding, plus each active tile also gives skill points and items. Collectibles and loot are found on the field and earned from killing or stealing from enemies, similar to Xenoblade Chronicles or Final Fantasy XII, and loot is sold to stores for gold and to unlock deals at shops, also like the latter game. It was a fun system there and it’s just as fun here.

I mentioned class unlocks earlier, though, and I do need to touch on this. Classes are equipped to your characters like gear and give stat boosts and access to a couple of different active and passive skills each, which can be retained after you unequip the class if you master them. In the early game, these classes can be fairly important (you unlock Cleric as part of the story and it’s your only significant source of healing until well into the second act), but they fall off in relevance as you approach the end of the game. Later classes look powerful, but by equipping them I would have had to change up how my characters worked, and as I said earlier, by that point everybody already either had an established role or was permanently absent from my party (looking at you, Robb). Overall, while early classes like Cleric and Warrior pack a punch you’ll come to rely on for a significant amount of time, classes generally feel like an afterthought.

There’s really just so much to talk about with this game. Sky Armors are awesome! There’s an entire separate battle system where four of your characters get into mechs to fight enemies. It’s wild. Unique Enemies act as minibosses you can seek out for extra challenge and fun. Each field and city are wildly different from each other and are breathtakingly beautiful. The approach to Tormund in the first act is a standout in that regard. The game suffers a bit in the late game as that’s generally when everything has become available and you start to feel some completionist pressure, but you don’t miss out on much by just focusing on what you’re actually interested in and then pushing the story forward.

Ultimately, I simply loved my time with Chained Echoes. This is a game that any fan of JRPG’s should play, and is good enough to act as an entry point for anyone interested in the genre. In an era where Final Fantasy has forgotten its roots and the turn-based JRPG wallows in unfortunate obscurity, Chained Echoes is a shining light telling us the genre still has a future, one that can be attained without abandoning its past.