Echo

i don't play visual novels often but this one is pretty good. i've currently done carl's route, and i think i'm half way through leo's. i didn't have very high expectations going into this so it surprised me how neatly written the character interactions are. there are some typos and some stuff bothered me pacing wise but its not that bad.

i also noticed some similarities to night in the woods (one of my favorite games) and i was wondering if its purely coincidental or if this game was inspired by it in any way

This game may be my all-time favourite piece of media. I would recommend it in a heartbeat, but definitely take the content warnings seriously — it can hit very hard sometimes. My recommendation for order of the routes (and luckily the order I managed to play them in) is Route 65 (technically a separate game) -> Leo -> Carl -> TJ -> Jenna -> Flynn if you'd like to maximise emotional damage. Spoilers ahead.

My first experience with Echo was actually Route 65 since my dumbass thought it was the actual game. I'm quite glad it worked out that way though since it set me up perfectly to head straight into Leo's route and ignore every possible red flag thrown my way. Naturally, I chose the bad ending first and it absolutely devastated me. Looking back, I should have seen it coming from a mile away. Leo's route honestly still hurts the most, though TJ's and Flynn's give it a good run for its money.

I next went through Carl's route and while it's definitely the weakest of all of them in my mind, it was still quite enjoyable. I can't laugh at any of the dumb decisions people make in horror movies now cause I went down the bad ending route first. Oops. I honestly thought James would do more damage if Carl resisted him. Overall, pretty good. I do wish Raven had more to do though :(

TJ's route was a return-to-form for the emotional devastation. I could see what was coming way before it ended but I was hoping to god that it wouldn't work out like that; the only thing keeping me going was the thought that the world might honestly be better because of Sydney's death; after all, he probably did kill his dad and was in the process of drowning TJ too so it's actually ok right? I think TJ's route hurt even more after that scene in Flynn's route. I didn't think that anything would be worse than seeing Sydney shoot his dad, and I was proven wrong. Absolutely incredible writing. 

Of course the rest of Flynn's route was also awful; feeling helpless and being forced to condemn Flynn even though I knew the truth was really hard. Seeing the true nature of Socket Face made me reconsider everything else I'd already seen before. This game is really good at doing that honestly — so many parts of routes shed a whole new light on the others that really made me question myself. I should have seen that Leo wasn't the perfect wolf I wanted him to be all along; I shouldn't have been so quick to assume that Sydney was a horrible person (he's just a child, what the hell was I thinking?); I should have noticed that TJ was just awkward and not actually into Chase. The game is structured in just such a way that it's easy to fall into these assumptions so that when the carpet gets pulled from beneath you the ground hurts even harder.

Jenna's route was actually my second-to-last, not my last. Quite glad though; while Jenna's (good) ending is lovely and feel-good, Flynn's does a much better job of wrapping up the story as a whole. This route pairs very nicely with Leo's route; giving a lot more context to his and Chase's relationship as a whole. Realising that Chase had been messaging him still felt like a horrible betrayal, and also learning more about the details of their "breakup" with the phone prank helped me see Jenna in a new light. Previously I had assumed that she was kinda the best of them all. She got her life figured out after dealing with her trauma, and now in her route she's able to support the people around her, even the ones who wronged her in the past like Heather. Playing through the Phone short story  and getting to see exactly what happened really tarnished that perfect image I had of her. The prank was in bad taste and definitely contributed to the extremely unhealthy relationship that Leo and Chase have during the main events of the game; it definitely feels like she encouraged the prank in order to sort of reveal to Chase that his relationship was not a very healthy one and to push him towards what she believed to be his best future (not to say that she's wrong, obviously their relationship is unhealthy, this just isn't the way to go about proving it). She does a similar thing when she yells at Carl during his route; while she may be right about the fact that Carl should stop being quite so much of a introverted stoner, this certainly isn't the best way of getting him there.

Anyways that's a lot of text. Overall, this game is an unforgettable masterpiece. I really hope you heeded the spoiler warning and aren't here without playing the game yet, but even if you are you should still play it for yourself; it's an amazing experience.

I wanted to write this to thank the authors of this game from my heart. who knew a psychological horror furry visual novel could bring me closer to accepting self, perhaps even closer than most other stuff. thank you very much for giving us a chance to have this amazing experience

this is a game about the unbearable weight of the wrongs people commit against each other. and there are no happy endings. Only endings where you're given the better end of the stick and don't have to see as much of the horror.

its about living on land soaked in blood and fear, where no amount of repentance could ever bring any semblance of justice

For all of the psychological horror, body horror, space warping/dimension hopping/time traveling bullshit, this game IS about the real world. In EVERY way.

this is a game that asks what the lines are between what is Us and what is Not Us. What does it mean when someone "isnt acting like themselves"? What is it really, when we feel overcome and do things we regret, or couldnt believe we did? Where is the line between Us and What we Do? And what lengths will we go to to believe we are Still Us and we are Still Good and we Are Still Worth Saving?

it is the most well written, evocative game I have EVER played.

First of all, this game does have a huge impact on you when it comes to intense scenes. If this isn't your type of content, you should be careful. it gives you the option to choose and shows how it affects the story and the endings. It's very unique when it comes to furry visual novels.

 I liked that not all endings are bad or bitterswets; some of them made my heart feel warm  and happy, like Jenna's or Carl's good endings. This game took me through an intense and emotional roller coaster, and I ended up loving every single character (except the antagonists and some of the stuff that our protagonists did in the past or during their stay in Echo, tbh).

It took me 8 months to finish it, and it was worth it. If someone reads this and hasn't yet played this game, believe me,  it's VERY worth it. give it a try! Gotta warn you though, that you may need some time to finish it properly since it's very intense. And finally, whatever you do, don't play Flynn's route first.  It's shocking when you're new at this game. it took me 4 months to recover from that and continue reading this VN.

Take care, bye!

Мне грустно, новелла интересная, много выборов и персонажей. Но мне трудно пережить их гибель или когда мы бросаем их. Я готов плакать прочитав новеллу и я плачу... Мне их искренне жаль. Смерти, только смерти и расставания...

*****//SPOILER\\*****

Well, let's begin, years ago my first visual novel was Adastra, and holy shit there's no telling of how much I cried to that, and ever since I've always knew Echo but never even downloaded, these times around I've seen some Arches stuff and really wanted to play because it looks really cute.

So after a quick research I've download and played Route 65 and had no idea of what Echo was about, and oohhh boy, I knew it was short but it was so cute the way things happened between Chase and Leo, the first kiss and everything, this just gaslighted me into thinking Echo would be happy.

Right after finishing Route 65 I downloaded Echo and went to Leo's route......... I got the bad ending first and it was the second time I've cried to a VN and this time was even worse than Adastra, it was such a mix of sadness, and everything not good, so I cried for a good while, and then I had the bright idea to finish with the supposed "Leo's good ending" and it just made me cry more and more, I couldn't believe anything that I was reading, everything felt so out of place, Leo was just another victim of Echo and everything with him and for him got so fucked up that it makes me real sad whenever I think of him. There's a good chance that this game broke me real good.

I have to finish everyone's route before playing Arches, but honestly I can't take it right away, it's gonna be at least some good weeks to recover and try the others routes.

Well, that's it, thank you Echo Project for making this, honestly y'all always makes me cry.

11/10

had a friend who recommended me play this game for the longest time. they sent echo based shitposts and i was thinking it was gonna be a bit more lighthearted than it actually is. this broke me. but also this is one of the best games ive ever played.

After years knowing this Visual Novel by his name around the internet, I never read it in the past, but this year, I give it a chance... I do Tj first; it was something in years I don't feel on a history.

10/10

The only furry VN that you actually should follow the age-restriction

(Yes, Hi! You can read my comment if you have never played Echo before as it doesn't contain spoilers!)

This VN is really intense, but I am really a fan of story games with adult nature, and this one was a the one I was looking for.

The story Is great and follows up with events, character backstory, and people though text perfectly! They were even moments while reading where I remember some things during the story. I've really been a fan of Echo Projects games for a long while and this one really kicked it off!

spoilers maybe


this is my favourite game and top five pieces of media. just ever. and i will gush about it. The character design is amazing, they are written to a tea and the themes are nascar racing right up my alley. the way that the larger portraits are so expressive makes me feel at home and i'm fairly sure stanj did most of them so i'd like to thank the goat for blessing us.

i'm not sure i'll ever be able to get over leo, or tj. especially tj. the heavy theme throught this game that i find is yearning. yearning to go back and fix things, yearning for it to just work, yearning for the people you lost, your childhood innocence. for love. but it remains a pipe dream, something you think about in the small hours of the morning while you cry into your bedsheets pleading for some ounce of relief from the mental stress these fucking pixels put you in and i really like that. 

the build up to the floodgates being smashed open and all the anger and heartbreak echo stores being thrust on these characters you love, who feel like real people and the terror of thinking you might have to see one of their corpses on a first playthrough is something no game other than echo has made me feel. 

this game will not remove itself from my head and i don't even care, i want it to stay there. when i watch a movie. play another game. listen to a song, i want to think about this game. even though every time i do it feels like 5 years of the worst emotions in the world are crawling up my chest. this game rips open every scab at once in one scene, and gives you loving reasurrance in the next.

and the fucking SOUNDTRACK?? my heart weeps. i would be hard pressed to tell you something bad about echo that is something other than "this game feels like a punishment to my emotions"

in short, it took my three playthroughs to realise carl wears a beanie and not a du-rag and i'm the worlds saddest patheticest bisexual loser

10/10 

This is the first VN I read and the VN that got me into furry VNs in general, and I have a special place in my heart for it because of that. It really set a standard too :3 love the game, love the horror, just an awesome project in general

I have finished most of the story except for Carl yet... maybe it's because I did TJ's route and got the feeling that his route is the sad one of all the routes. I did Jenna's route then Leo's route, and Flynn's route first, I feel bad for Leo and Flynn in the end. Great Visual Novel I give it a 10/10.

Estoy enamorado de todo en este maldito juego, amo a los personajes, amo el soundtrack, la historia, hubiera amado haberlo jugado antes.

Se me hace muy difícil escribir lo mucho que amo este juego y ni siquiera he terminado todas las rutas y pensar que aun me queda por jugar Arches me emociona muchísimo.

Gracias Echo proyect. 

chase why

Such a great VN, made me emotional inside, not as much like RTF made me cry but more like a terror feeling which delivered really well...

(SPOILER)

Alright... Just finished 2 routes (TJ and Leo) at first everything seems so slow for me but the buildup was fast around thursday, I'm glad I went to go TJ route first, which then actually gives me a better understanding what the secret means and the one talking inside Chase's mind... Everything was clear and sad at the same time, I was hoping for a good ending for TJ's route but it went waaaaay opposite... 

Which got me interested to play another route with Leo and oh boi, it was all sweet at the beginning of his route but everything took a big turn than what I was expecting, I wasn't ready for all the horror it gave and messed up stuffs especially when it revealed the monster, that gave me chills down the spine! The buildup to escaping at the end was great and I was glad to actually got the good ending first try, It was an emotional moment and wished Leo the best, So after, I did the opposite which turns out to be a bad ending and a very sick one... Kinda gave me bad taste of Leo after... Hoping to finish other routes soon

Am i allowed to understand something and still dislike it

Cause I like Flynn but...wtf

Edit: Nothing wrong with Twilight Zone Endings, just felt undeserved 

Before playing this game I hated horror and psychological horror, now im hopelessly addicted to them...

I think the worst part of playing this game was that Ill never be able to experience it with a new perspective again -  this wasn't just any experience, this was the best experience I've had in a long time.

From the moment I started this game I didn't put it down, I've never read something so RAW.  

I can't wait to replay it many times in the future 

Spoilers

...

Just finished my first play through (TJs route), I am sad, this fucked me upp and I just fucking wish shit went good, man I liked TJ and to have all this bad shit happen to him like two murders infront of him and a bunch of gaslighting and threats from like everyone 😭.

played this for halloween and i didnt expect to love these characters so much

i wish good things happened to them and they werent so dysfunctional💔💔💔