I wrote a comment here a while ago after finishing TJ as my first route, and I'm returning now after finishing all of the routes to correct some mistakes and write a definitive review of the best visual novel I have ever played.
I will try to keep this review spoiler free until explicitly written otherwise.
My point from the previous comment still mostly stands:
To have the best experience, you should follow the recommended route order.
Playing out of order is definitely a possibility, but can be (at least in my experience) confusing because the latter routes expect the player to know stuff. Though still, as other people here are saying, the route order doesn't matter that much if you finish all the routes, so feel free to go with your gut.
I searched a bit and most people seem to agree that Carl->Leo->TJ->Flynn->Jenna is a good order, which I do not object, but would like to elaborate: (I should note that it is also the order in which the routes were written)
Carl's route does not need any context at all to understand, so easy first choice. Route 65. This is a small prequel game that will be referenced in Leo's and Jenna's routes. It's good if you play it, but it may be skipped as it doesn't really add much to the table that isn't already in their routes. Leo and Jenna could probably(?) be switched, but I think Jenna's route explains quite a bit more stuff than Leo so we're keeping her for the end. We're keeping one of these routes for last because these have the most satisfying good endings. TJ and Flynn could also be switched, as they both circle around simillar plot points, but from different viewpoints.
Before starting the game, you should also play the short side stories (click on the lake in the menu, then the broken window and then scroll down to Chase). Even though they are well hidden, they will be mentioned quite a bit in the game.
Thoughts on the game itself
The game may seem very generic at first. But it quickly gains momentum as the friend group gets into an argument because of an old incident at the lake, where one member of the group had drowned when they were kids. You then have a choice to follow each of the characters and their vastly different experiences around the town following the incident.
You will feel a lot of emotions playing this game, be it delight, contempt, confusion, sadness or lust (and believe me there's a lot of the last two), but you will never feel boredom because the plot always manages to move along without feeling sluggish.
You should definitely play the game if the idea of psychological horror sounds even a little bit interesting.
I also need to say that I absolutely LOVE the way the situational illustrations (like shown on the top of the page) are drawn, and I am absolutely bewildered how perfectly these images depict the feelings of the characters and the situations. One moment you are looking at a generic background, imagining the scenario before you, and the next you are looking at an image perfectly portraying it; the feeling of cold, dark, unsettling, yet somehow slightly warm melancholy with a hint of familiarity, a deja vu. After seeing some of the images, I sometimes spent a while just looking at them, collecting my thoughts and thinking about how good and elaborate this game actually is.
Thoughts on the endings and story (MAJOR SPOILERS)
Carl - Even if Carl's route is the very start of this journey, it shows very well how the game is/will be: your friends are haunted by something, you're just a plaything to it, and if you decide to humour it, it will not end well. His good ending was surprisingly wholesome, with Carl turning his life around because of the experience, but there was still a hint of bitterness because of the lack of any information about what happened to the others while we were hallucinating. His bad ending was very brutal, just the way Carl was depicted at the end broke my heart, a common theme that happens in all the bad endings.
Leo - Again, wholesome good ending, but there is always that neverending bitterness, that feeling that you could've done more, better. His bad ending was very, very well depicted. The whole way it felt like a bad dream. "There's no way this is happening, or is it?" The way all of it happened left me speechless, which also is also something very common (at least to me) across all the bad endings.
TJ - This one is a doozie. It was the very first ending I have finished, and it just left me baffled and insanely confused. I decided that it would just clear itself up later and finished Carl and Leo before attempting TJ's route again, and I must say... I am still confused. (I even replayed the ending while writing this review just to make sure I am not overexaggerating) It's not the murder itself that is confusing to me, but rather the aftermath. The scene in the car just feels... like TJ isn't actually himself. Yes I do know that Chase's perception is absolutely fucked by now, but when TJ smiles, it just doesn't seem like him at all, even if it'd be dishonest. This route also feels much more real, if that is the correct word, than the other routes. Leo, Jenna and Flynn have monsters, Carl has possesions but TJ only has Chase's Hum-induced schizophrenia, which just makes it so much more unsettling than the other endings.
Flynn - He didn't deserve it. That is all I could think of when I finished his route. Getting killed by Chase in TJ's route may be one thing, but to have everything ripped from you after everything seemed to be going fine, only to then be thrown hundreds of meters underground to burn to death, THEN while that is happening to also hallucinate about all the horrible things that happened in Echo, AND THEN TO FUCKING TOP IT ALL OFF he gets turned into a monster that isn't even fully him, gets completely removed from his timeline and then has to watch all the horrible events happening in Echo. Like WHAT THE FUCK?! This is probably the worst fate of a fictional character that I know of, and I know of quite a few.
Jenna - Thank. Fucking. God. that I followed the recommended route order, because if I had to end it on Flynn I would be crying for a few weeks. Jenna's route has 2 good endings depending on how you see it. The first good ending ends with what everyone wanted to do when the histeria started: get everyone away from Echo. There is of course Echo's slight feeling of bitterness™ because of the call that Flynn got (which I assume is about the death of his aunt), but other than that everyone is safe and sound. The second good ending is very bitter, where Chase unintentionally(?) manipulates Jenna into indirectly killing Heather and then flooding the entire town. This may seem pretty bad at first, but remember that the Hum always returns, and Jenna essentially managed to break the cycle and saved countless lives. It it not good for the friend group, but it is basically the "for the better good" ending. Nobody will ever get hurt again, but it cost a few lives and releationships to get to that point.
TL;DR Carl: G. - very good start for the game B. - heartbreaking Leo: G. - Wholesome w/ a hint of bitterness B. - Felt like being in a nightmare (compliment) TJ: B. - Confusing, heartbreaking and surprisingly realistic Flynn: B. - Worst fate of a character in any fiction I've ever heard of. He didn't deserve that! Jenna: G. - The ending that everyone wanted B. - The ending that everyone needed
Final Thoughts (No Spoilers)
As mentioned at the begining of this novel-sized word dump of a review, the game is good, though I don't think I need to tell that to you if you managed to get this far down. If you didn't play it yet, play it! If you did, then heck, play it again! It's free! The download button is right there! Now click it and step into that emotional rollercoaster. This is probably as good as any visual novel can get; the worldbuilding is very extensive and interesting, the characters are relatable and well made, and the artwork, fuck, the artwork fits in absolutely perfectly. 10/10
I actually believe Chase was possessed during TJ's route towards the end, and one of my favorite bits of writing in the entire story is when Chase realizes that he could still save Flynn but the then the protective TJ spirit takes back control is beautiful.
I agree that Jenna's route should be last, I accidentally got her 'bad' ending and that last line gave me shivers but it was so good and a wonderful way to wrap up the game.
Yeah, not to mention the new entity that possesed Chase during TJ's route had a very different agenda from the mountain lion chosing for Chase in other routes.
The last line from the mountain lion voice, when Chase finally does the deed actually sent shivers down my spine: "We were manipulated... we keep moving in circles"
About the route order, don't be afraid to just go with your gut. Part of what makes this game special and fun is the unique way people experience the story and how you may react to plot relevations based on the info you're given.
I played flynn's route first, the one that people usually recomend somewhere last or middle but this ended up becoming my favorite game ever made because the story is structured in a way were a route order won't have a negetive effect on your playthrough.
I've never seen anyone like echo anyless because of the route order they played. The "reccomended" order is there but the fact that I've seen around 5 different versions of it shows you should be fine to go about the game how you want and it's only there for people who want a curated experience.
Hey, Id like to start of buy saying i love The Echo Project because this comment could sound a little negative in the wrong perspective.
So, im not really sure what happened, but my shortcut got moved into the pythonlib2.7 folder, and when i took it back out, it destroyed my game.
At first i thought it would be an easy fix when windows told me i was missing python27.dll and SDL2.dll and to reinstall them. easy enough. i went ahead and did that, placing them in the echo1.01 folder (where everything is kept) and now when i try to launch the game, i get an error like this:
"The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b). Click of to close the application"
I tried googling a fix but all I was able to find was something about microsoft framework, microsoft c++, and just restarting my pc. Otherwise, it says to redownload the game which i REALLY would like to avoid because im nearly complete my last route.
Posting because i guess im curious as to what my options are. Thanks for reading this lol and sorry i technologically illiterate.
Nah, just reinstalled the game without deleting the old game. New download saw my old files and just sorta, merged on its own. super lucky if anything.
I am so in love with this story right now. I won't spoil anything, but I played through while putting all my focus into T.J. and oh my god the ending. It's so beautifully done, with such a rich display of emotion and the conclusion of finally revealing the secret like that left me almost winded. I am now in the process of playing through every distinctly unique set of choices to see where each of them leads. Also, everyone should give the band Stained Carpet some love. Their music sounds pretty good and they deserve some attention.
I have now completed two more routes and my opinion remains unchanged. This game is a modern masterpiece of storytelling and character development. I absolutely recommend playing the other routes as soon as possible. Also, get everyone you know to play the game. This deserves much more attention than it has, and it's up to us to make sure it becomes popular. Go forth and spread the good word of Echo!
IM STILL NOT PLAYING THROUGH OTHER ROUTEEES! EVEN THOUGH IT'S BEEN 2 YEARS. Its just, for some reason, to me, tj route feels real. I also like to imagine that Archers vn is... Nvm spoilers
I think it feels real because of how raw it is, and there was a lot of detail put into it because it is the canon ending, I think anyway. Specific events from that ending are mentioned in related works, so I'm fairly sure that it's canon. TJ was the first route that I did as well, and I am going through the rest more out of curiosity than for storyline. I will say, though, that Leo's route is very much worth a play through, even if it isn't quite as good as the TJ route. It is also full of emotion, however instead of the solemn beauty and a combination of resignation and determination conveyed through TJ, it is full of despair and disastrous events, and suggests some incredibly interesting things about Chase. Specifically for the information provided, I recommend completing both major Leo routes.
Oh my god I know right? I finished Adastra with tears in my eyes because it reminded me of how much I needed someone who loved me like Amicus loves MC. These stories make you wish you could live the lives of the characters, and truly understand how each of them feels. It's a story that makes you wish you could be the main character in the story so you can put everyone back together again. I can't get enough of it! Anyways, have a nice day, internet stranger.
spoilery analysis This is all just long and self-indulgent interpretation and could be wrong.
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The events themselves can differ from path to path, even though certain specific events might occur in multiple paths. It’s not just one set of events from different perspectives. It can’t be – What happens in Flynn’s path could not happen in TJ’s or Leo’s. (I think this is true in the past also. I can’t imagine that Chase’s past is the same in both TJ’s path and Jenna, Carl or Flynn’s path.)
I also don’t see the supernatural forces here as a single sentient evil entity whose actions are always calculated and intentional. It’s not just a possession by a ghost or demon, like what happens in The Exorcist, and more like a force that influences the environment and peoples’ perceptions, like The Shining. (I’m going to backtrack a little on this later on.)
Think about the title, “Echo” – an echo isn’t another being making the same sounds, it’s a reflection, often distorting the source. It might be clear if it’s one person’s voice against a flat surface, but if it’s a hundred sound sources in a large hall, it’s just going to be a constant indecipherable rumble – a Hum – with an occasional loud sound or snippet of conversation being momentarily recognizable. When unnaturally amplified, it can feed back, becoming its own source.
That’s what the town is: a highly resonant space for negative energy – a place where the atrocities, anger, hatred, trauma, etc. of the past get reflected and amplified, feeding back on itself. Like sound, different people have different levels of perception depending on how close and familiar they are with its source. There are a ton of events – flashbacks, feelings, déjà vu, hallucinations, dreams – where people are just picking up on the negative energy resonating throughout the town. Sometimes the events are clear, other times they’re just a distorted reflection.
The ghost of Samuel Ayers doesn’t possess Chase, but the trauma from his death resonates loud enough for Chase to perceive it. The voice isn’t Samuel, just his resonance, which is why it’s inconsistent with what we’ve seen from Sam in TSR (at least so far). It influences Chase, but doesn’t control him. In Carl’s path, the energy resonates off Carl and Jenna so strongly that it does control them. And Leo’s obsession with Chase is so strong that, with the effect of the town, it manifests shadow version of Chase that other people can perceive it.
In Flynn’s path (my favorite), the resonance is so strong that it seems conscious and self-aware, jumping from character to character, even acting as narrator for much of the story. But it’s not in control – it’s still chaotic and unfocused, experiencing horrific visions from the town’s history, its grip on reality is tenuous as the rest of the town’s. It might not even be aware of how its effects on reality. And it seems conflicted – as Flynn dies and his obsession with Sydney’s death becomes part of the echo, he sees its visions of past atrocities and its desire or fantasies of averting them. (I really don’t buy into the idea that Flynn becomes the creature and can jump between realities or time-travel. He’s being exposed to its memories, experiencing them as he’s consumed.) Some might argue that these are Flynn’s desires for justice, but we saw it earlier: the voice got attacked by its own guilt-driven vision of Sydney, the only people shown directly being killed by the creature were themselves guilty, and that injustice is often mentioned as a trigger for the disturbance.
Carl’s path has the strongest elements of a straight-forward possession, but seems to me more like the resonance was acting out through Carl and Jenna to expose James’s crimes and absolve John. They might be separate spirits, or the hum might just be echoing both their lives back. In Carl’s good ending, the psychosis ends as soon as Chase makes it clear that the past injustice will be exposed.
Not directly related to any of this: The other day I had a dream where I was at some kind of gathering of friends in a house. The TV was on, and suddenly I heard the main theme from Echo, but a heart-wrenching version of it that was backed with a full choir. I looked, and the TV was showing some kind of ceremony. It was an overhead shot inside a large cathedral. The pews were full of people sitting quietly. In the middle of the cathedral was a wrestling ring. It was empty. Walking away from it was Sydney, fully grown, wearing wrestling trunks, solemnly carrying Flynn’s body away towards the cathedral door, both bathed in sunlight.
I've only played through Leo's and Carl's route, read some wiki and 7 builds of Arches, so what I say here might be completely wrong
Also, obviously, SPOILERS
My thoughts are based of something Flynn's aunt said:
Quartz within the mines has some special properties, which it exerts to an area around it.
The closer you get to the quartz, the stronger the effect.
The properties of quartz in my opinion are "Amplification" and "Connecting minds".
Amplification means that anyone within the area can start hallucinating, hearing voices, feeling touch and temperature, be having nightmares about something emotionally strong, etc.
Connecting minds is something more interesting.
The area within Echo acts like a network.
Anyone who walks into the area "connects" to this network like an ingridient gets added to a soup.
Within this network, depending on how "high the heat of the soup" is (and also probably whether a person does drugs or not) the information can travel between minds.
The data can be taken out of and get inserted into someone's head without them even noticing or giving their consent.
And so, some guy on the other end of the town can accidentally learn about something that you did, even if you guys don't even really know eachother.
Another thing is: the data gets stored within people's heads.
This means that if absolutely everyone leaves Echo, all the entities and data will be taken with them, and, given that they're not under the influence of Amplification, be dormant within their heads (something that, I think, happens with Sam).
What that also means is that if a wholly new set of people visits the completely empty town of Echo, they will probably be affected by Amplification and get connected into a single network (which might actually be a good thing, because theoretically, you can learn to willingly exchange data between minds and, say, teach someone a song without doing a damn thing), but won't see ghosts and memories of whoever lived there, because that data is gone with the people who left the town.
Another thing is that within this network sometimes entities manifest.
These entities are something in akin to Artificial intelegence - mostly just amalgamations of data (either true and false) which, sometimes, can have some sort of a function and maybe even a mind of their own.
People usually refer to these entities as "ghosts".
They can be based off people who are being missed (like Chase by Leo) or died (anyone who's dead, basically).
When a person dies within the area of Echo, a big chunk of data from their head is being sent out to the network and stored in the heads of random people.
This data might also get complemented by observations of this person, made by other people.
For example: if someone remembered a dead person as someone who they used to be scared of, then this belief contributes to building up a general picture of this person, that is stored in the network.
Someone else, on the other hand, might remember the dead guy as a kind and caring person, which will contribute as well, making the general image somewhat conflicted.
These entities are not material, no, but oh boy do they hurt people and cause them to go crazy :)
I don't think that there's an effective way to fight these entities other than getting everyone out of Echo (cuz paranormal activity is something so much more powerful than an average person, that simply not being there might be the only solution).
Might also try removing all the quartz or whatever it is from the underground, so that it stops, but I have no idea how can you do that (besides, who would be interested in financing this whole shit, especially if Echo turns out to be a site of scientific interest, given its properties?)
Something else I want to say about Arches (spoilers):
If Brian is dead, Arturo and Duke are outta town, then, theoretically, Cam and Dev could be the only people left in town.
If that, and my whole theory are correct, than that could mean that right now ALL the data and entities are within Dev's and (probably mostly) Cam's heads.
And if THATS true, than these two could be in a lot of danger, because of how all the horrors are now concentrated in them and can affect them oh so badly, doing whatever the heck it decides to do to (maybe) keep them from leaving town (or even mines)
Spoiler warning, Come back later if you arent finished!!
So, I'm having trouble with ONE. SINGLE. ENDING. I just cant seem to get to Jenna's bad ending. People have given me advice like "Encourage her jagged personality" but i dont really KNOW what choices DO that. Can someone give me the choices that encourage her jagged personality?
[Kinda Spoiler Warning] Def recommend playing the game.
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So, I had put off playing Echo for the longest, as when I originally planned to play I was not in the right headspace and it definitely touched on subjects I was sensitive about. I type this a few hours after finishing Leo's route, and I have got to say this is one of the most lore driven stories I have ever read for furry media. The atmosphere of the town is captured perfectly by the solum and nostalgic tracks that play during the car, and relaxed scenes. The world building is also beautiful, as it doesn't flood the reader with information about Echo(The Town) the moment they play, rather it slowly reveals itself through character dialogue and internal monologues. The game encourages you to play all the routes in order to reveal the entire story and help explain as to why everyone is at each other's throats. The game also does a wonderful job at tying itself to Route 64, The Smoke Room which is the Prequel to Echo, and Arches, which takes place 5 years after the events of Echo. The characters, while falling a little into archetypes, mesh perfectly with each other in the disharmony seen throughout the game. Echo does have nsfw themes and scenes, but it isn't reliant on those to get you hooked.
Absolutely phenomenal game, it inspires me for my own projects and encourages me to pursue them by showing just how much of an impact it can have on people. I highly recommend playing this game, the lore alone is enough to keep you, but also gives some healthy nsfw service for anyone looking for that as well. I look forward to playing TSR and Arches(when it gets a bit further ahead) and I hope that by playing them, I will more clearly understand my own goals in the stories that I wish to tell.
Wow. Normally I wait a couple of days after experiencing either a movie or a game so as I can gather my thoughts and collate all the positives and negatives but, in this case, I don't really want to wait. I'll leave it to better writers to sum up this game because I don't think I could do it justice. Just want to say thank you to all who worked on this. I'm in fricking bits and I've only completed one storyline so far aha. I was not expecting to be put on the kind of fairground ride Echo let me enjoy/ endure. Even just hearing the opening notes on the main menu hits like a train.
Edit: Immediately after posting, I realize the only other game that did me like this was Life is Strange. Whenever one of *those* decisions came up, I would just slide the keyboard away and stare at the screen for five agonizing minutes lol.
Last Edit: I finished playing through all the characters. Even though my heart weighed heavy every time I started the game up and heard those opening musical notes, I came back every evening. Again I’ll say, thank you to the developers and the writers of this game. I’ve not felt an emotional connection with a game like this since,… I don’t even know. I wanted all of these broken, brilliant people to live and live their best lives. Thank you thank you thank you.
What a ride! This took me a while to finish, but it was worth the ride. My mind still boggles at how amazing this Visual Novel was when it comes to revealing the mystery of the town of Echo and how every path slowly builds up the complete picture. I really like how every character is unique but flawed, nearly pushing them close to the line of being unlikeable but somehow making them feel so human because of it. Everyone is fucked up in their own way and trying to find a way to live despite this fact.
Even after finishing the game, I notice that I’m still missing some pictures/days, which I assume is the result of me choosing a ‘different’ path, so I might replay some parts of the game to unlock them later. If anyone wants to know, my route was T.J. > Flynn > Leo > Carl > Jenna. (Pretty much choices from top to bottom when choosing which route to get.)
I plan on reading Arches since it is nearly done, but saving The Smoking Room for when it is complete.
[SPOILERS] ****
For the most part, I think Jenna and Flynn’s route explains most of what is happening in Echo, but even after reading all the paths, I am still a bit confused about some of the events.
When going through the game, I thought the dreams were premonitions about events that could or already happened. An example of these is when Chase dreams about the car with Leo and the gang sinking into the lake which plays out in both Leo and Flynn’s route, and when Chase dreams about Samuel getting run over by Sydney’s father. But there were other dreams that didn’t make an appearance, like when Flynn tells Chase to get on his knees to dig something out of the dirt, which I assume is either a reference to the treasure hunt, the body of Samuel, or even the body of Sydney’s father.
Why did Chase see Carl in the abandoned school when taking pictures for his project on Flynn’s route? I thought this suggests the idea that Carl has taken part in setting up Syndey’s treasure hunt, but this wasn’t implied in the other routes other than T.J. and Flynn’s.
Were there other people possessing Chase other than Samuel? There are some comments which make sense for Samuel to make, like the ones in Leo and Jenna’s route, but there are others that seem a bit weird. Having the voice taught Chase and making the choices for him. It makes me think that there are also other things giving input to Chase, possibly people who were possessed or even the Hum itself.
Speaking of possession, how does it work? It would seem that killing the person who was possessed gets them to become possessed themselves, yet, in Flynn’s route Flynn didn’t kill Chase. Maybe the way to get possessed is to do something regretful to them or even have the person who was getting possessed face their fear to become unpossessed.
Was Carl also possessed? When taking the acid trip with Jermeny, having him hear the voices ridicule Carl was weird. Is his great great great whatever possessing him at that moment, or was it the Hums that was talking to him since he also sees Chase next to him?
When going through one of the extra clips with Flynn, I find it strange that we are really not spectating anyone from their perspective. We see Chase, Carl, T.J., Leo, and Jenna's perspectives in the extra clips but not Flynn's. It was like we were watching the events happening from the sideline, which was weird.
Strangely, the monster is simultaneously helping and putting the gang in danger, which I find odd. They go from helping the gang escape from Brian to kicking them into the lake, nearly drowning them. It is as if the monster is playing with them, which seems a bit mean even coming from Flynn or they were just following fate.
I don’t remember much about it, but I recall there was something in Leo’s route that was strange. It was as if it was directing the focus not on Chase, but on us the reader. Why did this happen? How did the ‘thing’ addresses a person other than Chase at that moment?
Secrets seem to be an important part of the hysteria since killing Flynn in T.J.’s route seems to stop it, even if it was a little while. I wonder if this holds any meaning with Jenna’s and Carl’s ancestors and hope it gets explained in The Smoking Room.
I always thought that the events in Echo happen in a time loop, forcing the people within it to relive the same events over and over again. Like they are going in circles, forced to continue this game until the Hum is done with them. But I don’t think this is the case since there is a sequel VN which takes place five years after the events of Echo, but strangely it only shows clips of it when Flynn is dead. This leads me to think that the events that happen in Arches only occur in either T.J. or Flynn’s route.
Most of this might be me misremembering things since it did take me a while to finish reading this, so I might reread it later.
I specifically created an account to make this comment
This experience, is one of those where when your done, you just kinda go, "what now?". I played this whilst high so maybe I thought a lot more on it, but it kinda changed how I look at life. 10/10, I definitely would recommend, maybe without the weed haha. The Flynn ending that I played was very interesting, learning that the monster only just recently trying to kill the troop was "Flynn" was a unique experience that definitely cannot be replicated. In fact this whole story is an experience that cannot be replicated or experienced again through something else. It was most definitely because I was high whilst playing but it did change me. And it was for the better, so I thank thee Echo project, this is certainly something I will remember for the rest of my life. If I could suggest, I think this kind of story (I don't know the specific name but I'll just explain it as dark and heavy) would do good in a noir fashion. Definitely not this story directly, but maybe something akin to it, but whatever the next project may be I look forward to it regardless!
spoiler time. In leo's good end, Chase and the Voice in his head(I cant remember the name) say "Fuck you..." at the same time, Verbally, but nobody hears. Then it goes like this.(Assume if something isnt bold, it is chase.) "We say the words under my breath, but there's more rage behind them than anything I've ever said in my life. And they're meant for Echo. Fuck you for killing Janice." "Fuck you for hurting William." "Fuck you for killing Duke." "Fuck you for hurting Cliff." "Fuck you for what's buried in the mines." "Fuck you for hurting Nik." "Fuck you for twisting my friends into something they're not." "Fuck you for hurting Cynthia and Murdoch."
The song "505" reminds me of Echo and the whole mess of Chase and Leo's relationship. the main reason is the whole reason the song is called 505. "I'm going back to 505, if it's a 7 hour flight, or a 45 minute drive." totally fitting with the hate from (most of) the main cast for Echo.
I rarely read fiction, but plowed through every word of this in ten days (after doing the same with TSR – doing it in that order gave a really neat perspective on some events in Echo). Amazing work.
I have a question, and hopefully I can phrase it in a way that makes sense. I get how choices in the game affect the outcome and how there isn’t one canonical path.
Is that true backwards in time as well? Are the events before 2015 (the story’s present) fixed, or do those also depend on the path taken? For example, are the revelations in TJ’s path about what happened to Sydney true across all the paths?
I just got a crash and an error while on Flynn's path. When Chase, Carl, and Daxton travel to follow Flynn on the highway, I came across this error message.
wow i really wanted carl and chase to be happy together, i know this isnt the typical vn follow a guy get his heart but it still hurt? like the imposibility of it all, like a bitterness taste and feel like, should i kept it on with the fanart?, yes i should, do i regret it?, a little, nobody can take this hellish experience from me so i guess there is something good about it
Okay, probably because I'm not from the US this surprised me, but the town of Echo is a real place.
It has a motel, a diner, Route 66 is nearby as is Echo Reservoir, and if you follow Dikker Hill Drive, it leads you to a large property that overlooks the town.
There are hiking trails that you take through the canyon, a NA reservation, and the University of Pueblo is one state over.
In fact, the more I look at this town and the surrounding area on Google Maps, the more I feel a little weird out by the similarities.
Is it just coincidence or did someone who work on this game actually come from Echo or the surrounding area?
Carl's Path was weird AF. I was exhausted by the end of it...
I was hoping Leo's Path would be you know the Easy going one...(Boy was i wrong...) The Sad part about it was that all most all of the bad things that happened could have been avoided if the cast didn't just run off solo at the worst / Creepiest times. Also chase should have Spoken to Leo and when he felt like he was going off rails he should have pulled him back on track. I was literally on a emotional rollercoaster reading this and tweeting my thoughts @K9Point5 some on them were funny. Also the Demon Is literally what happens when mindflayer from Stranger things and the creepy human thing from the E Munch painting have a baby.
i am not one to make reviews on any VN especially one that shaped the medium of story telling such as VNs but to any of my fellow bright eyed fellows looking for a vn and look at the comment section to see if its good let me save you time
yes its good 11/10
yes there NSFW
and yes it IS that dark and WILL mess with you in a good way
i was like you once and then i read echo...is all i am gonna say on that
this VN inspired me to make my own and continue being a write(and i am lazy) with nothing else to say go read it
Hoo-boy. This was such an emotional roller-coaster for me. I (like an idiot) ignored the warnings and am now suffering because of it - not the game's fault though!
This VN is so beautiful and complicated and damn interesting. Every time some major lore would drop it would send shivers down my spine (The overarching Flynn lore, anybody?) and I loved it.
Personally, TJ was my favorite character-wise, but goddamn I loved playing Leo's route. It personally helped me connect so many dots from the other routes and it felt so damn satisfying.
I played TJ's route first (a great introduction, which left me sobbing by the end), then Flynn's, Leo's, and - finally, Jenna's; which seemed to piece together a LOT of loose threads. Once you actually play through everything, the game starts to make more sense, and, I must say, wow.
I love the story so damn much, even if it is a bit confusing
Damn, now I'm so attached to these characters - moreso than any other game I've ever played. They just... feel so real to me, feel like actual people instead of just some boring characters. This VN has some of the best character work I've seen in a long, long time.
Let me just say this again: I loved this VN so much it hurts. Personally, this became my favorite game ever, and that really says something (I'm quite picky). This was a fantastic experience and I'm looking forward to replaying it with a new understanding of what's happening.
Yeah, I got that end and it was just Mortifying I just cant imagine your FEET getting cut off Then your crazy obsessed (Ex?)BF keeping you there just so you stay with him
I think the best ending overall is Jenna's good route since everyone gets out alive and some of the group's issues are sorted out but the price of that is the big mysteries not being resolved.
Jenna, Leo and Carl have more than one ending while TJ and Flynn's routes can only end one way.
I need your help on the Carl ending So, I got the ending where House goes up in flames, And carl seems soulless to Chase Is that the bad version of the end or
That ending was one of the first good ones I've got (along with Leo's break up one), considering TJ's path was my first route. All the others were just downhill. I'm stunned.
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I wrote a comment here a while ago after finishing TJ as my first route, and I'm returning now after finishing all of the routes to correct some mistakes and write a definitive review of the best visual novel I have ever played.
I will try to keep this review spoiler free until explicitly written otherwise.
My point from the previous comment still mostly stands:
To have the best experience, you should follow the recommended route order.
Playing out of order is definitely a possibility, but can be (at least in my experience) confusing because the latter routes expect the player to know stuff. Though still, as other people here are saying, the route order doesn't matter that much if you finish all the routes, so feel free to go with your gut.
I searched a bit and most people seem to agree that Carl->Leo->TJ->Flynn->Jenna is a good order, which I do not object, but would like to elaborate:
(I should note that it is also the order in which the routes were written)
Carl's route does not need any context at all to understand, so easy first choice.
Route 65. This is a small prequel game that will be referenced in Leo's and Jenna's routes. It's good if you play it, but it may be skipped as it doesn't really add much to the table that isn't already in their routes.
Leo and Jenna could probably(?) be switched, but I think Jenna's route explains quite a bit more stuff than Leo so we're keeping her for the end. We're keeping one of these routes for last because these have the most satisfying good endings.
TJ and Flynn could also be switched, as they both circle around simillar plot points, but from different viewpoints.
Before starting the game, you should also play the short side stories (click on the lake in the menu, then the broken window and then scroll down to Chase). Even though they are well hidden, they will be mentioned quite a bit in the game.
Thoughts on the game itself
The game may seem very generic at first. But it quickly gains momentum as the friend group gets into an argument because of an old incident at the lake, where one member of the group had drowned when they were kids.
You then have a choice to follow each of the characters and their vastly different experiences around the town following the incident.
You will feel a lot of emotions playing this game, be it delight, contempt, confusion, sadness or lust (and believe me there's a lot of the last two), but you will never feel boredom because the plot always manages to move along without feeling sluggish.
You should definitely play the game if the idea of psychological horror sounds even a little bit interesting.
I also need to say that I absolutely LOVE the way the situational illustrations (like shown on the top of the page) are drawn, and I am absolutely bewildered how perfectly these images depict the feelings of the characters and the situations. One moment you are looking at a generic background, imagining the scenario before you, and the next you are looking at an image perfectly portraying it; the feeling of cold, dark, unsettling, yet somehow slightly warm melancholy with a hint of familiarity, a deja vu.
After seeing some of the images, I sometimes spent a while just looking at them, collecting my thoughts and thinking about how good and elaborate this game actually is.
Thoughts on the endings and story (MAJOR SPOILERS)
Carl - Even if Carl's route is the very start of this journey, it shows very well how the game is/will be: your friends are haunted by something, you're just a plaything to it, and if you decide to humour it, it will not end well.
His good ending was surprisingly wholesome, with Carl turning his life around because of the experience, but there was still a hint of bitterness because of the lack of any information about what happened to the others while we were hallucinating.
His bad ending was very brutal, just the way Carl was depicted at the end broke my heart, a common theme that happens in all the bad endings.
Leo - Again, wholesome good ending, but there is always that neverending bitterness, that feeling that you could've done more, better.
His bad ending was very, very well depicted. The whole way it felt like a bad dream. "There's no way this is happening, or is it?" The way all of it happened left me speechless, which also is also something very common (at least to me) across all the bad endings.
TJ - This one is a doozie. It was the very first ending I have finished, and it just left me baffled and insanely confused. I decided that it would just clear itself up later and finished Carl and Leo before attempting TJ's route again, and I must say... I am still confused. (I even replayed the ending while writing this review just to make sure I am not overexaggerating)
It's not the murder itself that is confusing to me, but rather the aftermath. The scene in the car just feels... like TJ isn't actually himself. Yes I do know that Chase's perception is absolutely fucked by now, but when TJ smiles, it just doesn't seem like him at all, even if it'd be dishonest.
This route also feels much more real, if that is the correct word, than the other routes. Leo, Jenna and Flynn have monsters, Carl has possesions but TJ only has Chase's Hum-induced schizophrenia, which just makes it so much more unsettling than the other endings.
Flynn - He didn't deserve it. That is all I could think of when I finished his route. Getting killed by Chase in TJ's route may be one thing, but to have everything ripped from you after everything seemed to be going fine, only to then be thrown hundreds of meters underground to burn to death, THEN while that is happening to also hallucinate about all the horrible things that happened in Echo, AND THEN TO FUCKING TOP IT ALL OFF he gets turned into a monster that isn't even fully him, gets completely removed from his timeline and then has to watch all the horrible events happening in Echo. Like WHAT THE FUCK?! This is probably the worst fate of a fictional character that I know of, and I know of quite a few.
Jenna - Thank. Fucking. God. that I followed the recommended route order, because if I had to end it on Flynn I would be crying for a few weeks. Jenna's route has 2 good endings depending on how you see it.
The first good ending ends with what everyone wanted to do when the histeria started: get everyone away from Echo. There is of course Echo's slight feeling of bitterness™ because of the call that Flynn got (which I assume is about the death of his aunt), but other than that everyone is safe and sound.
The second good ending is very bitter, where Chase unintentionally(?) manipulates Jenna into indirectly killing Heather and then flooding the entire town. This may seem pretty bad at first, but remember that the Hum always returns, and Jenna essentially managed to break the cycle and saved countless lives. It it not good for the friend group, but it is basically the "for the better good" ending. Nobody will ever get hurt again, but it cost a few lives and releationships to get to that point.
TL;DR
Carl:
G. - very good start for the game
B. - heartbreaking
Leo:
G. - Wholesome w/ a hint of bitterness
B. - Felt like being in a nightmare (compliment)
TJ:
B. - Confusing, heartbreaking and surprisingly realistic
Flynn:
B. - Worst fate of a character in any fiction I've ever heard of. He didn't deserve that!
Jenna:
G. - The ending that everyone wanted
B. - The ending that everyone needed
Final Thoughts (No Spoilers)
As mentioned at the begining of this novel-sized word dump of a review, the game is good, though I don't think I need to tell that to you if you managed to get this far down. If you didn't play it yet, play it! If you did, then heck, play it again! It's free! The download button is right there! Now click it and step into that emotional rollercoaster.
This is probably as good as any visual novel can get; the worldbuilding is very extensive and interesting, the characters are relatable and well made, and the artwork, fuck, the artwork fits in absolutely perfectly. 10/10
I actually believe Chase was possessed during TJ's route towards the end, and one of my favorite bits of writing in the entire story is when Chase realizes that he could still save Flynn but the then the protective TJ spirit takes back control is beautiful.
I agree that Jenna's route should be last, I accidentally got her 'bad' ending and that last line gave me shivers but it was so good and a wonderful way to wrap up the game.
Yeah, not to mention the new entity that possesed Chase during TJ's route had a very different agenda from the mountain lion chosing for Chase in other routes.
The last line from the mountain lion voice, when Chase finally does the deed actually sent shivers down my spine:
"We were manipulated... we keep moving in circles"
Man, I dont remember the last line from him, I really ought to replay the game..
About the route order, don't be afraid to just go with your gut. Part of what makes this game special and fun is the unique way people experience the story and how you may react to plot relevations based on the info you're given.
I played flynn's route first, the one that people usually recomend somewhere last or middle but this ended up becoming my favorite game ever made because the story is structured in a way were a route order won't have a negetive effect on your playthrough.
I've never seen anyone like echo anyless because of the route order they played. The "reccomended" order is there but the fact that I've seen around 5 different versions of it shows you should be fine to go about the game how you want and it's only there for people who want a curated experience.
I played TJ first and was so fucking confused, but it added to the mystery and made me want to know more lol
Same, it definitely had me hooked.
"CW: Echo can be an emotionally intense experience and may not be for everyone."
holy fuck they were not kidding
Hey, Id like to start of buy saying i love The Echo Project because this comment could sound a little negative in the wrong perspective.
So, im not really sure what happened, but my shortcut got moved into the pythonlib2.7 folder, and when i took it back out, it destroyed my game.
At first i thought it would be an easy fix when windows told me i was missing python27.dll and SDL2.dll and to reinstall them. easy enough. i went ahead and did that, placing them in the echo1.01 folder (where everything is kept) and now when i try to launch the game, i get an error like this:
"The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b). Click of to close the application"
I tried googling a fix but all I was able to find was something about microsoft framework, microsoft c++, and just restarting my pc. Otherwise, it says to redownload the game which i REALLY would like to avoid because im nearly complete my last route.
Posting because i guess im curious as to what my options are. Thanks for reading this lol and sorry i technologically illiterate.
i fix
Nah, just reinstalled the game without deleting the old game. New download saw my old files and just sorta, merged on its own. super lucky if anything.
I am so in love with this story right now. I won't spoil anything, but I played through while putting all my focus into T.J. and oh my god the ending. It's so beautifully done, with such a rich display of emotion and the conclusion of finally revealing the secret like that left me almost winded. I am now in the process of playing through every distinctly unique set of choices to see where each of them leads. Also, everyone should give the band Stained Carpet some love. Their music sounds pretty good and they deserve some attention.
Dude. Tj was my first choice. And I still cant get my hands on other routes.
I have now completed two more routes and my opinion remains unchanged. This game is a modern masterpiece of storytelling and character development. I absolutely recommend playing the other routes as soon as possible. Also, get everyone you know to play the game. This deserves much more attention than it has, and it's up to us to make sure it becomes popular. Go forth and spread the good word of Echo!
IM STILL NOT PLAYING THROUGH OTHER ROUTEEES! EVEN THOUGH IT'S BEEN 2 YEARS. Its just, for some reason, to me, tj route feels real. I also like to imagine that Archers vn is... Nvm spoilers
I think it feels real because of how raw it is, and there was a lot of detail put into it because it is the canon ending, I think anyway. Specific events from that ending are mentioned in related works, so I'm fairly sure that it's canon. TJ was the first route that I did as well, and I am going through the rest more out of curiosity than for storyline. I will say, though, that Leo's route is very much worth a play through, even if it isn't quite as good as the TJ route. It is also full of emotion, however instead of the solemn beauty and a combination of resignation and determination conveyed through TJ, it is full of despair and disastrous events, and suggests some incredibly interesting things about Chase. Specifically for the information provided, I recommend completing both major Leo routes.
I just completed it, and yeah it was CHAOTIC omg.
Chase is married to Kudzu, Leo moved out... The ending is depressing
I love playing furry visual novells!!
The plot is so good and full with exciting things
The character designs are so good
The wibe is just amazing
But.....
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I hate playing furry visual novells
When youre at the end and youre like
Wow...
The fact that you chosen about everything , really got you in to the story
And youre like
This was better than my own life
The credits just scrolling up
and the calm music in the background is such a wibe,
and you just sit there and think about what to do now
But after all, this one is a strong 10/10!
I really enjoyed it :3
Oh my god I know right? I finished Adastra with tears in my eyes because it reminded me of how much I needed someone who loved me like Amicus loves MC. These stories make you wish you could live the lives of the characters, and truly understand how each of them feels. It's a story that makes you wish you could be the main character in the story so you can put everyone back together again. I can't get enough of it! Anyways, have a nice day, internet stranger.
:0 ....
Buddy
You just wrote down my feelings🥺
spoilery analysis This is all just long and self-indulgent interpretation and could be wrong.
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The events themselves can differ from path to path, even though certain specific events might occur in multiple paths. It’s not just one set of events from different perspectives. It can’t be – What happens in Flynn’s path could not happen in TJ’s or Leo’s. (I think this is true in the past also. I can’t imagine that Chase’s past is the same in both TJ’s path and Jenna, Carl or Flynn’s path.)
I also don’t see the supernatural forces here as a single sentient evil entity whose actions are always calculated and intentional. It’s not just a possession by a ghost or demon, like what happens in The Exorcist, and more like a force that influences the environment and peoples’ perceptions, like The Shining. (I’m going to backtrack a little on this later on.)
Think about the title, “Echo” – an echo isn’t another being making the same sounds, it’s a reflection, often distorting the source. It might be clear if it’s one person’s voice against a flat surface, but if it’s a hundred sound sources in a large hall, it’s just going to be a constant indecipherable rumble – a Hum – with an occasional loud sound or snippet of conversation being momentarily recognizable. When unnaturally amplified, it can feed back, becoming its own source.
That’s what the town is: a highly resonant space for negative energy – a place where the atrocities, anger, hatred, trauma, etc. of the past get reflected and amplified, feeding back on itself. Like sound, different people have different levels of perception depending on how close and familiar they are with its source. There are a ton of events – flashbacks, feelings, déjà vu, hallucinations, dreams – where people are just picking up on the negative energy resonating throughout the town. Sometimes the events are clear, other times they’re just a distorted reflection.
The ghost of Samuel Ayers doesn’t possess Chase, but the trauma from his death resonates loud enough for Chase to perceive it. The voice isn’t Samuel, just his resonance, which is why it’s inconsistent with what we’ve seen from Sam in TSR (at least so far). It influences Chase, but doesn’t control him. In Carl’s path, the energy resonates off Carl and Jenna so strongly that it does control them. And Leo’s obsession with Chase is so strong that, with the effect of the town, it manifests shadow version of Chase that other people can perceive it.
In Flynn’s path (my favorite), the resonance is so strong that it seems conscious and self-aware, jumping from character to character, even acting as narrator for much of the story. But it’s not in control – it’s still chaotic and unfocused, experiencing horrific visions from the town’s history, its grip on reality is tenuous as the rest of the town’s. It might not even be aware of how its effects on reality. And it seems conflicted – as Flynn dies and his obsession with Sydney’s death becomes part of the echo, he sees its visions of past atrocities and its desire or fantasies of averting them. (I really don’t buy into the idea that Flynn becomes the creature and can jump between realities or time-travel. He’s being exposed to its memories, experiencing them as he’s consumed.) Some might argue that these are Flynn’s desires for justice, but we saw it earlier: the voice got attacked by its own guilt-driven vision of Sydney, the only people shown directly being killed by the creature were themselves guilty, and that injustice is often mentioned as a trigger for the disturbance.
Carl’s path has the strongest elements of a straight-forward possession, but seems to me more like the resonance was acting out through Carl and Jenna to expose James’s crimes and absolve John. They might be separate spirits, or the hum might just be echoing both their lives back. In Carl’s good ending, the psychosis ends as soon as Chase makes it clear that the past injustice will be exposed.
Not directly related to any of this: The other day I had a dream where I was at some kind of gathering of friends in a house. The TV was on, and suddenly I heard the main theme from Echo, but a heart-wrenching version of it that was backed with a full choir. I looked, and the TV was showing some kind of ceremony. It was an overhead shot inside a large cathedral. The pews were full of people sitting quietly. In the middle of the cathedral was a wrestling ring. It was empty. Walking away from it was Sydney, fully grown, wearing wrestling trunks, solemnly carrying Flynn’s body away towards the cathedral door, both bathed in sunlight.
So yeah, the story sticks with you.
I have a similar theory, actually
I've only played through Leo's and Carl's route, read some wiki and 7 builds of Arches, so what I say here might be completely wrong
Also, obviously, SPOILERS
My thoughts are based of something Flynn's aunt said:
Quartz within the mines has some special properties, which it exerts to an area around it.
The closer you get to the quartz, the stronger the effect.
The properties of quartz in my opinion are "Amplification" and "Connecting minds".
Amplification means that anyone within the area can start hallucinating, hearing voices, feeling touch and temperature, be having nightmares about something emotionally strong, etc.
Connecting minds is something more interesting.
The area within Echo acts like a network.
Anyone who walks into the area "connects" to this network like an ingridient gets added to a soup.
Within this network, depending on how "high the heat of the soup" is (and also probably whether a person does drugs or not) the information can travel between minds.
The data can be taken out of and get inserted into someone's head without them even noticing or giving their consent.
And so, some guy on the other end of the town can accidentally learn about something that you did, even if you guys don't even really know eachother.
Another thing is: the data gets stored within people's heads.
This means that if absolutely everyone leaves Echo, all the entities and data will be taken with them, and, given that they're not under the influence of Amplification, be dormant within their heads (something that, I think, happens with Sam).
What that also means is that if a wholly new set of people visits the completely empty town of Echo, they will probably be affected by Amplification and get connected into a single network (which might actually be a good thing, because theoretically, you can learn to willingly exchange data between minds and, say, teach someone a song without doing a damn thing), but won't see ghosts and memories of whoever lived there, because that data is gone with the people who left the town.
Another thing is that within this network sometimes entities manifest.
These entities are something in akin to Artificial intelegence - mostly just amalgamations of data (either true and false) which, sometimes, can have some sort of a function and maybe even a mind of their own.
People usually refer to these entities as "ghosts".
They can be based off people who are being missed (like Chase by Leo) or died (anyone who's dead, basically).
When a person dies within the area of Echo, a big chunk of data from their head is being sent out to the network and stored in the heads of random people.
This data might also get complemented by observations of this person, made by other people.
For example: if someone remembered a dead person as someone who they used to be scared of, then this belief contributes to building up a general picture of this person, that is stored in the network.
Someone else, on the other hand, might remember the dead guy as a kind and caring person, which will contribute as well, making the general image somewhat conflicted.
These entities are not material, no, but oh boy do they hurt people and cause them to go crazy :)
I don't think that there's an effective way to fight these entities other than getting everyone out of Echo (cuz paranormal activity is something so much more powerful than an average person, that simply not being there might be the only solution).
Might also try removing all the quartz or whatever it is from the underground, so that it stops, but I have no idea how can you do that (besides, who would be interested in financing this whole shit, especially if Echo turns out to be a site of scientific interest, given its properties?)
Something else I want to say about Arches (spoilers):
If Brian is dead, Arturo and Duke are outta town, then, theoretically, Cam and Dev could be the only people left in town.
If that, and my whole theory are correct, than that could mean that right now ALL the data and entities are within Dev's and (probably mostly) Cam's heads.
And if THATS true, than these two could be in a lot of danger, because of how all the horrors are now concentrated in them and can affect them oh so badly, doing whatever the heck it decides to do to (maybe) keep them from leaving town (or even mines)
Spoiler warning, Come back later if you arent finished!!
So, I'm having trouble with ONE. SINGLE. ENDING. I just cant seem to get to Jenna's bad ending. People have given me advice like "Encourage her jagged personality" but i dont really KNOW what choices DO that. Can someone give me the choices that encourage her jagged personality?
The scene when they're walking on the road at night
You need to agree that Echo breaks people
Ok
Thanks
[Kinda Spoiler Warning] Def recommend playing the game.
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So, I had put off playing Echo for the longest, as when I originally planned to play I was not in the right headspace and it definitely touched on subjects I was sensitive about. I type this a few hours after finishing Leo's route, and I have got to say this is one of the most lore driven stories I have ever read for furry media. The atmosphere of the town is captured perfectly by the solum and nostalgic tracks that play during the car, and relaxed scenes. The world building is also beautiful, as it doesn't flood the reader with information about Echo(The Town) the moment they play, rather it slowly reveals itself through character dialogue and internal monologues. The game encourages you to play all the routes in order to reveal the entire story and help explain as to why everyone is at each other's throats. The game also does a wonderful job at tying itself to Route 64, The Smoke Room which is the Prequel to Echo, and Arches, which takes place 5 years after the events of Echo. The characters, while falling a little into archetypes, mesh perfectly with each other in the disharmony seen throughout the game. Echo does have nsfw themes and scenes, but it isn't reliant on those to get you hooked.
Absolutely phenomenal game, it inspires me for my own projects and encourages me to pursue them by showing just how much of an impact it can have on people. I highly recommend playing this game, the lore alone is enough to keep you, but also gives some healthy nsfw service for anyone looking for that as well. I look forward to playing TSR and Arches(when it gets a bit further ahead) and I hope that by playing them, I will more clearly understand my own goals in the stories that I wish to tell.
Wow. Normally I wait a couple of days after experiencing either a movie or a game so as I can gather my thoughts and collate all the positives and negatives but, in this case, I don't really want to wait. I'll leave it to better writers to sum up this game because I don't think I could do it justice. Just want to say thank you to all who worked on this. I'm in fricking bits and I've only completed one storyline so far aha. I was not expecting to be put on the kind of fairground ride Echo let me enjoy/ endure. Even just hearing the opening notes on the main menu hits like a train.
Edit: Immediately after posting, I realize the only other game that did me like this was Life is Strange. Whenever one of *those* decisions came up, I would just slide the keyboard away and stare at the screen for five agonizing minutes lol.
Last Edit: I finished playing through all the characters. Even though my heart weighed heavy every time I started the game up and heard those opening musical notes, I came back every evening. Again I’ll say, thank you to the developers and the writers of this game. I’ve not felt an emotional connection with a game like this since,… I don’t even know. I wanted all of these broken, brilliant people to live and live their best lives. Thank you thank you thank you.
What a ride! This took me a while to finish, but it was worth the ride. My mind still boggles at how amazing this Visual Novel was when it comes to revealing the mystery of the town of Echo and how every path slowly builds up the complete picture. I really like how every character is unique but flawed, nearly pushing them close to the line of being unlikeable but somehow making them feel so human because of it. Everyone is fucked up in their own way and trying to find a way to live despite this fact.
Even after finishing the game, I notice that I’m still missing some pictures/days, which I assume is the result of me choosing a ‘different’ path, so I might replay some parts of the game to unlock them later. If anyone wants to know, my route was T.J. > Flynn > Leo > Carl > Jenna. (Pretty much choices from top to bottom when choosing which route to get.)
I plan on reading Arches since it is nearly done, but saving The Smoking Room for when it is complete.
[SPOILERS] ****
For the most part, I think Jenna and Flynn’s route explains most of what is happening in Echo, but even after reading all the paths, I am still a bit confused about some of the events.
When going through the game, I thought the dreams were premonitions about events that could or already happened. An example of these is when Chase dreams about the car with Leo and the gang sinking into the lake which plays out in both Leo and Flynn’s route, and when Chase dreams about Samuel getting run over by Sydney’s father. But there were other dreams that didn’t make an appearance, like when Flynn tells Chase to get on his knees to dig something out of the dirt, which I assume is either a reference to the treasure hunt, the body of Samuel, or even the body of Sydney’s father.
Why did Chase see Carl in the abandoned school when taking pictures for his project on Flynn’s route? I thought this suggests the idea that Carl has taken part in setting up Syndey’s treasure hunt, but this wasn’t implied in the other routes other than T.J. and Flynn’s.
Were there other people possessing Chase other than Samuel? There are some comments which make sense for Samuel to make, like the ones in Leo and Jenna’s route, but there are others that seem a bit weird. Having the voice taught Chase and making the choices for him. It makes me think that there are also other things giving input to Chase, possibly people who were possessed or even the Hum itself.
Speaking of possession, how does it work? It would seem that killing the person who was possessed gets them to become possessed themselves, yet, in Flynn’s route Flynn didn’t kill Chase. Maybe the way to get possessed is to do something regretful to them or even have the person who was getting possessed face their fear to become unpossessed.
Was Carl also possessed? When taking the acid trip with Jermeny, having him hear the voices ridicule Carl was weird. Is his great great great whatever possessing him at that moment, or was it the Hums that was talking to him since he also sees Chase next to him?
When going through one of the extra clips with Flynn, I find it strange that we are really not spectating anyone from their perspective. We see Chase, Carl, T.J., Leo, and Jenna's perspectives in the extra clips but not Flynn's. It was like we were watching the events happening from the sideline, which was weird.
Strangely, the monster is simultaneously helping and putting the gang in danger, which I find odd. They go from helping the gang escape from Brian to kicking them into the lake, nearly drowning them. It is as if the monster is playing with them, which seems a bit mean even coming from Flynn or they were just following fate.
I don’t remember much about it, but I recall there was something in Leo’s route that was strange. It was as if it was directing the focus not on Chase, but on us the reader. Why did this happen? How did the ‘thing’ addresses a person other than Chase at that moment?
Secrets seem to be an important part of the hysteria since killing Flynn in T.J.’s route seems to stop it, even if it was a little while. I wonder if this holds any meaning with Jenna’s and Carl’s ancestors and hope it gets explained in The Smoking Room.
I always thought that the events in Echo happen in a time loop, forcing the people within it to relive the same events over and over again. Like they are going in circles, forced to continue this game until the Hum is done with them. But I don’t think this is the case since there is a sequel VN which takes place five years after the events of Echo, but strangely it only shows clips of it when Flynn is dead. This leads me to think that the events that happen in Arches only occur in either T.J. or Flynn’s route.
Most of this might be me misremembering things since it did take me a while to finish reading this, so I might reread it later.
When will you release your next update on this visual novel?
Echo is complete. There are no planned updates at the moment for it.
- McSkinny
I specifically created an account to make this comment
This experience, is one of those where when your done, you just kinda go, "what now?". I played this whilst high so maybe I thought a lot more on it, but it kinda changed how I look at life. 10/10, I definitely would recommend, maybe without the weed haha.
The Flynn ending that I played was very interesting, learning that the monster only just recently trying to kill the troop was "Flynn" was a unique experience that definitely cannot be replicated. In fact this whole story is an experience that cannot be replicated or experienced again through something else. It was most definitely because I was high whilst playing but it did change me. And it was for the better, so I thank thee Echo project, this is certainly something I will remember for the rest of my life. If I could suggest, I think this kind of story (I don't know the specific name but I'll just explain it as dark and heavy) would do good in a noir fashion. Definitely not this story directly, but maybe something akin to it, but whatever the next project may be I look forward to it regardless!
You should probably spoiler-tag this.
probably
is this vn done or is there more to add
Pretty sure the VN is done, but they might do another polish this year.
Spoiler warning after 10 dots.
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spoiler time.
In leo's good end, Chase and the Voice in his head(I cant remember the name) say "Fuck you..." at the same time, Verbally, but nobody hears.
Then it goes like this.(Assume if something isnt bold, it is chase.)
"We say the words under my breath, but there's more rage behind them than anything I've ever said in my life.
And they're meant for Echo.
Fuck you for killing Janice."
"Fuck you for hurting William."
"Fuck you for killing Duke."
"Fuck you for hurting Cliff."
"Fuck you for what's buried in the mines."
"Fuck you for hurting Nik."
"Fuck you for twisting my friends into something they're not."
"Fuck you for hurting Cynthia and Murdoch."
"And fuck you for ruining my life."
I don't know if you saw Leo's other ending, this one aint the bad one
Meant the good end, thanks for pointing that out.
The song "505" reminds me of Echo and the whole mess of Chase and Leo's relationship. the main reason is the whole reason the song is called 505. "I'm going back to 505, if it's a 7 hour flight, or a 45 minute drive." totally fitting with the hate from (most of) the main cast for Echo.
When will you pay the next update for this VN here on itch.io?
I rarely read fiction, but plowed through every word of this in ten days (after doing the same with TSR – doing it in that order gave a really neat perspective on some events in Echo). Amazing work.
I have a question, and hopefully I can phrase it in a way that makes sense. I get how choices in the game affect the outcome and how there isn’t one canonical path.
Is that true backwards in time as well? Are the events before 2015 (the story’s present) fixed, or do those also depend on the path taken? For example, are the revelations in TJ’s path about what happened to Sydney true across all the paths?
It seems to work now! Not sure what happened, tho.
Other people: *freaking out, take their breaks, feel sad after playing*
Me: holy shield, that wasn't good ending. Meh, let's try again.
I love how intricate plot is and how much stories there are for player. I just finished Echo, but i'm already excited to play related games.
someone should turn this into a movie
I don't think you understand that I'd be so hyped waiting for an Echo movie, I would develop high blood pressure.
wow i really wanted carl and chase to be happy together, i know this isnt the typical vn follow a guy get his heart but it still hurt? like the imposibility of it all, like a bitterness taste and feel like, should i kept it on with the fanart?, yes i should, do i regret it?, a little, nobody can take this hellish experience from me so i guess there is something good about it
Okay, probably because I'm not from the US this surprised me, but the town of Echo is a real place.
It has a motel, a diner, Route 66 is nearby as is Echo Reservoir, and if you follow Dikker Hill Drive, it leads you to a large property that overlooks the town.
There are hiking trails that you take through the canyon, a NA reservation, and the University of Pueblo is one state over.
In fact, the more I look at this town and the surrounding area on Google Maps, the more I feel a little weird out by the similarities.
Is it just coincidence or did someone who work on this game actually come from Echo or the surrounding area?
Sadly there aren't any hot animal men here
cool game!!
The VN might be free, but the therapist isn't.
I dunno man, you much just have to go to echo to get a theripist for free..
Just
See some wild stuff
Like
The demons
Mine's court ordered so it is
should we be concerned?
wh
what is the carl path
What the hell?
Edit: currently playing through Leos' path
Learnt about doppelgangers
Now i know what happened...(I think Im pretty sure)
Edit2:NEVERFUCKINMIND
OH GOD THAT IS TERRIFYING
WHAT THE HELL
Edit3:THE ANIMATED DEMON WILL HAUNT MY NIGHTMARES
MY GOD YEAH
I got to that scene in the middle of the night and screeched so loud. It was fucking terrifying
Carl's Path was weird AF. I was exhausted by the end of it...
I was hoping Leo's Path would be you know the Easy going one...(Boy was i wrong...) The Sad part about it was that all most all of the bad things that happened could have been avoided if the cast didn't just run off solo at the worst / Creepiest times. Also chase should have Spoken to Leo and when he felt like he was going off rails he should have pulled him back on track. I was literally on a emotional rollercoaster reading this and tweeting my thoughts @K9Point5 some on them were funny. Also the Demon Is literally what happens when mindflayer from Stranger things and the creepy human thing from the E Munch painting have a baby.
i am not one to make reviews on any VN especially one that shaped the medium of story telling such as VNs but to any of my fellow bright eyed fellows looking for a vn and look at the comment section to see if its good let me save you time
yes its good 11/10
yes there NSFW
and yes it IS that dark and WILL mess with you in a good way
i was like you once and then i read echo...is all i am gonna say on that
this VN inspired me to make my own and continue being a write(and i am lazy) with nothing else to say go read it
its about time i replay echo now
[ Spoiler Warning ]
Hoo-boy. This was such an emotional roller-coaster for me. I (like an idiot) ignored the warnings and am now suffering because of it - not the game's fault though!
This VN is so beautiful and complicated and damn interesting. Every time some major lore would drop it would send shivers down my spine (The overarching Flynn lore, anybody?) and I loved it.
Personally, TJ was my favorite character-wise, but goddamn I loved playing Leo's route. It personally helped me connect so many dots from the other routes and it felt so damn satisfying.
I played TJ's route first (a great introduction, which left me sobbing by the end), then Flynn's, Leo's, and - finally, Jenna's; which seemed to piece together a LOT of loose threads. Once you actually play through everything, the game starts to make more sense, and, I must say, wow.
I love the story so damn much, even if it is a bit confusing
Damn, now I'm so attached to these characters - moreso than any other game I've ever played. They just... feel so real to me, feel like actual people instead of just some boring characters. This VN has some of the best character work I've seen in a long, long time.
Let me just say this again: I loved this VN so much it hurts. Personally, this became my favorite game ever, and that really says something (I'm quite picky). This was a fantastic experience and I'm looking forward to replaying it with a new understanding of what's happening.
does anyone else get a "could not execute" when trying to start up the game? i just wanna play this
Jump on their discord and ask there, there's an active community there and that's where you're most likely to find an answer quickly.
(Also include which platform you're playing on)
thanks for this experience
Quick question,
Is there a good ending when it comes to any of the routes, I got to the end of 1 of them and had to take a few days off.
Yeah. The other ending for that route is kinda fucked ngl, but letting go still hurts a lot.
Yeah, I got that end and it was
just
Mortifying
I just cant imagine your FEET getting cut off
Then your crazy obsessed (Ex?)BF keeping you there just so you stay with him
The thought terrifies me.
For real. Being forced to stay with Leo in such a circumstance... IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HYSTERIA
That would be so scary
That ending did me a legit jaw-drop
*spoiler*
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Hey so is like letting go of Leo like the only good ending in his route? bsides the bad ending ofc the train where ya get ur legs gordon ramseyed
Thanks for the info :0 also you did an awesome job understanding the morale!!and sharing it ofc thanks again
I think the best ending overall is Jenna's good route since everyone gets out alive and some of the group's issues are sorted out but the price of that is the big mysteries not being resolved.
Jenna, Leo and Carl have more than one ending while TJ and Flynn's routes can only end one way.
Wait
I need your help on the Carl ending
So, I got the ending where House goes up in flames, And carl seems soulless to Chase
Is that the bad version of the end or
Bad end, to get the better end you need Carl stay himself instead of acting like someone he isn't.
Also; How do i get the bad jenna ending?
Basically encourage her jaded personality, nothing gets better, people are jerks that sort of thing.
That ending was one of the first good ones I've got (along with Leo's break up one), considering TJ's path was my first route. All the others were just downhill. I'm stunned.
Every time I open the app, it gives me an error...
"I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.
After initialization, but before game start.
Exception: CoreAudio error (OpenAComponent): -50"
Im using a Mac, if that helps any. I used to be able to play, but I'm not sure what happened. Great game by the way! :)