Chained Echoes is a modern SNES-style RPG that keeps getting compared to Chrono Trigger, but actually has hardly anything to do with that game. Its most obvious inspiration is, surprisingly, Final Fantasy XII, which is recognizable in its warring kingdoms, human species, cast of characters, and much besides. You’ll also find some ideas from Suikoden in its combat, Xenogears in its giant mechs, The Legend of Heroes in its worldbuilding, and other classic JRPGs in smaller ways. As you might guess from the long list of inspirations, this isn’t a particularly original game. It has a few mechanisms and story beats that are purely its own, but you’ll have seen variations on most of what it has to offer before if you’re experienced with JRPGs. Chained Echoes offers a refinement of classic ideas rather than a revolutionary new experience.
The game follows a core cast of ten characters, and, much like Final Fantasy XII, the ostensible protagonist is by far the most boring. Chained Echoes at least attempts to justify Glenn’s existence in a way that FFXII never really bothers to do for Vaan, but he’s still a dull Mary Sue character who largely reacts to the doings of other characters and has hardly any interesting motivations or personality of his own. Thankfully, the others are much better. Many of them are still recognizable from FFXII (Lenne -> Ashe, Kylian -> Basch, etc), but they either have enough twists on familiar ideas or simply an interesting enough personality that they’re able to carry the load for Glenn.
These characters are mostly introduced to the party over the course of a 4-5 hour prologue chapter, but several come much later. The story starts out with many of the characters infiltrating a sewer in order to break into the royal palace during a party that is also conveniently the setting of a grand scheme. That isn’t the only major scene that’s taken almost verbatim from FFXII, but as with the characters, the finer details are changed enough that it doesn’t feel like a total ripoff. From those sewers, you’ll go through three chapters with a lot of war, magical intrigue, and minor personal conflicts before, inevitably, fighting god-like beings. This is a JRPG, after all.
Chaining together familiar moments from games that both are and are not FFXII works surprisingly well, and the vast majority of the games four chapter story is entertaining and well written. Unfortunately, it slips up at the end. It’s hard to say for sure if this is because it’s the most original part, if too much was left for the teased sequel, or if the game just had to make a release date, but either way the final sequence feels abrupt and features several character moments that aren’t earned. The final boss forms are also far too obvious references to other games for my taste.
As long as I’m on a negative note, my other two major problems with the game are the relatively uninteresting soundtrack and the character progression. Since the first is self-explanatory, let’s focus on the second: Chained Echoes implements a grinding-free design I’ve always wanted to see that ties character growth directly to beating story and side quest bosses. Those fights reward you with points to unlock new abilities and stat modifiers, while normal fights just provide resources and points towards skill upgrades. I actually think this is a fine system, but it’s the specific implementation of it that stumbles. Since you can only have eight active and passive abilities equipped, any unlocks after you’ve obtained your favorite eight are useless, and there aren’t even close to enough stat boost options to occupy the rest of your points. Similarly, while the ability upgrades are fun enough at first, I’d unlocked all of them for the abilities I actually used by the end of the third chapter. After that, stat points were completely useless.
And yet, despite all that, I’ll be giving Chained Echoes quite a high score and a great place on my end of the year list. How does it deserve that if it’s largely unoriginal, stumbles at the end, and has unsatisfying level ups? The rest of the story certainly helps, but it’s the exploration that’s the real hero here. Every map in Chained Echoes is absolutely packed with secrets of all forms to find, which makes it fun to really dig into every nook and cranny. You really never know what you’re going to get by exploring a random cave or talking to an NPC off the main path. There are entire maps, questlines, and even party characters that you only get by exploring, and the game is great about giving you a breadcrumb trail to the coolest stuff so that it doesn’t feel like you’re just aimlessly combing every screen. This is among the most satisfying to explore games that I’ve ever played, which is all the more remarkable considering how many JRPGs struggle to reward explorers with anything more than consumable items and random encounters.
Chained Echoes, then, is a game of highs and lows. It’s at its best when it’s letting you do your own thing and when the story is focusing on anything other than its protagonist. It can drag when Glenn is on screen or when you’re fighting the same enemy for the 30th time and have nothing to gain from it. Still, for players like me who are happy to just get lost in recruiting new clan members for as long as possible, it’s a wonderful experience. Give it a look if none of the flaws are too off-putting.
Rating: 90%
Time to beat: 40 hours to do everything before the postgame
MSRP: $25, but free on Gamepass
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