We got the chance to play around with the recently released Echo Generation: Midnight Edition to see what it’s all about.
Given my ever-present interest in horror games, I was intrigued when Echo Generation: Midnight Edition appeared on my radar. This game is an upgraded version of the original Echo Generation game created by Cococucumber and boasts among other things upgraded visuals and fast travel.
For this review, I played the game on the Nintendo Switch.
The story of Echo Generation: Midnight Edition is summarized as follows:
A summer like no other awaits the youth of a Canadian suburbia as bizarre scenarios pop up around town. Grow the mystery-solving party with neighborhood pals and pets, gather clues from oblivious adults, and collect key items for the journey ahead. Take on monstrous trucks, werewolves, skeletons, and more in turn-based quick-time battles, boost party stats with each victory, and uncover Maple Town’s dark secret.
Echo Generation: Midnight Edition
Developer: Cococucumber
Platform: Nintendo Switch, PC
Release Date: June 19, 2024
The best way to describe Echo Generation: Midnight Edition is “spooky cute.” The story starts out seemingly in a perfectly normal neighborhood on a perfectly normal summer day, but the more the player explores and asks questions, the more it quickly becomes obvious that there is something very wrong going on. That being said, even when you start encountering monsters, it can feel unnerving and definitely spooky, but it’s not quite outright scary based on how everything is designed in the game world.
Exploration is definitely the key to this game. Literally every nook and cranny that can be reached should be investigated to find clues, currency and the many items that one will need to progress in the story. Thankfully, if one runs out of healing items, there are several places they can be purchased and stocked up on, which definitely comes in handy the farther into the story you go.
There is definitely a learning curve to the combat in this game. Combat essentially boils down to a series of quick time events that flip between attacking the monster and defending from its attacks. The better timed the players button presses are, the better they’ll do in battle. Once you get the feeling of combat though, it becomes a lot of fun, especially as the characters learn new attacks.
Another general tip: it’s easy to get frustrated in the beginning as the game story will not progress until certain conditions are met. The best advice that can be given for the first stage of the game is to keep exploring, the key to progressing the game is there, you just need to be patient.
One tip for combat as I learned this the hard way: you want to upgrade each character’s strength as much as possible, as soon as possible. The stronger a character is, the more damage the attacks do. Trust me when I say you want those extra damage points when boss battles start to happen.
Speaking of, I thought I knew how this game would go until I encountered the first big boss battle in the game. These battles are when you really get a feel for what Echo Generation: Midnight Edition is all about. The boss battles are no joke and you will require every bit of skill you’ve learned in-between fights to get through them. Furthermore, each boss fight is structured differently, meaning each enemy has to be carefully considered.
One last thing to say about Echo Generation: Midnight Edition: you’ll never be able to guess where this story is going to go, that’s how well told it is. There are twists around almost every corner and the farther in you go, the bigger things become until you realize you’re right in the middle of a really big deal. That’s one of the things this game does best: it just keeps building and building and what felt like minor details at the start soon become huge keys to a larger story.
In conclusion, Echo Generation: Midnight Edition is absolutely a game that is worth picking up. It can be challenging, but not in the same way as other big titles can be. It’s also a lot of fun to play and explore and try to piece together what’s happening in this seemingly normal little town.
