Echo Generation: Midnight Edition Review – A Pleasant Summer Adventure

The action revolves around a brother and sister (or sister and sister, depending on who you play as), who, going on a regular walk on a summer day, do not even suspect that very soon they will have to face aliens , mutants , unfriendly raccoons and other threats. This is a six-hour adventure, which contains several parallel detective lines, from a maniac operating in the town who kidnaps children, to solving the mystery of the disappearance of the main characters’ father.

During their journey, the kids will cross many locations and communicate with interesting characters. While the original game was criticized for its intrusive backtracking and lack of clear navigation, Echo Generation: Midnight Edition added a fast travel system, which made the senseless running around a lot less.

Echo Generation: Midnight Edition Review – A Pleasant Summer Adventure

However, this did not save players from confusion associated with vague descriptions of objectives. Often here they tell you what to look for to complete a quest, but do not say where to look for it and how to use it, so in some episodes the passage comes down to a methodical run through all the levels in the hope of finding the trigger that will allow you to advance the story. Active points are not highlighted in any way, so if you do not poke around in all the corners, you can miss the necessary item and get stuck in the game for a long time.

It doesn’t help that the plot is fragmented, with lines leading nowhere. The kids are planning to make a movie about aliens, they talk about it a lot, but then forget about filming until the very end. The tree house where the gang of friends gathers seems to be intended to be a hub for the player, but in reality it doesn’t provide any value. Most of the characters are just decorations-functions with whom you can exchange a few words and forget about them. And in general, the game starts out telling one story, but quickly switches to a completely different branch of the narrative, which is confusing.

Echo Generation: Midnight Edition Review – A Pleasant Summer Adventure

But the battles in Echo Generation: Midnight Edition turned out to be excellent. The game uses turn-based combat : characters have a basic attack and special moves that they learn by finding comics in the game world . The moves cost skill points common to all, the number of which depends on the level of pumping . If you run out of skill points during a fight, you will have to use a weak basic attack or look for food in your inventory, which will give you a bonus to points.

When performing a move, it is not enough to simply press a button and watch the hero deal damage to the enemy: you also need to complete a simple QTE , which varies depending on the selected attack. The same must be done during the enemy’s turn: if you press the block in time, you can significantly reduce incoming damage. While the two main characters are responsible for incapacitating the opponent, the third member of the team, the pet, provides them with support: for example, a cat can heal friends, a dog will dig up a useful treat during an attack, and a robot will provide protection for a couple of turns.

Echo Generation: Midnight Edition Review – A Pleasant Summer Adventure

The bosses are moderately difficult, as are the regular opponents. However, the game does not force you to grind, the leveling is competent, the heroes become stronger proportionally to the progression through the plot, and therefore the combat does not cause any particular difficulties. On the contrary, when you see another monster , you rush into battle for another bit of experience, and you want to fight the bosses thanks to their impressive appearance – they turned out to be too inventive.

The design of the locations, by the way, is not far behind: the environment is pleasant, thanks to the voxel graphics, some landscapes literally take your breath away. It’s just a pity that exploring the interiors of the premises is not always convenient due to the wayward camera , which likes to take not the most successful angles.

Echo Generation: Midnight Edition Review – A Pleasant Summer Adventure

Echo Generation: Midnight Edition is a beautiful adventure with an 80s atmosphere , an exciting combat system and a pleasant soundtrack . The developers worked on the shortcomings of the original game, so the remaster feels much more convenient and friendly to the gamer, although it still has some minor flaws.