After spending practically two hours exploring a preview construct of Somber Echoes, an upcoming Metroidvania from builders Rock Pocket Video games and Lav Video games, I’ve walked away feeling optimistic about its probabilities to face out in a crowded area of comparable titles. Although my brief time with it did not lead me to consider it’s going to be wildly creative, its foreboding ambiance, stable fight, and mobility-based exploration has left me feeling desirous to see extra.
Somber Echoes takes place fully on the Atromitos, an deserted spaceship left within the aftermath of some sort of cataclysmic occasion. Gamers tackle the position of Adestria, who has been tasked with looking out the vessel for her twin sister, Harmonia, and stopping her from destroying the universe. Although the opening hours are gentle on dialogue and exposition, there’s a compelling mix of sci-fi and Greek mythology at play right here. In the course of the preview, I bumped into reimagined Greek gods like Ares and Hephaestus, and I think about there are fairly a lot extra to fulfill all through the remainder of the marketing campaign. The extent of their affect on the story is but to be seen, however coloration me intrigued to see how the staff will weave Greek tragedies into an apocalyptic house opera.
After all, you’ll be able to’t actually have a Metroidvania with out vital quantities of exploration, and Somber Echoes is off to a nice begin total in that regard. Very early within the preview, I discovered the aether lantern capacity, which seems to be the core mobility mechanic within the recreation. This allowed me to enter a ball of power after which choose the route I wished to eject. Whereas I might solely use this capacity as soon as per touchdown through the part of Somber Echoes I performed, a tooltip within the menu promised extra aether cores might be discovered to permit for extra makes use of.
And naturally, with vertical exploration being one of many driving forces of the expertise, there have been tons of areas I could not attain but on account of not having these eventual enhancements to the aether lantern. I am trying ahead to propelling myself to a few of these just-out-of-reach areas as soon as I am powered up sufficient to carry out a number of jumps within the full model.
However even with the restricted mobility within the preview, there have been a number of secrets and techniques to search out across the derelict spaceship. I examined every room completely and located loads of pretend partitions and intelligent shortcuts, in addition to some uncommon useless ends that appeared like they might be dwelling to extra collectibles or upgrades within the closing construct. With seven districts deliberate for gamers to discover, I believe there shall be hours and hours of interweaving rooms to have enjoyable looking out by means of. And a much-appreciated capacity to call the rooms you’ve got visited ought to make it significantly simpler to recollect factors of curiosity you wish to return to later.
In the meantime, fight in Somber Echoes is a easy however satisfying affair, too — a minimum of up to now. Most enemies had solely a few assaults of their arsenal, however cautious consideration was wanted to establish the way to react to every of them. Sure assaults have been unblockable, and with no roll or sprint to keep away from them, parrying was the principle choice out there to keep away from taking harm. I did discover that utilizing the aether lantern to hurl myself over foes was efficient at repositioning out of a tight spot, however getting hit mid-animation interrupted my plans a few instances.
Nonetheless, being punished for making an attempt to reposition my character was one thing I type of appreciated. A few of these enemy encounters occurred in tight spots that basically compelled me to contemplate how greatest to organize to take them on, making in any other case simple fights really feel extra tense. Seeing creepy monstrosities speeding towards me from either side with environmental hazards close by and restricted house to maneuver was a rush, and I am trying ahead to extra of that type of stage design within the full marketing campaign.
Talking of stage design, there’s some nice environmental storytelling within the Atromitos’ detailed backgrounds, which do a superb job of promoting its mythology meets expertise aesthetic. However a minimum of within the areas I explored at first of my demo, the vessel was exceedingly darkish. As a lot as I dug this dreary and desolate vibe, the restricted coloration palette of orange and pink coupled with some samey places induced a lot of screens to mix collectively after a whereas. However extra regarding is how the darkness mixed with visually busy environments sometimes made it tough to make out sure on-screen parts or outline what was and wasn’t playable house.
A time or two, I discovered myself leaping towards a platform solely to appreciate that it was within the foreground (which has a approach of creating you are feeling particularly dumb). Different instances, some small ranged enemies blended into similarly-colored lights so properly that I did not even discover them till they broken me. I might typically even briefly overlook one thing interactable that simply seemed like a part of the background litter.
These points have been by no means so frequent or intense that it ruined my enjoyment, although, they usually largely look like intentional design decisions meant to invoke a sense of fixed dread and claustrophobia. I am going to admit this considerably disorientating route hasn’t totally clicked for me but, however I additionally comprehend it takes time to be taught every Metroidvania’s tips and faucet into the stream of its distinctive structure and mechanics.
Contemplating how pleasurable the sport’s fight and mobility will be, I am trying ahead to discovering that stream in Somber Echoes and seeing what risks lie forward within the Atromitos. And I am feeling pretty assured that I am going to have the option to take action as a result of, whereas there’s already a lot to like about it even in its pre-alpha stage, the staff shall be making enhancements and changes which might be sure to solely elevate what’s already shaping as much as be an total thrilling Metroidvania romp. We’ll discover out for certain when it launches later this Fall.