Fading Echo, the new action-adventure RPG from developers Emeteria, has some really cool ideas. Built around a little water form that the main character, One, can turn into, there are some solid combat challenges and puzzles that can be fun to play through. At the same time, it gets trapped by mediocre mechanics, bugs, and confusing level layouts that really hold it back from being great.
Water World
Fading Echo puts you in the shoes of One, a young adventurer struggling to survive. One suddenly gets powers, setting out to prevent a corruption that’s spreading across the world that could destroy it. It’s a fun, decent story that works in propelling One through multiple floating worlds. The issues arise in its presentation, with abrupt endings to cut scenes and strange pacing.
In one moment, a new character arrives from a portal, and it plays out like a big important moment where something will happen, but it just ends. The character is now standing in the hub area, offering little more information or context, but you’re told he’s important. He arrives with such momentum that he’s just slammed to a stop, leaving me more confused than interested in his impact on the story, One, or the other characters. What should be a really cool moment, because the cut scene itself is bombastic and electric, ends on a stilted and awkward note.
One’s main purpose is to reconnect water flows back to the main hub, hoping to regain power and stop the spreading corruption. Each new level leads to a new water source, with plenty of platforming, puzzle solving, and enemies to fight through. Centred in the midst of all this is an adorable little water blob that One can shift into, opening up new options for all of the above.
Water Transformations Carry The Experience
Each new substance that One moves through when in water form changes how it acts. Going through green goo gives One a boosted jump, but hitting enemies with it can weaken them for a period of time. Lava can burn enemies, but it also turns One into smoke, gliding for bigger distances. Each liquid changes not just combat but also puzzle solving and traversal. These are the best parts of the experience, especially as you need to figure out how to move crystals to the right spot.
This is the vast majority of puzzle solving in Fading Echo, both to its benefit and chagrin. You’ll find crystals on the ground that need to be moved into the right receptacle, with one carrying it inside the water form. The challenges arise as you try to move through grates or change forms, sometimes losing the crystal in the process, making a seemingly simple challenge a multiple-step sequence as you drop and pick the crystal up as fast as possible before it resets. The issue is that they can get repetitive, never venturing far into different territory. Sometimes you’ll need to hit enough switches fast enough, but between those two, that’s the vast majority of puzzle solving. It can be really well designed, but you always know what’s coming around the next corner.
That extends to combat and platforming, as well. There are moments when both really shine, especially as different enemies react to some elements better than others. Combat is fast and frantic, reliant mostly on One’s staff to whack enemies into submission. You need to properly survey each battlefield, as enemies can be really spongy if not kicked into the right element. Most of the time, I relied on One’s kicks to send enemies flying off ledges, opting for quick kills rather than wailing away. There’s also a limited enemy pool, meaning you’ll be fighting the same handful of enemies with slight variations. It takes a bit for new upgrades to unlock, including an awesome big wave that hits multiple enemies, but the flow never really changes meaningfully. Hence, the combat arenas end up becoming repetitive.
Platforming has similar highs and lows, where some platforming sequences are genuinely interesting and fun, while others don’t take much effort or thought. When you’re moving across coloured spaces that react to the form you’re in, fighting gravity, and switching up and holding on to form changes, Fading Echo really sings. Other times, level progression can just be entirely confusing. On more than one occasion, I got entirely lost trying to figure out where to go next, jumping on areas I shouldn’t have been moving on. The level design can just be convoluted and confusing – these aren’t massive spaces that you’re moving through, but it isn’t always clear where progression lies.
Fading Echo Is Gorgeous, But Performance Issues Persist
One of the best parts of Fading Echo is the presentation. Graphically, it’s beautiful and stylized, with otherworldly vistas and landscapes. The bright pops of colour go all out in the alternate realities you adventure through, underwater-like sections that ignore gravity. It’s constantly beautiful to look at, even if the performance is iffy. Playing on Steam Deck is a rough experience even on lower settings, with frequent frame drops under 30 and some abrupt loading screens. The frame rate issues continue on PC, meaning it needs some optimization to smooth out the edges.
Verdict
Overall, Fading Echo has a lot of interesting ideas that it struggles to live up to. The water shape-shifting and powers are fun to use and interesting, but they’re only used on a handful of puzzle and enemy types. It’s a beautiful game to look at, but struggles with performance issues. There are good ideas here, but the confusing level designs get in its own way. There are good moments and ideas in Fading Echo, but it doesn’t live up to its potential.
[The publisher provided a copy of the game for review purposes.]
Reviewed on: Steam Deck / PC
