Echoes of Aetheria has a humble, perhaps even classic, beginning. A wedding interrupted, a bride kidnapped; our heroes give chase. Though their motives are different, they soon find themselves thrown together as their simple quest to recover the bride spirals into an epic saga of war, love, and betrayal.
Treason, defection, rebellion, and even the creation of a new nation are all parts in which you’ll have a role to play. As you progress further, the scope of the story will grow with your heroes. By the end, you’ll have to weigh your decisions and their consequences against the fate of entire nations.
Echoes of Aetheria is a surprisingly dense and engaging title, despite its visual simplicity. The throwback to old-style RPGs brings on a sense of nostalgia whilst remaining fresh and unique, with a deep storyline and thoroughly fleshed out characters to bring the game to life. Combat is varied and challenging, and crafting the right items can be a gamechanger.
Echoes of Aetheria weaves narrative, combat, and exploration together wonderfully, with no one aspect of the game overshadowing another. However, dialogue is occasionally cheesy and design flaws cast a shadow on what is meant to be a tactical combat experience.
Played on its own, without worrying about whether it effectively changes up the hallowed tropes of early JRPGs, or conversely, sticks a little too closely to them, Echoes of Aetheria is fun.
With incredible music, awesome story, and intuitive gameplay, this epic journey is one that every fan of RPG should experience. Even with its faults, I wholeheartedly recommend you check this game out.
Overall, Echoes of Aetheria is enjoyable but rarely engrossing. Combat can become rather tedious once the player figures out an optimal strategy, and the story is just not the underdog epic to which it aspires. However, the characters will keep many players coming back for more, just to see how everything plays out for them. This is essentially the perfect game for a night in while binge watching your favorite Netflix series. Not every game needs to be Persona 5; sometimes it is enough to do a few things really well and deliver a couple dozen hours of solid gameplay. That is what Echoes of Aetheria has to offer.
Echoes of Aetheria's dated, cliche-laden narrative and garish overworld sprites are a shame when you consider the rest of what the game has to offer: fun, strategic combat, gorgeous in-battle art and a surprisingly masterful soundtrack. If you can get past some of its less-polished elements, you'll probably have a great time.
Those looking to play a title reminiscent of classic JRPGs could certainly do a lot worse.
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