Before the Echo

Я начал играть и не смог остановиться, пока не дошёл до конца.

I don’t usually enjoy dunking on clearly low-budget indie games, but this one is tough to recommend. Let’s start with the positives: the core idea is genuinely interesting. It’s a 4-key rhythm game wrapped in a campaign with a story and full RPG-style progression: level-ups, gear, spells, items, the whole package. Unfortunately, that’s kind of where the praise ends. - The visuals (graphics, art style, UI, effects) all feel cheap. - The writing comes across as pretty juvenile: shallow characters, awkward dialogue, inconsistent buildup, and humor that rarely lands. More importantly, though, it also falls short where a rhythm game really matters: - The music is weak. It lacks impact and sounds amateurish. Out of roughly 10 playable songs, I only genuinely liked one, and even that wasn’t anything special. If anything, it felt better suited as background music for a different kind of game. - The main mechanic of switching between three lanes to defend, attack, or gather mana, is interesting on paper and works mechanically. But constantly shifting to different beats completely disrupts the flow, which is a big problem in a rhythm game. - The game leans heavily on grinding to pad playtime, but replaying the same song multiple times just to get an item isn’t a great fit for the genre. - Timing precision doesn’t seem to matter much, which makes spamming inputs a surprisingly viable strategy. - There are also smaller issues like: limited gameplay customization, red notes doing disproportionate damage, floors making navigation clunky, and some noticeable balance problems. In the end, Before the Echo isn’t just rough around the edges, it misses some of the core fundamentals of a good rhythm game. The central idea has potential, but it’s not enough to make the game worth recommending.

[code]If you enjoyed this review, please consider following my Curator Page [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33864135/]Nep's Gaming Paradise (Nepiki Gaming)[/url] for more reviews![/code] [h1]Nepiki's Stats[/h1] [table] [tr] [td]Overall length[/td] [td]Around 9 hours for beat, and 12 for completion[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Overall difficulty[/td] [td]Normal difficulty[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Overall score[/td] [td]★★★☆☆[/td] [/tr] [/table] [h1]Summary[/h1] For the time this released, the concept of having a Rhythm RPG was really cool and overall well handled. Sadly some parts of the genres just aren't compatible, as grinding the same songs for RNG-based drops got tiresome real quick. [table] [tr] [td]--Positives--[/td] [td]--Negatives--[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][/td] [td][/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]The plot setup was mysterious enough to keep me hooked with good (albeit perhaps outdated) dialogue.[/td] [td]The resolved mystery was... unique, but didn't do it for me.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Enough difficulty options to make this more than manageable for a DDR rookie like me.[/td] [td]Too much grinding on the same songs for experience and drops.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Interesting method of handling combat by having three different playing fields, with enough different spells to cast.[/td] [td]Everything from drops- to crafting is based on RNG that extends grinding even futher.[/td] [/tr] [/table] [hr] https://store.steampowered.com/app/200910/Before_the_Echo/

💋

A thought-provoking puzzle adventure with intriguing storylines, atmospheric visuals, and engaging gameplay that takes players on a memorable journey through time.

It's not a perfect rhythm game, nor is it a great RPG, but it is full of puns, has a unique game mechanic, and is fully voiced. Good value for money.

I purchased Before the Echo (formally Sequence) way back in 2011, and just now, 15 years later, have I finally completed and perfected the game. It sat for many years in my Steam library, and I had just recently decided to get this one done, and I'm proud that I was able to do so. So what do I think of the game? This is one of those times, as we've heard so many say over the years, that I wish Valve would implement a middle ground option between recommended and not recommended, because that's what I'd go with for this game. It's a [i]good[/i] game, and I stress that word. It's not great, but it's good, and that's why I've decided to give it a positive. Mental dexterity music game + RPG-lite mechanics + Bizarre and hard to understand story = A good little linear adventure that one can complete over the course of a week, week and a half. Before the Echo tells the tale of Ky, an average dude with snark and a good head on his shoulders who gets abducted by a mysterious organization that forces him to ascend a seven floor tower to conquer monsters and floor guardians via musical combat so that he might earn his freedom, being led by the nose by an equally snarky girl named Naia who appears to be on his side. But as is usual in these types of stories...there's more than meets the eye. Before the Echo is essentially a unique love story that has several bizarre twists. The art style, voice acting, music, and gameplay get thumbs up from me, but it's the chance-based item acquisition that makes me frown. I'm not a fan of having to battle an enemy twenty times because the one item that I need only has a 14% chance to drop, know what I mean? It's not my cup of tea. But honestly, my greatest praise has to go to the comedy in the game and the wonderful music. The developer clearly believes in comedy in his creations, and the game made me chuckle more than once. The music is superb and a joy to listen to, even without the game to be honest. Again...it's a good game. Buy it if you want a musical challenge mixed with a strange love story.

[h2]Mechanically unsatisying[/h2] Awful note detection, also the patterns feel like they are in no way connected to the music. Very repetetive gameplay loop with a couple of questionable design choices that not only encourage, but downright necessitate mindless grinding thanks to the needless inclusion of RNG. [h2]Youthspeak[/h2] The writing feels somewhat juvenile and too forced with all the "hip" vibe, although with my limited playtime I can't say for sure how it unfolds later in the game. As for the voice acting, for a game as focused on sound as this one claims to be, the quality of recording itself as well as it's mixing is terrible. [h2]Beep boop[/h2] I have a soft spot for Ronald Jenkees' music, but do yourself a favour and just listen to it on it's own. No need to suffer through the gameplay loop for it.