This game is so good, I'm making it the subject of my first review.
After falling in love with Severed Steel, I picked this game up nearly Day 1. The way Greylock Studio marries high-speed movement with tight, snappy gunplay, you'd think that Titanfall and Neon White had a baby and named it EPN.
Armed with a sci-fi skateboard and grappling hook (not to mention bonus powers unlocked throughout the story, not spoiling those), you zip around your enemies and take them down with an arsenal that grows as you explore an open world. Let's get into it.
The arsenal: impressive. you'd think this game wouldn't work with a bolt-action rifle, or a revolver? Guess again. By hour 2 I had just about learnt to lead my shots and was able to snipe on my skateboard in middair, upside down, and halfway across the arena - and you will too.
My only issue with the weapons are its upgrade/mastery system; unlocked the more kills you accrue with that weapon, there are three levels - Trained, Expert, and Master. Master always unlocks cosmetic skins to add some flair to an already flashy game, but the first two levels add more functional attachments, scopes, extended magazines, and the like, depending on what is appropriate for your weapon. One of these potential upgrades is a silencer, which is offers decreased overall damage at the benefit of your shots being silent. My problem is not that there is a tradeoff for this upgrade - many other attachments too - it is that the benefit seems out of place, almost a relic of an earlier version of the game when stealth was in the cards.
With that nit sufficiently picked, let me continue to sing the praises of this game.
The visuals: stunning. In the charming voxel-like style that won me over in Severed Steel, Greylock paints a fractured landscape of floating sky-islands for you to explore. Some islands feature Scans, where the arena shooter earns its title, while other islands are interstitial and serve as parkour-based connections between other battles. You find yourself climbing to higher and higher islands as you progress through the story, giving a physical sense of progression as you look over an edge and see all that came before you. Playing the game with raytracing makes the sun dapple through the clouds in a way that feels serene, and the reflections are crisp and clear. The guns are low-poly, tactical, and you hold them at an angle when you board like a badass.
The sound: dialed IN. When exploring, the music takes an etheral vibe with light pads and subdued drums (think Mirror's Edge main menu). Start a scan though, and the music hits a sharp 180: Floating Door cranks up the synths, busts out the DnB breaks, and goes full John Wick shootout-in-a-nightclub mode. Most impressively are the times they do both - standout tracks for me are Gloria, Diatribe, Anselmo, Occluded, and Singularly Adept. If you've played the game you know I could go on.
The story: it is there in name. Told exclusively through text logs, you can argue that there is not much meat on this bone, and I would agree this is indeed a vegetarian dish. If you are looking for a gripping narrative you can look elsewhere. Echo Point Nova will happily have you when you aren't. You will be exploring the entire map, going to The Floating Waypoint, fighting The Bad Guys, and taking The MacGuffin. There are bosses that feel like they've been cut wholecloth out of a certain Nintendo title, but unlike certain Exhalations of the Savage, you can solve your problems with bullets and the battles reflect this. I will say that despite the story, or lack thereof, the final act of the game delighted me - I thought I had seen all this game's tricks, and it pulled one last one for the finale. Hats off for the restraint there. I hope you get there yourself, and experience that revelatory moment of quiet awe like I did.
The progression: dopanine-churning. You start the tutorial barely scrambling over obstacles, trying to land hits with your first weapon. By the end, you are a fully-loaded merchant of destruction. Scans give you weapons, perk points, and perks themselves. Agility Orbs, scattered throughout the world, increase your acrobatic capabilities making traversal even easier. Make no mistake - this game doesn't take a standard moving system and strip it back for the beginning, forcing you to upgrade your way to what should have been there from the (double-)jump. This game does it right, starting you out with a perfectly cromulent moveset and upping the juice as you go.
The player customisation: Not paid for. Take that as the glowing endorsement it is.
The runtime: Echo Point Nova doesn't outstay its welcome. The main story mode has some post-game content, and there are two new modes that have been added since release: A roguelike that is delightfully straightforward and shockingly well-suited to the gamplay, and "Beneath The Clouds" a gamemode with a new map, new mechanics, and developer commentary. There is also New Game+, which offers a combo of I rolled credits in about 10 hours, and finished up the post-story content in a couple of hours after that. There is also support for player-made custom levels. I did not experiment much with the ancillary modes in all honesty, but I have every intention to - as these modes were not available at launch, I still feel entitled to make this review, but please take that fact into consideration.
The value for price: nuanced. At time of writing, the game sits at CDN$ 32.50 when not on sale. If you do not intend to engage with Echo Point Nova beyond the main story, that is roughly $2.67 per hour of gameplay. I will not make any assumptions about your financial situation, and you can decide for yourself if that is a wise investment for you, or if it's worth waiting for a sale.
But I will say this: No matter how much of this game you play, no matter how far you get into the story, if you liked fast-paced action shooters that you can play with your buddies, you will love every moment you give Echo Point Nova.
