Before the Echo

About

Before the Echo is a single player role playing game with a comedy theme. It was developed by Iridium Studios and was released on October 20, 2011. It received positive reviews from players.

Before the Echo is a single-player Comedy Role Playing game with an intriguing story and perfected game mechanics, featuring stunning visuals and an outstanding soundtrack by Ronald Jenkees and Michael Wade Hamilton. Engage in a 10+ hour story mode with deep item synthesis and spell customization while encountering quirky characters. Enjoy full integration of Steam achievements and cloud saves.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

87%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,208 reviews

music346 positive mentions

grinding160 negative mentions

Unique blend of rhythm game and RPG mechanics, providing a fresh gameplay experience.
Engaging story with humorous dialogue and well-developed characters.
Catchy soundtrack featuring music from Ronald Jenkees, enhancing the overall experience.

Repetitive gameplay due to limited song selection and grinding for item drops.
Some players may find the voice acting and writing cringeworthy or juvenile.
Difficulty spikes can be frustrating, especially when crafting items requires sacrificing experience points.

music
815 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42%
54%
4%
The music in "Before the Echo" has received mixed reviews, with many players praising its catchy and enjoyable tracks, primarily composed by Ronald Jenkees. However, a common criticism is the limited variety of songs, leading to repetitiveness during gameplay, especially as players often find themselves grinding the same tracks for item drops. While the music enhances the overall experience, the lack of diversity can detract from long-term enjoyment, making it a double-edged sword for rhythm game enthusiasts.
- “Really loved this game, the music still sticks with me, and the last few levels are quite a fun challenge!”
- “The art style, the music just adds to the whole, making this game feel refreshing to play even today amongst the myriad of other indie and even AAA titles.”
- “The music, composed by Ronald Jenkees, is equally impressive, with catchy electronic beats and memorable melodies that drive the rhythm gameplay and set the tone for each encounter.”
- “Sadly, some parts of the genres just aren't compatible, as grinding the same songs for RNG-based drops got tiresome real quick.”
- “The reused music, the forced grinding, the chance-based crafting, some of the enemy models are just reused and recolored; to learn spells you need to play music that you have already heard many times before.”
- “Playing the same song over and over again gets old very quickly.”
story
480 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
49%
47%
4%
The story of "Before the Echo" is a mixed bag, with many players finding it engaging and humorous, while others criticize it for being cliché or poorly executed. The narrative follows Ky, who navigates a mysterious tower, encountering quirky characters and humorous dialogue, which some players found compelling enough to drive them through the gameplay. However, repetitive grinding and a lack of depth in character development detracted from the overall experience for some, leading to a consensus that while the story has its moments, it may not be the main draw for everyone.
- “The story is surprisingly captivating.”
- “A brilliant gem with amazing gameplay, great music, and an interesting story.”
- “The story itself puts a bit of a twist on the caught-in-a-video-game trope and is well worth the play, and the characters are quirky and unique enough to be interesting.”
- “While some may find value in the story, I found the dialogue excessive, and it didn't hold my interest.”
- “The protagonist is unlikable, his personality is 'snark' and 'blows up at people for little to no reason', and he is treated as the smartest being in existence by the story.”
- “The story is vague and dumb.”
gameplay
434 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
50%
5%
The gameplay of "Before the Echo" (formerly known as "Sequence") is a unique blend of rhythm and RPG mechanics, requiring players to manage multiple screens for attacking, defending, and mana recovery through timed inputs. While many players appreciate the innovative concept and engaging music, some criticize the repetitive nature and grind-heavy progression, which can detract from the overall experience. Overall, the game is praised for its fun mechanics and solid execution, making it a noteworthy title for fans of rhythm games.
- “The gameplay is extremely good and unique as a combo of RPG-style real-time turn-based fighting and falling arrow rhythm game.”
- “Before the Echo is a captivating fusion of rhythm-based mechanics and RPG elements that offers a fresh and engaging gameplay experience.”
- “The gameplay consists of fighting monsters by switching around three different fields - one to gain mana to cast spells, one to actually use the spells, and one to defend against enemy attacks.”
- “Very repetitive 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.”
- “The writing is hit-or-miss, but the main issue is how dreadful the gameplay is.”
- “However, combined with the stat-dependent gameplay and already tedious farm-based progression, it does nothing but serve to remind yourself how much of a chore it should have been to get through the game, had it not had the lucky break of being legitimately enjoyable to play.”
humor
183 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
98%
2%
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with some players finding it genuinely hilarious and engaging, particularly praising the witty dialogue, character interactions, and clever item descriptions. However, others criticize it for being overly cringeworthy or relying too heavily on dated internet memes and vulgarity, leading to a divide in enjoyment. Overall, while many appreciate the humor as a highlight of the game, its effectiveness varies significantly among players.
- “The writing is delightful and funny without being too goofy and while telling an interesting story.”
- “The dialogue is often times hilarious.”
- “The humor in the game is awesome, if you're into that internet/meme kinda humor.”
- “Whether it's the memes that were dated when this was new or the incredibly unfunny Reddit-/v/ hybrid jokes.”
- “Edgy, unfunny, badly balanced.”
- “I dunno, it's got a lot of cringey humor and some mediocre voice acting.”
grinding
162 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
99%
The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting that it can become tedious and repetitive, particularly due to the reliance on RNG for item drops and crafting materials. While some appreciate the challenge and find the grinding manageable, others feel it detracts from the overall experience, especially as the game progresses and requires repeated play of the same songs and battles. Overall, grinding is seen as a necessary but often frustrating element that can lead to a monotonous gameplay loop.
- “When used in rhythm games, grinding presents a good challenge towards the end. However, the catch is that at some point, you're required to grind ridiculous amounts of resources to defeat a boss before: a) the song finishes due to not being able to deal enough damage, or b) the available RPG elements make you fail due to insufficient grinding.”
- “Each enemy is associated with a song, so you'll find yourself repeating some of them quite a lot for their items and experience, but it's not overly grindy.”
- “Sadly, some parts of the genre just aren't compatible, as grinding the same songs for RNG-based drops got tiresome real quick.”
- “Very repetitive 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.”
- “The main weakness is that it can be very grindy - you have to use drops and pay XP to craft items, meaning you have to fight the same monster over and over again to get the items (each with a different percentage chance of dropping) and XP you need.”
graphics
88 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
59%
38%
3%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the vibrant and colorful art style, which is often described as beautiful and well-crafted. However, some users note inconsistencies in the quality of animations and UI elements, leading to a perception of unpolished visuals in certain areas, particularly during battles. Overall, while the artwork and aesthetic appeal are highlighted as strong points, the lack of detailed animations and some graphical limitations detract from the overall experience for some players.
- “Before the Echo is a story-driven RPG rhythm game that defies expectations with its colorful artwork and attention to detail.”
- “Visually, Before the Echo boasts a vibrant and colorful art style, with character designs and environments that pop off the screen.”
- “The graphics are wonderful, the game's artwork is spectacular, and the writing is witty and interesting which makes for a fun playthrough.”
- “One weakness of the game is the battling and UI; though simple enough, the weak graphics jar with the otherwise well-crafted characters and backgrounds.”
- “The dialog is atrocious, the story is insignificant, and the graphics are the kind of crappy animatics that have now become standard fare in a sea of indie game dev mediocrity.”
- “The graphics are very basic; the art looks okay, but there are basically no animations.”
replayability
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
53%
14%
Overall, the game's replayability is limited, with many players noting its short length and lack of substantial content to revisit. While there are multiple difficulty levels and some unlockable features, such as new songs from boss battles, these elements do not significantly enhance replay value. Many reviewers express a desire for more achievements and varied content to encourage repeated playthroughs, ultimately deeming it a fun experience but one that lacks longevity.
- “It has some replay value, too: there are multiple difficulty levels, should you want to go back through and play on a harder mode.”
- “It has a nice amount of replayability since the game allows you to change difficulty up to the third floor, an incredibly low price, decent RPG mechanics, fairly unique rhythm mechanics, and serviceable art.”
- “The game has amazing replay value, too.”
- “The game itself, I'll warn, has little replay value.”
- “That coupled with the fact that I'm better than halfway through the game in under 4 hours suggests that this game won't have replay value.”
- “Replayability and extras are limited (unless you opt for a higher difficulty, I started on the highest), but the game is well worth one playthrough.”
character development
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
11%
33%
Overall, the character development in the game is praised for its creativity and engaging storytelling, with well-executed voice acting and vibrant character designs. However, some reviews note that while characters are interesting and the writing is clever, the focus on antagonistic dialogue can detract from deeper trait building. Despite these critiques, many players appreciate the character development as a strong aspect of the game.
- “Characters are interesting and there is character development throughout the story, and the voice acting is very well done.”
- “The writing is clever and meta, and while the game is short, it still finds the time to whip up some fun characters and even has room for character development.”
- “Great character development.”
- “The voice acting was well done too, though similarly with There Came an Echo, the character development was not endearing, focused too much on antagonistic dialogue rather than meaningful trait building.”
- “This game has a ton of personality, is meta AF, and does pretty much everything right in terms of storytelling and character design, but just playing a keyboard dancing/rhythm game as a way to fight monsters and cast spells is innovative enough.”
- “The voice acting and character design are well done for a game of this scope, but in my opinion that time could have been better spent improving the core game loop.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express a mix of nostalgia and frustration regarding the game's emotional impact. While some are drawn back by memorable music and characters, many feel that the emotional weight is undermined by abrupt tonal shifts and a lack of character development, leading to a disconnect between the game's intentions and player engagement.
- “Remembered a song from this game and decided to give it another play after not touching it for 10 years.”
- “So maybe that's my gripe -- the game always made me feel like I wasn't doing what I should be doing.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
33%
The game's stability is mixed; while some users report no glitches or crashes, others experience frequent crashes when alt-tabbing and encounter various audio issues, indicating a need for improvement in this area.
- “I had no glitches of any sort, and it never crashed on me.”
- “The game runs smoothly without any hiccups, providing a seamless experience.”
- “I appreciate how stable the game is; it allows me to focus on gameplay without worrying about technical issues.”
- “The game does, however, get a huge minus for being very buggy. I can understand not liking alt-tabbing very much, but the game crashes often when it loses focus, so no multitasking allowed. Not to mention, there are some audio issues here and there.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
50%
The game delivers smooth performance consistently, particularly optimized for Xbox 360 controllers, which may lead to a less favorable experience for players using a keyboard.
- “Smooth performance at all times.”
- “The game is more optimized for Xbox 360 controllers, so buyers beware if you only use a keyboard.”
- “This means the game is more optimized for Xbox 360 controllers, so buyers beware if you only use keyboard.”