Echoes of Aincrad

About Echoes of Aincrad

Echoes of Aincrad is a single player role playing game. It was developed by Game Studio Inc. and was released on July 10, 2026. It received neutral reviews from players.

Includes: Pre-Order Bonus - Weapon Pack: Proto-Elucidator Series: 6 Weapon Types + Shield 6 Weapon Blueprints A set of 6 weapon types inspired by the prototype of the Elucidator, the signature weapon of the Black Swordsman, providing an advantage in the early stages of the game.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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Reviews

53%Audience ScoreBased on 2,398 reviews

story305 positive mentions

optimization36 negative mentions

Enjoyable combat system with distinct weapon types and skills that add depth to gameplay.
Beautiful and well-designed world visually capturing the essence of Aincrad and Sword Art Online.
Story offers a different perspective on the Aincrad arc with likable characters and strong voice acting.
Customization options include character creation and equipment transmog system allowing personalization.
The game captures the atmosphere and immersion of SAO more than previous games.
The Death Game Mode adds tension and challenge for those seeking it.
Combat is fast, responsive, and rewarding once mastered.

Game world feels empty and lifeless outside of towns; limited interaction with NPCs or other players.
Exploration is heavily restricted to mission zones with invisible barriers preventing free roam.
Missions and dungeons are repetitive with reused layouts, limited enemy variety, and many fetch quests.
Protagonist is a silent character with minimal expression or meaningful dialogue choices, reducing player agency and immersion.
Some bosses and enemies use aggressive move spam and spawn mechanics leading to frustrating stun-locks.
High price point unjustified given the amount of content; Death Game Mode locked behind DLC or game completion.
Many design flaws including long, tedious map navigation and limited quality of life features like changing gear only in towns.
Story is incomplete with many introduced characters disappearing or unresolved plot points; game ends abruptly.
Combat can be clunky at times with awkward animations and inconsistent mechanics.
Technical issues include frequent crashes, bugs, and performance hiccups on some systems.

story
2,570 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12% positive mentions, 83% neutral mentions, 5% negative mentions
The story of this game presents a parallel narrative to the original Sword Art Online Aincrad arc, focusing on a new protagonist and their companions rather than the main anime characters, which some find refreshing while others feel detached from their own character. However, the storytelling is frequently criticized for being disjointed, incomplete, and linear, with many plot threads left unresolved and limited player agency due to a silent protagonist, leading to low emotional engagement. Exploration and quest design further hamper immersion, as the game restricts players to mission-specific zones without true open-world freedom, making the gameplay feel repetitive and the world lifeless despite decent combat and some engaging moments in the narrative.
- “The story is most certainly the strongest part of the game. As a SAO fan, I found the story really enjoyable and engaging. The characters felt distinct and unique, though a bit lacking in character development. From how the game ended, it seems they want to expand on the characters more in the future. This doesn't bother me as I'm used to slow character development stories. I think there is definite potential for this new gameverse and hope Bandai keeps this story going through DLCs or sequels. The game definitely captures the SAO world feeling from the light novels and parts of the anime. While the world can feel empty due to the lack of NPCs, I personally chalk that up to many NPC players being afraid of dying early on, so they stayed in towns. I'm hoping for more additions eventually or in a sequel. I would rate this game a 6.5/10, just above average, which I think is perfectly fine. The story carried the game for me personally and I sunk a huge number of hours into it and only just started post-game content. I don't regret it and hope we get more.”
- “This game is quite literally the exact same setting as the original anime: a death game in a sky castle with 100 floors. The most we explore in the entire story is 2 floors. There's reason to believe more floors will be added eventually, as traveling to a different floor for the next part of the main storyline's quest is teased in an in-game cutscene. However, as of now, it's unclear whether this will actually happen. The story really picks up after the first floor, where the actual plot begins and becomes interesting. The story leaves things in a place that makes a sequel very possible, and I hope it does get one because I had fun playing. The game is good as it is now, and if the sequel takes player feedback into account (open world, co-op, monster variety, etc.), then it could become a successful multi-sequel game. The story is faithful to the lore, and exploring Aincrad with your own character was something I've wanted for years.”
- “The story shines the most in this game and is surprisingly solid, with mostly endearing characters. The cast overall is enjoyable, although there are moments where the story could have slowed down to give them more room. The silent protagonist and very limited dialogue choices can make story moments awkward, but the gameplay and combat remain engaging. The story is good for the most part, and the characters are likable even with some changes due to pacing. The story offers a fresh take on Aincrad's first two floors from a different perspective, focusing primarily on Iori's story while the player is more of an observer. The game explores themes like fear, isolation, harassment, social breakdown, and survival in the death game maturely and compassionately. If you're a SAO fan or enjoy story-driven action RPGs, this is an absolute treat.”
- “The story is not finished. You can only explore the world by going on quests, which restricts exploration and the game teleports you back if you leave mission areas, making the world feel empty and disconnected.”
- “Your character has no meaningful influence on the story and feels like a silent background character. The story often feels like you're a tag-along to other characters, particularly iori, and many plot threads are introduced but never properly addressed.”
- “The quest design is repetitive and tedious, consisting mostly of running through preset mission zones fighting similar enemies and bosses repeatedly, with side quests offering little meaningful content, making the story and exploration feel like a chore.”
gameplay
648 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19% positive mentions, 66% neutral mentions, 15% negative mentions
The gameplay offers a mixed experience: while the combat is generally smooth, fun, and incorporates satisfying souls-like elements with engaging mechanics like dodging, parrying, and the partner switch system, it suffers from extreme repetitiveness, shallow RPG mechanics, limited enemy variety, and linear, restrictive quest design. Many players find the core gameplay loop tedious and monotonous, with little variation or meaningful exploration, and some frustrating mechanics and technical issues further detract from the experience. Nonetheless, fans of the Sword Art Online franchise may appreciate the faithful aesthetics and some combat elements, but for others, the gameplay lacks depth, polish, and long-term engagement.
- “The game captures the atmosphere of Aincrad incredibly well, and its Soulslike-inspired gameplay provides a satisfying challenge.”
- “The gameplay and combat are really smooth and enjoyable, with the combat being flashy and fun once you get into the flow; mechanics are easy to understand, making it an exact action RPG experience expected.”
- “There is a satisfying combat loop with a mix of parry, dodge, and switch mechanics, and the equipment system with modifications adds interesting customization, although the gameplay loop is somewhat repetitive but still enjoyable.”
- “The gameplay loop ultimately ends up very repetitive, and the boss fights are between anti-climactic and frustrating due to poor visibility of mechanics.”
- “The gameplay loop is horrible. Between the bugs, questionable design choices, inconsistent performance, repetitive gameplay loop, and lack of basic quality-of-life features, it's hard not to feel like this needed several more months in development.”
- “Extremely repetitive gameplay: missions quickly become a cycle of fighting the same enemies, revisiting the same areas, and completing nearly identical objectives with minimal variation.”
graphics
298 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46% positive mentions, 50% neutral mentions, 4% negative mentions
The graphics in this game are widely praised for their beautiful, anime-style visuals that effectively capture the Sword Art Online aesthetic, with detailed environments, character designs, and smooth animations elevating the immersion. However, users note occasional graphical glitches, limited graphics settings, and performance issues on various hardware, along with some areas feeling visually repetitive or empty. Overall, the graphics are considered a standout feature and a significant improvement over previous titles, though not without flaws and optimization challenges.
- “The visuals are stunning, definitely the prettiest SAO has ever been; the world, environments, models, and ambience are spot-on. There may be some funky shadows and light maps on models that can be janky but overall it is really good.”
- “Gorgeous visuals, lighting, and attention to detail everywhere.”
- “The graphics are phenomenal, the story is incredible, and the quests are excellent.”
- “The game runs relatively okay on modern hardware but performance did drop significantly when there were a lot of attacks happening on screen; the game gives you very little in terms of graphics settings and does not provide specific resolution scaling options, instead opting for a cryptic TSR anti-aliasing amount setting.”
- “Besides crashes, there are reports of stuttering, texture and vegetation pop-in, and various graphical issues.”
- “On top of that: certain weapons feel very weak with major graphics bugs when loading into the first main area after the prologue, and broken collision on basic objects, such as walking straight through chairs in the inn.”
optimization
161 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20% positive mentions, 58% neutral mentions, 22% negative mentions
Optimization for the game is highly inconsistent, with many users reporting frequent stuttering, frame drops, crashes, and poor CPU utilization even on mid to high-end systems. While some players experience stable and smooth performance, others encounter significant lag and technical issues, especially in later areas or when many enemies are on screen. Overall, the game feels under-optimized and buggy, requiring several patches to improve stability and performance.
- “So far stable and high framerates, no stuttering and no crashes.”
- “The combat is smooth and the game is actually optimized really well.”
- “Performance has been excellent on my rog strix laptop at max settings.”
- “The game is very good and beautiful, but even on the lowest settings the optimization is terrible; the combat is clunky, bosses and NPCs lag and have bugs.”
- “The game runs relatively okay on modern hardware but performance drops significantly when many attacks happen on screen. It offers very few graphics settings and lacks specific resolution scaling options, opting instead for a confusing TSR anti-aliasing setting.”
- “The game is horribly optimized, and they probably limited exploration for this reason.”
grinding
137 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
2% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 98% negative mentions
Grinding in the game is widely described as repetitive and tedious, with frequent encounters against the same enemies and little variation in loot or exploration rewards. While some fans of SAO and grind-heavy RPGs may appreciate the extensive leveling and customization, many find the world empty, progression unrewarding due to level-scaling, and the gameplay loop monotonous. Overall, grinding feels like a slog for those not already committed to its anime-inspired grind-focused experience.
- “Playing on normal mode, I reached the end credits at level 71 with no grinding.”
- “It is a good game besides the fact there's no free roam for fighting bosses, so like no grinding. That's the only flaw in my opinion.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “Having played tons of MMORPGs, I can say for certain that they managed to get all the negatives of an MMO without any of the upsides—you can spend hours running around mostly empty maps opening chests with actual trash in them while grinding the same five enemies.”
- “Everything scales to your level so grinding is completely pointless; I fought a boss that was 20 levels above me and there's no difference from anything else. I felt the same with every other boss. Also, when you level up everything changes to your level so you can never be stronger.”
- “The gameplay loop: the game gets tedious fast. Most of your playtime you will be walking around blindly trying to find the way to the mission, killing the same 3 types of enemies over and over again. Once you get to the mission objective, you fight a boss or enter a dungeon with the same types of enemies, rinse and repeat.”
music
71 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30% positive mentions, 66% neutral mentions, 4% negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for fitting the atmosphere, enhancing boss fights, and complementing the immersive environments with a thematic, often subtle soundtrack. However, some players find the music bland, forgettable, or lacking iconic anime tracks, and note occasional silence during exploration that detracts from the experience. Overall, while the soundtrack supports the game's mood well, it lacks memorable or dramatic moments for many players.
- “Music is wonderful, and the English voice acting for the release is phenomenal.”
- “The music ties in well with the environments and boss fights you encounter, especially the fights in the sanctuaries.”
- “Amazing scenery, atmospheric music, and the death game mode is an extra level of thrill and stress.”
- “Basically all forgettable except for the Aimer song, especially when it plays for the final boss.”
- “There is music, it is just too bland, does not help the atmosphere at all.”
- “The game also lacks a soundtrack that inspires you to play while trekking through quests, which makes the already lifeless game feel even more lifeless.”
monetization
53 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
4% positive mentions, 2% neutral mentions, 94% negative mentions
Reviews overwhelmingly criticize the monetization of this Sword Art Online game as a blatant cash grab, citing its high full-price tag despite minimal content, locked core features behind difficult conditions or expensive editions, and repetitive enemy summons designed to frustrate. Many players feel the game was rushed and lacks meaningful depth or exploration, with misleading advertising and uninspired design aimed primarily at exploiting the franchise's fanbase. Although free from microtransactions, the overall approach to monetization is seen as greedy, disrespectful, and undermining the series' core appeal.
- “No ridiculous monetization, microtransactions, or battle passes in a single-player game, unlike previous titles.”
- “I was happy to find that, unlike the last three SAO games, this one did not have microtransactions and still cost full price.”
- “Overall, this game is definitely not worth the $70 or even $20 and feels like an unfinished cash grab by Bandai Namco since they know we've all been wanting to play in the world of Aincrad with our own character and not as Kirito.”
- “Locking the franchise's defining premise behind either a full playthrough or a more expensive edition is an incredibly scummy monetization tactic.”
- “"Honestly do not buy deluxe or ultimate edition neither of it is worth the price tag (deluxe $130, ultimate $150 AUD). Advertising your death mode, which is also a big core of the show's identity, behind pre-orders has got to be the most scummy and I have not even slightly surprised it's happened."”
- “Last but not least, the controversy around death mode being locked behind completing the game on standard difficulty is, in my opinion, utter disrespect and simply a cash grab by Bandai Namco.”
atmosphere
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
54% positive mentions, 39% neutral mentions, 7% negative mentions
The game excels at capturing the immersive and visually stunning atmosphere of Aincrad, with detailed world design, atmospheric music, and environments that strongly evoke the feeling of the series. While some note occasional pacing issues and a lack of NPCs that dampen the world’s vibrancy, the overall ambiance, combined with challenging gameplay and faithful lore representation, makes the experience compelling and evocative for fans.
- “The game captures the atmosphere of Aincrad incredibly well and its Soulslike-inspired gameplay provides a satisfying challenge.”
- “It genuinely feels like you’re living inside the anime, and that immersive atmosphere alone made my heart so happy.”
- “Visually, I think this is the best game in the series. The world is incredibly detailed, beautiful, and a feast for the eyes ranging from bustling cities and serene meadows to atmospheric, challenging vertical dungeons.”
- “Ghost town atmosphere: for a game simulating an MMO, the world feels completely devoid of NPCs.”
- “Encounters with hostile players, or even simply having to avoid them, could have reinforced the atmosphere and made Aincrad feel far more dangerous.”
- “There is music, it is just too bland, does not help the atmosphere at all.”
stability
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 95% negative mentions
The game suffers from widespread stability issues including frequent crashes, freezes, and numerous bugs affecting combat mechanics, AI behavior, animations, and visuals. While some players find these glitches frustrating and game-breaking, others consider them tolerable given the recent launch. Overall, the experience feels unpolished and unreliable, especially at its price point, with stability significantly hindering enjoyment.
- “I use my Legion Go 2 and it runs great with some small graphic setting changes.”
- “The game runs great and combat is fun, with a beautiful world to explore.”
- “The game is extremely buggy with dozens of crashes; at 6.4 hours of playtime, I experienced 23 crashes including 4 full system crashes, resulting in nearly 2 hours of lost gameplay.”
- “There are too many bugs to play this game on death mode; I died three times due to bugs or glitches, making the mode frustrating and cheap.”
- “Multiple glitches include sliding characters, text running off the screen, floating trees, unlit torches, areas where you can see under the map, and frequent crashes, indicating a lack of quality assurance.”
humor
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
94% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 6% negative mentions
The humor in the game is largely unintentional and derives from its awkward animations, odd enemy behavior, and cringe-worthy cutscenes, which players often find amusing despite the game's shortcomings. Some moments of banter and side quests provide occasional lightheartedness, but overall the humor is a mix of hilarious badness and quirky glitches rather than polished comedy.
- “The cutscenes are sometimes just downright hilarious lol but usually it's fine, and I'm genuinely interested in progressing the story to see what happens next.”
- “Banter between party members can be funny at times.”
- “The player character's animations are hilarious at times.”
- “First off, I absolutely love Sword Art Online and the best they have ever made for it was SAO Fatal Bullet hands down, but this feels like an unfinished painting. Like, the idea is there, the script is there, but they dropped the ball so hard it's not funny.”
- “And about that putting treasures at the corner of the map so I have to walk 3 km back and do parkour to it—it's not funny or entertaining at all since I know it's there.”
emotional
31 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
90% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 10% negative mentions
Reviews of the game's emotional aspect are mixed, with some praising heartfelt character moments and a touching storyline that fosters player immersion, while others criticize weak storytelling, a silent protagonist, and limited emotional engagement due to sparse cutscenes and repetitive content. Though there are moments of genuine emotional impact, many feel the game falls short in building strong attachments or delivering a consistently compelling narrative.
- “The relationships are wholesome, characters are worth caring about, and I appreciate the absence of another harem structure.”
- “Following an original cast alongside familiar elements, it balances exciting adventures with quieter, emotional moments that made me smile and feel invested.”
- “It's not flawless, but the magic, beauty, emotional moments, and faithful recreation of Aincrad made it incredibly special to me.”
- “The entire prologue is a boring slog, moving from dull story beats to fighting a bunch of harmless enemies repeatedly.”
- “If JRPGs keep releasing 'unfinished' games with soulless and boring stories and main characters, the genre will suffer.”
- “This game is absolute trash, featuring a completely terrible and boring story, with only three types of mobs reused throughout the entire game.”
character development
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27% positive mentions, 59% neutral mentions, 14% negative mentions
Character development in the game is generally seen as limited or shallow, with many players noting a lack of meaningful growth or differentiation among characters. While some fans appreciate the distinctiveness of characters and anticipate further development in future installments, others criticize the simplistic and repetitive character arcs. Additionally, player customization and character design are frequently described as uninspired and lacking depth, detracting from overall engagement.
- “The story is most certainly the strongest part of the game. As a Sword Art Online fan, I found the story really enjoyable and engaging. The characters felt distinct and unique, though they did lack character development. From how the game ended, I can see they want to expand on the characters more in the future. This does not really bother me as I am used to slow character development stories, being a fan of the Legend of Heroes: Trails series where it sometimes takes four games to get full character development. That may be why I'm more patient with this game's cast.”
- “The characters from the anime being in the game in one shape or another was great. Getting to fight alongside Argo, who had a brief appearance in the anime, and seeing her more with added character development was cool.”
- “However, for me, that was never enough to take away from the overall experience because the story, world-building, and character development continually pulled me back in.”
- “Whoever designed this has no respect for players' time, narrative cohesion, or character development.”
- “There is virtually no character development for any of the cast, and what little is there is the same for every character, with all the plot revolving around 'I am scared and need to push forward anyways.'”
- “You learn about some characters you never saw, but then are told they died and you can't really feel anything about it because there was never any character development done for them.”
replayability
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18% positive mentions, 64% neutral mentions, 18% negative mentions
Replayability in the game is widely seen as limited or nonexistent due to restricted weapon classes, repetitive grinding, and lack of open-world exploration, making character builds feel less personalized and the overall experience less engaging after the first playthrough. Some praise elements like the challenging death mode and replayable quests, but these are insufficient to overcome core issues impacting long-term replay value. Overall, the game struggles to offer meaningful replayability, especially compared to other RPGs.
- “They would add depth, replayability, and help make Aincrad feel like the immersive MMORPG that so many SAO fans have dreamed of experiencing.”
- “Death mode is scary hard though, and I think that is the only saving grace the game has for any replayability.”
- “Replayable quests is a nice feature.”
- “By restricting the available weapon classes so heavily, *Echoes of Aincrad* loses much of that freedom and replayability, making character builds feel far less personal than fans expected from an Aincrad game.”
- “Update, just got to endgame, it's just more grinding, 0 replayability.”
- “The fact that it's not an open world means, once you've finished, there is only so much replayability that exists.”