I dont write reviews much anymore, it is time consuming. Its also not worth wasting it for 99% games out there. Not that they are all bad, but the times I tend to remember any of them on next day after finishing are long gone. Or so I thought...
Echo is a state of art game, both in its level design and gameplay style. Everything is unique here, environment/graphics/level design, story and gameplay. Last time I was in such awe from level design was in 90's when I played Realms of the Haunting and first Tomb Raider. Indeed one of the later levels, a tomb, reminded me RotH in its style and atmosphere.
Echo is a game that push your intelligence and senses to the peak, this is not a game with dumb recycled plot or gameplay in fact regarding story you only participate in it to let your own imagination fly, you will not completely understand it but strangely it is not a problem in this case. Echo is game for intellectuals, people who are demanding rather than simple minded. People who stopped playing games 10y ago because they feel they are all the same and silly and stupid and they just dont bring enough on the table anymore.
I am not going to spoil anything and for that reason I cannot even speak too much about gameplay as all is interconnected. If you have already learn about it elsewhere you ruined your in-game discovery experience. Thus I will only say in vague terms that this is a sci-fi(and this time sci-fi have its true meaning) 3rd person semi-shooter with semi-stealth mechanics that *may* resemble you in bits of Dead Space with stealth included, but with story/gameplay ideas that would(in its originality) rival best sci-fi movies like Matrix, Inception, Space Odyssey and Lucy. Not that it have anything to do with them. That is all you need to know though. 3D slow-thinking-action game with stealth mechanics lite and upgradeable gun(number of shot charges), not a strategy game, not RPG, not FPS, and not a point-click Adventure. Thats it.
Echo is a game whose level design is so huge, wide open and yet linear enough for you not to get lost its almost unbelievable how they achieved this. Last time I had a feel of any open level design without bogging down into another GTA/map clone was with first Far Cry and then never again. But here things went further, at times it seems you could literally go in multiple ways infinitely! And yet still arrive in same destination. It is something to be seen to understand.
I always..(uh.. had a meal in between and completely forgot what I wanted to write here, sorry)
Unfortunately many games try to be unique for the sake of it but feel empty. Some games have great potential but fail too much, others have all-around solid elements and production values but you wont remember them next day, most games are rehash of something(better) you played very long ago and couple of them are outright stupid.
So it is extremely deceiving and difficult for most even experienced reviewers to spot real gem, something that really have a substance and will be remembered for years(this last phrase is very important because thats what define masterpiece). You can have a game that have certain flaws in gameplay or elsewhere of it and still be an essential masterpiece that enrich your soul unlike any other. Thats why, I judge games subjectively by *overall value* they gave me, am I going to remember it for rest of my life or not? Was there something truly special without becoming too annoying perhaps(because courageous games risk that a lot especially on limited budget)? Although not still there, I say Echo could, in a way, in some areas rival such as original Thief in terms of originality and greatness, certainly more so than its recent reboot. So you tell me, if purely mechanically game may be around 7/10, should it get such score when we have something this unique here? Not in my book, I should know better. This is 10/10 game getting "only" 9/10 from me(with huge difficulty) to be more reasonable towards people.
What is typical in my experience is that you dont realize what you play, what you have in hands before almost end of game. It tend to go from being hooked, discovery hunger kicks in, acknowledging somewhere in the middle of it that this is "not so bad for a budget indie title", starting panicking in later stages about "this is actually amazing", ending the game with "what the hell I just played", having bad sleep first night as it surprisingly stick to your memory and waking up next day around midday, realizing someone kicked your ass yesterday in terms of "v-a-l-u-e" and you are never going to forget this, putting the game in your mind shelf next to your best titles.
Look, I finished over thousand games. This was my 1053th precisely. I am not saying that to praise myself, but for you to understand that when you have certain scope of experiences, you gain ability to spot what is truly unique on the market. And I, from my experience, am telling you, this is one such game(with Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice being another - what a year). Thats why it doesnt matter if it have some repetitive elements, or sometimes feel "too much" with certain gameplay mechanics. Clearly it was never that much or I wouldnt complete it and now that I did, it wont even scratch surface of overall positive opinions I had with it. Because there is so much more to be had. Its only fault will be that your "Standard Meter" will go up - significantly. Good luck enjoying games from then on.