Echoes of Aincrad: The Sword Art Online game we wanted!

Echoes of Aincrad: Sword Art Online like you've never seen it!

If you love the world of Sword Art Online, you were surely waiting for our review of Echoes of Aincrad, which we tested on PlayStation 5 in anticipation of its July 10th release date, when it will also arrive on PC and Xbox. Developed by Bandai Namco, Echoes of Aincrad offers an innovative perspective on the boundless world of Sword Art Online. For those unfamiliar, SAO is a celebrated and beloved work by Reki Kawahara, which originated as a light novel and successfully transitioned to manga, anime, and video games, where it has had several adaptations, but never a truly satisfying installment. It's 2022, and the world of video games is shaken by the release of Sword Art Online, an MMORPG where gamers, thanks to the special NerveGear virtual reality helmet, truly "enter" the game and experience extremely realistic and believable adventures. The problem is that, with a surprise announcement, SAO's creator reveals that no one can log out of the game, because taking off the helmet would mean having their brain completely fried. The only way to return to one's life is to kill the final boss, located on the hundredth floor of Aincrad castle, with the added fact that if you fail, a game over in the game would equate to death in real life – talk about permadeath!

We've been accustomed to following the plots of Sword Art Online through the eyes of the story's protagonists, like Kirito and Asuna, but Echoes of Aincrad allows us to create a character from scratch and experience the adventure from another perspective, while still encountering several faces familiar to the general public during our playthroughs. The gameplay structure is that of a third-person action RPG, made up of exploration and combat, with a lot of attention to managing our equipment. The plot is told through some cinematics and a fair number of dialogues, with our protagonist able to give some answers to others' questions, but embodying the classic example of a "mute" hero in the style of The Legend of Zelda. During the prologue, we'll find ourselves playing the Sword Art Online beta, leading up to the highly anticipated day one. Once logged into the full version of the game, we'll discover, along with over 10,000 users, the evil plan of its creator and the impossibility of logging out of the game. At this point, along with a handful of companions, we'll begin our ascent to the hundredth floor, but be aware that Echoes of Aincrad covers the narrative arcs concerning the first two floors; however, don't expect to meticulously follow what was seen in the manga and anime. The narrative choice of having an original character (you'll have to finish the prologue to fully use the editor) proves to be a winning one and offers us a fresh perspective and the opportunity to experience original storylines, albeit always artfully inserted into the canonical narrative arc.

Echoes of Aincrad: plot and game world

The story takes a while to get going and, even as time passes, is often excessively diluted by the length of the missions. The atmosphere of Sword Art Online is carefully rendered, and our protagonists talk among themselves about NPCs, quests, stats, and so on, exactly as any gamer would with their friends during an MMORPG session. You receive main or secondary missions, set off with one of your companions, reach a given objective, and return to one of the available cities, where you can check your loot and perform other enhancement operations. Within cities, you can move either by classic walking or by teleportation, set to four specific locations: the blacksmith, the item shop, our room in the inn, and the hub from which you access missions. Blacksmiths and shops are part of the buying, selling, and crafting system linked to the loot we can recover during missions, from what we find in the territory, in treasure chests, and, of course, in enemy corpses.

The available weapons are divided into six categories, including swords of various sizes, axes, and maces. Each of these allows for a different combat style, and in specific cases, we can also equip a shield. At blacksmiths, in addition to normal buying and selling, we can also synthesize two weapons so that one receives special abilities from the other, not to mention that we can sacrifice an offensive tool to obtain materials and enhance another. There's a lot of variety, and everyone will be able to find the right style to combine with careful use of items, useful for fighting, healing, and completing some very simple environmental puzzles, such as using a fire stone to burn thorns and reach a hidden chest. Note that you cannot change equipment during missions; you must always stop in a city to do so.

The gameplay of Echoes of Aincrad

Between exploration and dungeons, you'll find a large number of monsters, from the weakest to formidable bosses, passing through frequent minibosses that could give you a hard time, especially in crowded situations. Once an enemy has seen you, you can try to flee, but know that, almost always, it will continue to pursue you relentlessly. The controller is mapped to allow you to have everything under control, between normal or strong attacks, without forgetting special abilities that will inflict a lot of damage but consume ability points. In addition to the ability points indicator, we will also have the stamina indicator. It will be important not to consume it too quickly, because at that point we will be able to do almost nothing for a short time. Movements like sprinting, parrying, and dodging consume stamina, and running out means being almost defenseless and at the mercy of the enemy, keeping in mind that parrying and dodging with the right timing is one of the keys to victory.

It's crucial to manage our companion effectively, starting with the ability to switch between Exchange Mode and Free Mode, which will determine their artificial intelligence. The first ensures that the companion attacks our same target, so that it divides its attention between both, an excellent solution for tackling the toughest bosses, especially if we are in difficulty and need to catch our breath. The second leaves our partner free to fight whoever they want, an excellent choice when facing large groups of monsters. At any time, we can switch between the two modes, giving combat an interesting strategic vein. Furthermore, each selectable companion has support and attack abilities, both truly effective for overcoming the most difficult opponents. To use them, we will have to fill specific indicators thanks to the hits we inflict on antagonists. Combining all this, the combat system proves to be interesting and well-designed, capable of exploiting multiple factors to create an action experience that does not disappoint. Naturally, you can choose one of the four available difficulty levels, and you will have to learn to manage the checkpoints scattered throughout the world that allow you to reveal parts of the map and refuel in anticipation of the next battles, even if this will respawn the monsters you have already defeated, excluding bosses. The system is a descendant of soulslikes, but don't worry: Echoes of Aincrad has mechanics that adapt well to any type of gamer, depending on how you manage the options. Once you finish the game, you will have access to a permadeath mode, to better get into the spirit of Sword Art Online.

Echoes of Aincrad: pros, cons, and final conclusions

Of course, not all that glitters is gold, and the gameplay suffers from a certain imbalance in favor of combat, where the lack of enemy variety, often repeated, is noticeable. Furthermore, the environments, both in cities and outside the walls and in dungeons, offer very few points of interest, except for some places where we can read short texts dedicated to the game's lore. The maps are large, but you'll simply find monsters and chests to open, while cities are overflowing with characters with whom you cannot interact, a bit of an own goal for a title that needs to recreate the atmosphere of an MMORPG. It's a shame, because the artistic direction of Echoes of Aincrad faithfully reflects the visual imagery that we have associated with the Sword Art Online brand for years. The graphical rendering is decent without particular peaks, with a vibrant palette and an almost always stable frame rate. Landscapes and bosses are the most satisfying elements, while in cities, some artifacts are noticeable that try to lighten the graphics engine, such as pop-ups or elements that disappear based on our distance. You can choose between graphics and performance modes, but honestly, I didn't notice any particular differences. The sound compartment is good, with pleasant music accompanying us throughout our journey. As often happens, the Japanese dubbing wins over the English one, while all texts are translated into Italian.

Echoes of Aincrad will not go down in video game history, but it has the merit of being a good title and the best video game representation dedicated to Sword Art Online. Technically valid, with a satisfying combat system and derivative but functional growth and crafting systems, Echoes of Aincrad suffers from a lack of content, with a somewhat barren world and a plot that struggles to take off. The fact remains that fans of the saga have the unique opportunity to don the NerveGear and dive firsthand into the adventures born from the mind of Reki Kawahara! If you love SAO, you cannot miss Echoes of Aincrad!