Echo Isle Review
I’m all for indie releases taking heavy inspiration from an existing game. After all, who doesn’t want more of a good thing. But Echo Isle is a weird one, essentially using The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening as a base and chopping off almost all of the meat from it. What you’re left with is an overly abridged adventure that ends before it even begins.
Echo Isle takes place on a small island that was once protected by the lighthouse at its peak. But the light has now gone dim, with monsters roaming the land. You play as Aster, an Astral Knight sent down by the gods to restore power to the lighthouse and protect the people of the island.
That’s basically all you’ll get for the entire story, even up until the very end (there’s one “twist” that’s incredibly predictable.) See, Echo Isle is intentionally designed to be a short game. However, short in this case means under an hour, leaving absolutely no time for characters or story.
It also means that there’s no time for interesting gameplay mechanics or puzzles either. At its core, Echo Isle plays similarly to Link’s Awakening and other classic Zelda games. You can mash attack to swing your sword, and you pick up a few familiar items like a bow and bombs.
Everything here is functional and not a whole lot more. You jump from one short dungeon to the next, travelling across an island that’s only 25 screens in total. What few secrets there are can’t be hidden well, since there’s simply no space for that.
Echo Isle Review – Final Thoughts
Due to being so cut down, I have a hard time saying a whole lot more about Echo Isle. It’s presented well (outside of the enemy hit sounds being completely out of place) and there are the bones for a decent Zelda-style adventure, but is far too short to leave a lasting impression.
If you’re after a nostalgic time you’d be better off playing Link’s Awakening again, or trying out a more substantial indie offering like Blossom Tales.
A copy of Echo Isle on PC was provided for this review.
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