The Sword Art Online franchise has come full circle with Echoes of Aincrad. Game Studio is working on an action role-playing game that brings the fictional video game at the heart of the series to life. It’s a bit meta, but it’s also a dream for the fans of the anime and web novel.
They’ll experience events in the series, but more importantly, they’ll explore the world that they glimpsed in each episode. It’s akin to Star Wars fans being able to explore a galaxy far, far away. What’s different from past Sword Art Online projects is that players aren’t the main character.
The story so far
They take on the role of a Beta player who ends up trapped along with 10,000 others in the virtual reality massively multiplayer online game. The creator, Akihiko Kayaba, won’t let them remove their NerveGear VR helmets; if they do, a microwave in the device will fry their brains. To escape, the players will have to beat the game, but there’s another caveat. If they die in Sword Art Online, they die in real life.
In Echoes of Aincrad, players don’t take on the role of Kirito, the series protagonist, but rather, they make their own character who teams up with friends and meets familiar Sword Art Online faces. Game Studio re-creates the game in the fictional Beta and runs players through the shocking announcement that sends the community in a panic.
All the while, the team painstakingly turns the anime images and concepts into a working game. The inventory screen is the same as the anime. Players even run across situations that happen in each episode so that those who have watched the anime know what to expect in certain moments.
Combat and questing
Although Echoes of Aincrad turns Sword Art Online into a video game, it doesn’t capture the anime’s full breadth. The game feels like an MMO with characters talking to each other as if they were in a party and living in this gamified world, but the campaign mainly focuses on questing and battling enemies throughout the world. Players choose one of five characters to partner up with as they explore zones and open up safe areas.
Players can command buddies to team up with them in a Switch Mode or have them act independently via a Free Mode. The Free Mode makes them more effective but also exhausts them more. The partner concept is also incorporated into combination attacks, where the protagonist can call on them to perform a powerful attack or support them with a heal or power-up.
As for the rest of the combat, it feels like an easier version of a Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Players use the right bumper and right trigger for light and heavy attacks. The left bumper is for blocking, while the left trigger opens up skills and partner actions. Players have to wait for these moves to recharge over time. In addition, players who rest at a Safe Area will have enemies reset in a zone.
As they venture through dungeons, which aren’t well-designed and feel monotonous, they’ll pick up items, which can be used for crafting better armour and weapons. The gameplay feels more like the standard RPG, but what will carry Echoes of Aincrad is how Game Studio brings the world to life, and how the team weaves the series’ storytelling beats, while still making the efforts of a side character to the show feel meaningful.
Echoes of Aincrad is scheduled for release on July 10 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S. – Bay Area News Group/TNS
