Fading Echo is an emotional, comic-book-inspired adventure that uses inventive mechanics to face its puzzles and combat to varying degrees of success.
The nature of action-adventure games lies in how their gameplay mechanics increase in complexity the more you play. Story, on the other hand, can be relegated to the background. After all, if a game feels great to play, much can be forgiven. Fortunately, in the case of Fading Echo, it does both of these things relatively well. While it sins of going overboard at times, it is a fair journey that does what it sets out to do.
One Protagonist To Rule Them All
Living long under the shadow of The Legend of Zelda, to see various games in the genre break out is refreshing. Fading Echo has several solid concepts going for it, and their originality is what makes it a worthy game. First, it’s emotional storytelling and a stellar cast. Second, its punchy comic book art style. Lastly, its protagonist’s ability to turn into a blob of water to face both puzzles and combat. While it breaks new ground in some regards, it is just fine in others. Outside certain particularly memorable scenes, it hints at greatness without fully reaching it.
Let’s start with the highlights. Its protagonist is a young, brash, and talented young woman called One. Fading Echo starts as she trains with her warrior mother. A brief moment shows that she also mourns the loss of her father. With the character’s background out of the way, she is quickly thrust into a serviceable plot to stop a corruption spreading through the land. Jumping through several alternate dimensions to restore the world, she meets a small but likable cast. They inform her of the history in the arid setting the game unfolds.
Save Your World
Because of its comic-book inspirations, Fading Echo moves fast. Every cutscene is short but shocking. One of the first moments when she travels to other dimensions reminds me of Doctor Strange’s psychedelic Open Your Mind scene. It’s that good. Propelled by a well-known cast with the likes of Laura Bailey and Matthew Mercer, Samantha Beart does an exceptional job at performing the warm and witty One. These fast-moving plot points understandably leave the starry-eyed protagonist befuddled. Listening to her break down and build herself back up in real time is fascinating. That alone warrants the price of entry.
Then there’s the more traditional quest design that clashes with its deeply inventive gameplay mechanics. After a brief tutorial where you learn how to dash, hit enemies with your staff, and very nonchalantly turn into a blob of water, you make your way into a hub of sorts. From here, there are biomes in the four cardinal directions. All of them utilize the same core concept: reach a higher area to unleash an “aetheric source” that connects back to the hub. One of the most fun activities to do in-game is riding these tubes. Working as water slides, they quickly move across the level once unlocked. But unlocking them is where the real challenge lies.
Puzzles Galore
Taking its parallel reality ideas to heart, many of the puzzles within Fading Echo rely on a straightforward loop: find and drag a small pyramid-shaped piece in blob form to activate a door or mechanism, then move on to the next area. As simple as this may sound, the combination of different elements that affect the blob is where it gets tricky.
Fire, water, toxic waste, and corruption are the four elements available. Each of these gives a special ability to the blob. For example, the toxic waste allows you to jump higher, while fire turns you into steam. That’s not all. By combining these two elements, the blob can light on fire to remove obstacles like vines. This makes for a puzzle-heavy gameplay that the further you go, the more attention you need to pay to how these elements mix and match with each other.
Late-game puzzles are quite challenging. This works great for those who like difficulty. In contrast, because the tutorials are not as clear and there are no hints to speak of, it is more than likely players’ minds that do not think that way might struggle more than others.
Uneven Fights
Combat is too governed by these constraints. And it works, for the most part. Triggering the solidify or burn reactions makes short work of the various types of enemies. From big insects to rock formations, there is a healthy offering of opponents. Yet the more you progress and the game throws everything to the wall, the more its drawbacks come to light. Playing on campaign mode, for instance, shows how unfair the difficulty settings feel.
Every enemy hit reduces a third of One’s life. While the two starting health potions can be restored by fighting even further to incentivize aggression, when there are so many enemies on-screen you can barely see what is happening, it does not help. It goes so overboard in these encounters that even in Easy mode it gets too difficult. Moreover, in the more challenging areas, there are enemies who respawn infinitely until you move a cart from point A to point B. This results in a painfully slow sequence where you have to dodge constantly because defeating them is fruitless.
One does have two abilities that help turn the tide of battle: smashing the ground in blob form and summoning a rising wave. These, alongside a skill tree that is unlocked the more aetheric sources you connect to the hub, aid slightly in combat. Even with these improvements, the combat itself ends up feeling repetitive due to the lack of combo variety. Where the puzzles shine, I found myself frustrated more often than not in combat.
Verdict – Fading Echo
As action adventures go, this is a fair attempt. Learning more about its wondrous and chaotic world through the eyes of a feisty young warrior is intriguing enough. Then again, it does not reach the storytelling highs it aspires to. Bar a few emotional moments brought home by its wonderful cast, most moments will induce either a chuckle or groan depending on your mood.
Not every video game needs to be a roaring beast. Some may leave you captivated by their creative use of an original gameplay mechanic, much like the blob of water ability found here. Others might inadvertently show that some elements do not work as well as others, as the combat in this case. The end result is a commendable experience that punches above its weight, and while it does not land all of them, Fading Echo is still one journey worth embarking on.
Reviewed for Steam. Also available on the Epic Games Store. Coming late 2026 to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series.
A key was provided for the purposes of this review.
Developer: Emeteria
Publisher: New Tales
Release Date: Out now
Pros:
- Water blob movement works great
- Emotional performances throughout
- Comic book aesthetic fits the fast-paced narrative
- Original gameplay mechanic for puzzle and combat used to the fullest
Cons:
- Minor bugs
- Combat is too simplistic
- Lack of hints might leave players puzzled
- Too many enemies at once show lack of gameplay variety
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Good
