I have never been the biggest from soft guy around, I had my ups and downs before actually getting into the groove and I have been hooked on their games since, playing all their games in a production order has actually changed how I see the studio and how i value productions like this.
Echo night 2 is actually a weird game to talk about because it's very much a lot of things at once, at first is a sequel that mostly works like a resomething of the first game, the concept is there and it works in similar ways but most of the game is brand new and actually very good, then it's a king's field filtered through a horror game and it works very well in that regard, it's fresh, it's interesting, it's a great take on a great formula, then as itself is a great technical achievement on a console that I didn't think could achieve this, the textures are amazing and the game runs pretty well considering the console it runs on.
Now that we can talk about the game as itself, the game is simple on paper, bumble around the mansion lighting up every light switch, find items, make dead people happy and reach the end, easy but the game actually structured itself in a very smart way, you can only access a single block of rooms at once and that's it, keeps the game fresh and flowing nicely, the environments are detailed and that's very important given that this game is supposed to be as free to explore as much as the structure makes you do, most of the items have a brief text explaining what they are, it has a lot of nooks and crannies to look into, the overall moment to moment gameplay is great, the puzzles are really good too, give or take some frustrating ones, like a piano puzzle early on; the plot isn't going to make heads blow off but it's decently written and structured, giving you incentives to go on and has a couple of really cool moments because the non chronological nature of the narrative wants you to figure out a lot, but the very cherry of this cake is the atmosphere, it's thick and rich, it makes you immerse in the game and it actually carried a good game into an experience I won't forget for some time, from actually nailed this and I can't wait for the next great experiment from them.
Echo night 2 is actually a weird game to talk about because it's very much a lot of things at once, at first is a sequel that mostly works like a resomething of the first game, the concept is there and it works in similar ways but most of the game is brand new and actually very good, then it's a king's field filtered through a horror game and it works very well in that regard, it's fresh, it's interesting, it's a great take on a great formula, then as itself is a great technical achievement on a console that I didn't think could achieve this, the textures are amazing and the game runs pretty well considering the console it runs on.
Now that we can talk about the game as itself, the game is simple on paper, bumble around the mansion lighting up every light switch, find items, make dead people happy and reach the end, easy but the game actually structured itself in a very smart way, you can only access a single block of rooms at once and that's it, keeps the game fresh and flowing nicely, the environments are detailed and that's very important given that this game is supposed to be as free to explore as much as the structure makes you do, most of the items have a brief text explaining what they are, it has a lot of nooks and crannies to look into, the overall moment to moment gameplay is great, the puzzles are really good too, give or take some frustrating ones, like a piano puzzle early on; the plot isn't going to make heads blow off but it's decently written and structured, giving you incentives to go on and has a couple of really cool moments because the non chronological nature of the narrative wants you to figure out a lot, but the very cherry of this cake is the atmosphere, it's thick and rich, it makes you immerse in the game and it actually carried a good game into an experience I won't forget for some time, from actually nailed this and I can't wait for the next great experiment from them.
This one is probably my fav out of all three games. It improves pretty much all the convoluted stuff the first game has, yet still keeps its sense of humor and strange charm.
got the bad ending :c
probably gonna be replaying this in the future. kinda liked it but not nearly as interesting or cool as the first one.
probably gonna be replaying this in the future. kinda liked it but not nearly as interesting or cool as the first one.
A wonderful farewell to the PSX era of FromSoftware, Echo Night 2 takes the framework of the original while learning and applying sensible lessons. The story is tighter, more focused to the single location the game takes place in. The character relationships are more built out, the motivations more understandable. The structure is more intricate and layered, the game-design more ambitious. The first game gets points for originality though, as Echo Night 2 is very much an iterative sequel.
That requirements for the secret ending are easily missable is frustrating (I missed one at the first opportunity), but I quite like that. There's an unsettling quality to the final shot of the regular ending, but it's not until you get information reserved for the path to the secret ending that you understand why, which is just good, classic From Software storytelling.
Also the Blood Moon from Bloodborne is here. Just another one of those crazy moments that draws a stronger artistic throughline throughout From's catalogue than you'd ever have expected.
That requirements for the secret ending are easily missable is frustrating (I missed one at the first opportunity), but I quite like that. There's an unsettling quality to the final shot of the regular ending, but it's not until you get information reserved for the path to the secret ending that you understand why, which is just good, classic From Software storytelling.
Also the Blood Moon from Bloodborne is here. Just another one of those crazy moments that draws a stronger artistic throughline throughout From's catalogue than you'd ever have expected.
What the hell is going on with the reviews here? I agree with bitterbatterdog, it boggles the mind that people prefer the first game and dropped this one. Both games are worth your time, but Echo Night 2: The Lord of Nightmares takes most of what Echo Night achieved and drastically improves upon it.
The very first thing I noticed upon playing Echo Night 2 was how clearly structured the story was. The first game barely explains how you even end up on a ghost ship or what your connection to the ship is until later. Echo Night 2 on the other hand firmly establishes your motives immediately - finding your girlfriend - then succinctly explains why you go to the mansion the game takes place in. From there the story develops quite naturally and comes to a fairly satisfying conclusion. Some might argue that it's not very "Fromsoft" to have a front-and-centre story, but in the case of a story-driven mystery game I think it only works to its advantage. There's still plenty of discoverable bits of story (the Church is a big one) so, in my opinion, it hasn't lost that Fromsoft charm.
The next very noticeable thing was how much more integrated the mechanics of light and dark are into the gameplay. It was barely a thing in the first game, often completely bypassed by a quick 90 degree turn and a flick of the light switch. In Echo Night 2 you are often forced to play in the dark, avoid aggressive ghosts and find a way of turning the lights on. There are even candles to give you a brief respite from the darkness in choice locations. Not only does all this make the darkness mechanic actually worthwhile and add significant depth to the game, it makes it far more of a horror game than the first one was. There are some genuinely tense moments in this!
Even further, the sequel expands on its initial premise and adds a much increased variety of gameplay. There are segments where you find and use a handheld lamp, segments where you're chased in a similar fashion to Clock Tower and more. You are also not isolated to a single location this time and you can travel (ok, teleport) around a lake to a small selection of different areas. Just to rattle off a few more improvements, we also have full voice acting this time (not just ghosts!) and the graphics have had a minor but noticeable glow up. Even the map is better! All of this stuff serves to prevent monotony in its core formula and it works - the game is about twice as long as the original and it never felt stale.
Of course there are some drawbacks. I agree that a cruise ship is probably more interesting than a manor (honestly the manor in Echo Night 2 is not all that dissimilar to the Spencer Manor) and I personally found puzzles to be less intuitive, occasionally regressing to finding a needle in a haystack. Not to mention you can and probably will miss certain ghosts and lock yourself out of the true ending.
So yes, perhaps you are sick of mansions or the puzzles frustrate you more. But my God is Echo Night 2 mostly just a straight shot better game and absolutely worth your time if you enjoyed the first, especially if you were after something a bit spookier.
The very first thing I noticed upon playing Echo Night 2 was how clearly structured the story was. The first game barely explains how you even end up on a ghost ship or what your connection to the ship is until later. Echo Night 2 on the other hand firmly establishes your motives immediately - finding your girlfriend - then succinctly explains why you go to the mansion the game takes place in. From there the story develops quite naturally and comes to a fairly satisfying conclusion. Some might argue that it's not very "Fromsoft" to have a front-and-centre story, but in the case of a story-driven mystery game I think it only works to its advantage. There's still plenty of discoverable bits of story (the Church is a big one) so, in my opinion, it hasn't lost that Fromsoft charm.
The next very noticeable thing was how much more integrated the mechanics of light and dark are into the gameplay. It was barely a thing in the first game, often completely bypassed by a quick 90 degree turn and a flick of the light switch. In Echo Night 2 you are often forced to play in the dark, avoid aggressive ghosts and find a way of turning the lights on. There are even candles to give you a brief respite from the darkness in choice locations. Not only does all this make the darkness mechanic actually worthwhile and add significant depth to the game, it makes it far more of a horror game than the first one was. There are some genuinely tense moments in this!
Even further, the sequel expands on its initial premise and adds a much increased variety of gameplay. There are segments where you find and use a handheld lamp, segments where you're chased in a similar fashion to Clock Tower and more. You are also not isolated to a single location this time and you can travel (ok, teleport) around a lake to a small selection of different areas. Just to rattle off a few more improvements, we also have full voice acting this time (not just ghosts!) and the graphics have had a minor but noticeable glow up. Even the map is better! All of this stuff serves to prevent monotony in its core formula and it works - the game is about twice as long as the original and it never felt stale.
Of course there are some drawbacks. I agree that a cruise ship is probably more interesting than a manor (honestly the manor in Echo Night 2 is not all that dissimilar to the Spencer Manor) and I personally found puzzles to be less intuitive, occasionally regressing to finding a needle in a haystack. Not to mention you can and probably will miss certain ghosts and lock yourself out of the true ending.
So yes, perhaps you are sick of mansions or the puzzles frustrate you more. But my God is Echo Night 2 mostly just a straight shot better game and absolutely worth your time if you enjoyed the first, especially if you were after something a bit spookier.
I might finish the game later, but the beginning just didn't hook me like Echo Night 1 did.
This just didn't grab me like the first one. Maybe I'll try it again someday.
Apesar de ter o mesmo gameplay e extrutura que o primeiro, o mistério ja consegue ser interessante desde os primeiros 10 minutos, a estética gótica também me agrada mais, e a musica tema do primeiro jogo também foi retrabalhada pra soar mais sinistra, como o jogo é maior que o anterior, algumas partes tem um backtracking um pouco extenso, mas os cenários variados compensam, se curtiu o primeiro recomendo esse bem mais, mas é essencialmente o primeiro echo night com uma nova roupagem.
Interasting story but puzzles are pure shit
It was indeed a good game. Compelling puzzles to solve (i'm talking screaming out loud OH RIGHT when solving them) and the diagetic, impecable FromSoft atmosphere is still present. A very nice plot with a very nice payoff (IF you find all the astral pieces/put all troubled souls to rest). Level design is tight, exploring the mansion proved to be a fun affair, and the light switch mechanic is still engaging. While the past stories of the ghosts themselves were still interesting, i did feel like their struggles didn't feel as personal as EN1's ghosts, all of them still felt like they had a small role in the main plot (not a knock against it, its something a bit different from EN1 which i appreciate here). Also, i would say that as a con, some puzzles started to tread into the obtuse side (like wearing a lab coat of specific lads to fool an NPC or the piano puzzle). Managed to creep me a couple of times as well with the aggressive spirits. All in all, very good stuff.
Has some annoying bad puzzles and a bit too much backtracking but other than those very enjoyable.
This review contains spoilers
Completion Criteria: All Souls + True Ending
Boggles my mind that people prefer the first one. The prospect of the ship and the more bizarre scenario are more enjoyable but as a game, this is just better. The game is more grounded and takes place in a haunted mansion with more reasonable characters, the darkness mechanic is more fleshed out focusing on generators, mimicking the crew deck of the original and everything just feels more cohesive. Just be warned of missables
Boggles my mind that people prefer the first one. The prospect of the ship and the more bizarre scenario are more enjoyable but as a game, this is just better. The game is more grounded and takes place in a haunted mansion with more reasonable characters, the darkness mechanic is more fleshed out focusing on generators, mimicking the crew deck of the original and everything just feels more cohesive. Just be warned of missables
too spooky for me 0_0