What do you think of when you hear the word FromSoftware? Dark souls? Elden Ring? Sekiro perhaps? Long before they made themselves a household name by creating Demon's Souls and the above spiritual successors they created some off the wall games prior. Hard RPGS, weird action games, horror games, Ninja games and then there was the Adventure Player.

The Adventure Player was like a PSP app in which people could make their own visual novels and quiz games they could share either online or by memory stick. The adventure player was only ever released in Japan so it's hard to find to much information on it but came with several FromSoftware games built into it, one of which is Echo Night: The first Voyage. Echo Night is always a series i've wanted to try being a horror fan, I would say it's not a very well known trilogy of games and it's visual novel Japan only spin off on a PSP app is even more obscure. Thanks to fans efforts however this is now quite playable in English for western fans and I'm glad because it's a great little title.

The First Voyage appears to be a prequel / different timeline to the original game as far as I can tell. You play the role of a character on a ship in 1911 called the Orpheus. You wake up to find the crew and passengers as shades wandering. You have to explore the depths of the ship for their memories an items to remind them to help them move on. The stories are all small and interpersonal about each character and their lives giving you subtle clues as to where to look next to progress their arc.

The ship itself is suitably decrepit in the vein of the horror series this spin off is a part of. Like if the Titanic was left adrift in the ocean for many years like the Mary Celeste before being found but there is a hint to it being a passenger ship of some grandeur despite that. This game isn't a horror title though, despite the rusting hull, dark lighting, creaking and door opening noises that could have been taken from the original Resident Evil. No, what this game does invoke is a closer feeling of sadness than fear as you meet these lost souls and hear about their regrets and the feelings anchoring them there. It's got a more melancholic atmosphere then anything else which is really well matched by the excellent music, sad piano pieces with somber tones but equally more triumphant when a soul has seen through their regrets and transferring to the other side.

I really enjoyed my time with this game a lot. My only issue is some of the point and click locations can be quite subtle and for two of them it took me some time to find where they were to progress. Information about this game is exceedingly limited meaning I was wandering around the ship for 30 minutes a couple of times. I finished with an item I still never found a use for in the end. Still, you always get spare parts left over when you do something yourself though right? - Echo Night: Ikea Table Edition.

+ Creepy yet somber atmosphere.
+ Lovely music.
+ Some memorable character interactions.

- Occasionally confusing where to go and what to do.