Cara, esse jogo provou para mim que a história consegue sim salvar uma gameplay ruim. A jogabilidade é bem limitada e não conta com muitos elementos, mesmo dentro de um universo bem detalhado.
Porém a história me cativou e muito a continuar, vendo os dois principais em suas devidas missões que convergem depois de um tempo e torcendo para que naquele universo apocaliptico eles consigam achar um tempo e um momento de paz. O final me pegou demais de surpresa e o plot da Eda me deixou sem reação. Esse jogo me fez sentir coisas bicho, não muito boas para ser sincero. O amor é impressionante bicho, como pode.

I could spend my time here talking about the many misgivings I have with the storytelling, but it really does not matter, cause no matter what criticism I had about it’s “redundancy” or how “amateur” it is, I would still always find myself at the sidelines cheering them on. Hoping and praying that these two characters who needed each other more than anyone else would be able to communicate their feelings to one another. A desire to see these two find a speck of happiness, a moment of catharsis for all the frustration I felt in watching them awkwardly try to navigate their blossoming emotions in spite of their trauma and responsibilities.

You could call this ever present desire of mine my weakness, and it’s this weakness that Echo of Starsong exploits to hurt me in ways fiction never has before.

I’ve spent multiple hours just constantly replaying the final moments over and over in my head, looking for a silver lining, a recognition that my catharsis wasn’t stolen for nothing, but there’s no light at the end of this tunnel, just a field of regrets.

The game hooked me perfectly from the start with incredible writing. Who doesn't get excited by an underdog story about a pathetic young man's personal growth? Unfortunately, 2/3 through the game I realized that, nope, Jun NEVER gets better. He never becomes anything more than a mopey, spineless damsel in distress (not to mention the worst cave diver I've ever seen). I'm with Remi here - what on lumen does Eda see in this donut?

I could forgive the boring gameplay elements, but a bad character is a no-no.

I'm not rating this lower than a 3 since there are some interesting moments, but looking back I couldn't really recommend this unless you REALLY like sap in your stories.

OPUS: Echo of Starsong is a lovely game, I’m always a fan of well crafted space operas and this really succeeds on three fronts. It manages a compelling sci-fi setting I was interested in learning more about, it has a unique style with beautiful music that lends itself well to its ethereal space faring atmosphere, and it also has a story that, while not very lengthy, felt genuinely touching by its end

OPUS is a franchise that has two prior standalone entries (The Day We Found Earth and Rocket of Whispers), and while they were well made for what they were, I didn’t think they were particularly noteworthy due to their limitations as smaller mobile games. Echo of Starsong in comparison is much more ambitious, set in the same universe of its predecessors but dramatically fleshing it out with an extensive amount of lore and descriptive text for every location, mural, artifact, and minor object that’s collected throughout. The result is a solar system that felt really well-realized, as you explore its numerous floating cities, abandoned stations, and mystical asteroid caves each with their own piece of worldbuilding to peer through. This is also greatly complicated by its wonderful aesthetics, with numerous detailed CG scenes and pleasing character art that really bring the setting to life

The story starts in medias res and follows a weary elder named Jun who’s searching for his lost love Eda, and his memories of their time together in his youth. Once a disgraced noble who traveled to the Thousand Peaks solar system in search of Lumen discoveries to claim under his name, he came to meet Eda and her pilot Remi and joined them as a member of their ship, gradually revealing the events that result in her disappearance in the present. For the time you spend with them I really enjoyed the characters, and the emotional core of the story is further enhanced by strong voice performances (of which is a new addition with Full Bloom Edition). I did have a gripe with how heavy it was on using flashbacks to flesh out the cast rather than developing them in the moment, but its general presentation and heartfelt tone made for effective storytelling

Now while this is a game focused on its narrative much like a visual novel, it does have gameplay elements to it. Its main focus is on resource management, as you explore a galaxy map of Thousand Peaks and search locations for supplies or fuel to upgrade your ship and venture further out into the system. In addition, you’ll encounter random events or obstacles that can have a positive or negative impact based on dice rolls and dialogue options. I actually really enjoyed this aspect of the game, as it was just relaxing to explore and visit whatever seemed interesting across the map. Finding new upgrades for the ship throughout was pretty fun too

There’s portions of the game where Jun leaves the ship and explores the caves on foot, and this is presented as a side-scroller with occasional puzzles to clear. The problem though is that it’s a bit repetitive, every cave more or less looks the same and each puzzle just consists of opening a door with a simple mini-game or activate other doors through connecting Lumen pipelines. Not a highlight, but the positives of the game more than made up for it and exploring each cave didn’t really last long enough to be grating