Better than the first Generation
If you played the first Echo Generation then at first glance you may be really confused about Echo Generation 2. The original told the story of a gang of kids who were investigating supernatural stuff happening in their town; all the while battling monsters in turn-based combats. The game itself felt a lot like Stranger Things wrapped in a voxel graphic setting. Echo Generation 2 changes things up quite a bit and at first, I was against it, but by the end I was sad to see the credits roll.
In Echo Generation 2 players will take control of multiple characters much like Live A Live, Octopath Traveler and more; just as in those games each of the characters have their own playable intro sequence. Each protagonist’s story varies wildly, for instance if you played the demo; then you experienced the little girl; Sister M, who was being experimented on and is using her new found powers to escape her captors. There is a noir horror story where players play as a zombie woman named Annata Z, who has lost her memory and searching for her child. I absolutely loved her section because it was in black and white and felt the moodiest of the experiences. There are six characters in all and players will spend the most time with family man, Jack.
MSRP: $24.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PC
Price I’d Pay: $24.99
Jack’s story begins on a family vacation gone awry, weird flesh, monsters with mouths and eyes everywhere began to attack his family. Jack springs into action and defends them with the help of infant child and toddler daughter. Yep, the baby is dual welding blades, while her older sister is out here using an axe; slaying monsters is a family affair. But what players will find out is that Jack has a connection to the lab where Sister M was being held. Each of the characters will ultimately all be united because there is a larger story at play here and to say any more would be wreck less of me; I genuinely enjoyed this game and its story way more than I thought I would be going into it.
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room, Echo Generation 2 is still turn-based; it’s also a deck builder now. But wait, those that hate cards should know that this uses them much like Marvel’s Midnight Suns or Slay the Spire where the cards are just attacks instead of needing a whole strategy like in Magic the Gathering. Each of the characters have a different play style, some of them are healers, others inflict debuffs like bleed or burn to generate more damage. Some of the attack cards have symbols on them that when played on an enemy who has the matching glyph, players will destroy then enemy shield to inflect more damage. In addition to the cards players will unlock badges that will help their combat encounters, some of them will give a random hero a shield while others may double the status effect on an enemy, trust me when I tell you that you are gonna need your stinkin’ badges.
Developer Cococucumber continues their studio love of using voxel tech to deliver a richly, detailed world in Echo Generation 2. Everything has a crisp and colorful look to it, the monsters, with all their mouths and moving parts were genuinely unsettling to look upon but at the same time I thought it had a strange beauty to it. There is no two ways about it, the game is beautiful to look at. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about how excellent the soundtrack is. Returning composer Pusher, levels up again this time delivering an 80s-inspired analog synth soundtrack that will have you grooving through the cosmos. I would love to see some recorded voice lines for characters but nonetheless the story was just as good.
Like I said above I absolutely loved Echo Generation 2 and it will undoubtedly be on my Game of the Year list for 2026. Its narratives mix of charm, horror, comedy and heart is something delighted and kept me guessing as I played it. And with the game launching on XBOX Game Pass, I really hope a lot of players take the opportunity to experience what I am calling one of the year’s best RPGs.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
