Echo Generation 2 Review - A Bigger Deck Than Expected

I have to admit something: I never played the first Echo Generations. I was debating how much to investigate it before cracking open its sequel before eventually deciding to do some light research, googling it, and going “Ohhh, yeah I think I remember that thumbnail on a couple sales.” The first one passed by in 2024 without a glance from me. Consider this review both a redemption and a formal apology. Because– even with hardly any background– this might be my game of the year so far.

Echo Generation 2 takes place a few years before its predecessor; that one taking place in the 90’s and this one standing with both feet firmly planted in the 80’s. From what I gather, there are at least a few returning characters this time around, namely younger versions of the first games protagonists. Do you need to have played the first to enjoy this? From my point of view: no. But I don’t know what I don’t know. Still, that didn’t stop me from having a really good time in this world. The bones here are strong. Everything is tight and colored by artistic intent, and I’m here for it. GAMEPLAY The gameplay is where your mileage will vary, I think. Exploration is not really a thing; as far as that goes, expect something closer to, say, TellTale games and the like. It’s not an open world, by any means, but there is plenty of stuff to poke around in. That may not be the hangup– what may turn some folks off is the combat.

Personally, I’ve taken a liking to deck-builder, turn-based combat. They feel like RPG’s where your move sets just get shuffled up between turns. And so, Echo Generation 2 really hit that sweet spot. Put another way, think of the game’s combat as a mix between South Park: The Stick of Truth and Marvel’s Midnight Suns. So, you won’t be able to set it and forget it, like older turn-based games, or just go on autopilot. See, cards don’t just cause damage or refill HP, they also cause certain debuffs and conditions that other ones in your hand can take advantage of. Various cards come with different damage types that must be played to break an enemy. I came across many instances where I had to figure out how to maximize my plan of action to both do what I wanted to do and work towards breaking an enemy at the same time. These cards you can get from combat or from exploration. And, since Pokemon cards are an absolute beech to get nowadays, the dopamine blip I got every time I found a new card was pretty nice. What I want you to know, what your takeaway should be, is that combat is fun, strategic, and reflexive. Even if it is a deck builder.

But this game is more than just combat, right? The hook is the story and characters. I can’t get into specifics, but I was hooked from the top of the first chapter– Stranger Things similarities right off the bat, notwithstanding. So yeah, the game plays out in chapters, with some freedom around the midpoint to decide what order to tackle them in. Each one is pretty unique; in fact, I thought it was striking how much they could veer from each other. The game packs multiple genres, with equal love and attention shown toward all. Echo Generation 2 makes me think of what every aspiring writer sets out to do with their first 1,000-page great American novel: create a sprawling story that perfectly brings together disparate people and protagonists, and times, and worlds. It never works out, does it? Except here…they pulled it off.

I truly didn’t know what I was going to get with each chapter– which typically lasts anywhere from 45 minutes to a couple hours. They’re bite-sized, but pack king-sized flavor. Incidentally, that also negates some of the risk of the combat getting stale, since you’re swapping out character decks fairly often and each one plays very differently. Tone could be an issue for a narrative as ambitious as this. Folks get messed up; like, there’s a striking amount of blood and gore at some points. But it also maintains this…I dunno, fun, almost campy undercurrent that somehow doesn’t invalidate the stakes. Hideous monsters menace a family of four, they’re running for their lives, and the dad hands the baby a knife and the baby joins you in combat. And yet it never ruined my immersion— it just felt like watching a great movie where anything is on the table. Echo Generation 2 bends the tone so much it all but creates a balloon animal out of it, and it almost never pops. A little more on that later. I need to shout out the music, which complements the 80’s aesthetic perfectly. Like the writing, it adeptly swings from vibes such as “scary story,” to “desolate misery,” to “magical wonder,” to “thrilling combat,” all while not bartering away its own identity. I want to hit on that “thrilling combat” point again.

If you’re playing this game with headphones, crank those things up. The music, and sound design in general, makes every combat encounter feel punchy and epic. If you typically think deck builder combat feels slow, the audio might still conjure a sense of visceral immediacy. Still, it’s not quite all sunshine and rainbows– nothing is. While the overall tone is balanced throughout, a number of individual jokes didn’t land for me. Call me a stick in the mud, but I think it’s weird for a dude to talk about leg day when his co-workers’ entrails are all over the place. Even so, these fumbles are few and far between. I tell plenty of crummy jokes. Check out my Dream Drops if you need proof.

And I need to walk back a little bit of what I said about tone earlier. There is one conversation around the midpoint– of which I can’t get into the specifics– that fumbles the ball a tad for me. It just makes the wrong call, having the player character acting glib in a situation that should’ve been sold by sincerity. It was jarring to the point of coming dangerously close to bringing its rating down a lamp. Also, I like to think I’m decently attentive when it comes to tutorials, but there was a combat mechanic that I didn’t grasp until a couple hours in. It didn’t super impact my playthrough, or even my enjoyment, but when I finally realized that cards have a finite number of plays per combat encounter, I was like, “Oh dang, that explains so much.” Regarding the characters, I’ll concede that– while they’re usually very interesting and personable to me, they could be seen as a little flat to others. Many in the cast are the same people they are at the end as they were at the beginning; not all, but many. Personally, I don’t see that as a bad thing; this is a relatively brief novella of a game, and I don’t think it demands the same sort of character development that other stories do.

But that’s just me. Another little oddity that doesn’t impact that score is that this game sports controller support, but you still have to press Enter on your keyboard to get past the opening splash screen. It’s not a huge deal, but I’m curious why that is.

Echo Generation 2 gave my gaming hobby a shot in the arm, and I’m really doing my best not to sound sensational. It’s crafted with care and is concerned with more than gameplay loops– it took me on a fun, twisty-turny ride that left me smiling. Some games have that X factor that just clicks with you in a really special way, as this one did for me. If video gaming as an industry can be saved, I think it’ll be by games like Echo Generation 2– not your latest cynical AAA battle pass loot box slot machine. And that’s why I am giving it a Silver Lamp. I’d easily recommend it to anyone. By the way, before anyone gets any ideas: it’s not lost on me that this makes it two for two, as far as glowing reviews go. I’m typically pretty hard to please and my praise is normally understated, being as jaded and cynical as I am. And I think it’s a testament to how much passion and talent is in this section of the gaming space. When I have to sit down with a real stinker, I’ll look back on this game as the good old days.

SILVER/GREAT