Echo Isle is a pocket Zelda throwback and is designed to be played and completed in a single sitting. Clocking in at between 60 and 90 minutes, players are placed in a small 5×5 screen world map to explore various dungeons, caves, and mountains hidden inside to collect four Echo Stones. Once collected, you’ll need to bring them to the lighthouse in the centre of the map to bring light back to the world. Sign me up!
The solo developer, Josh Koenig, is open about his love for 90s adventure games. Everything here screams early Zelda. We have a sword for attacks. We learn to jump and swim, which opens up new map areas and dungeons to conquer. Bombs blow up concrete blocks and kill certain enemies that the sword cannot. Lastly, a bow and arrow adds a few more simplistic puzzles into the mix. These skills are scattered across four dungeons, which is where you’ll spend most of your time. They have enemies that rarely cause trouble until the final world, as it’s only then that they attack back instead of chasing you around the screen. Bosses are not much of a challenge either, although they all look and battle very differently. The fun of Echo Isle doesn’t come from difficulty; it comes from being concise and exacting.
Echo Isle’s movement is smooth and consistent. Sword attacks come with a slide slash that takes a brief moment to get used to, but it allows you to kill enemies when you aren’t nicely lined up with them. Bombs have a visible radius of impact that you get used to quickly. Collision detection for triggering collapsible floors and receiving damage is clear and consistent. The game is very easy to understand and play, with the world map easily helping you navigate around to your next mission. Josh has put in the Steam information that he wanted to create a frictionless game, and whilst that also means it will be easy, it comes with tons of strong design choices that make retro gaming feel modern. Add in some lovely pixel art and some earworm chiptune tracks, and you’ve got an evening of pleasant gaming ahead.
Whilst I’d have loved to have seen a bit more overlap in your character’s skills to create more of a challenge, Echo Isle is a delight to play. It is simple, goodhearted adventuring that those of us in the early 90s will have enjoyed. Now that era comes with modern quality-of-life controls and save systems, making the experience brief but enjoyable. Fun.
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