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Obviously when I say impressions, I don’t mean putting a fez on and saying “Just like that!”, in case you were wondering.
Occasionally we get to play things that haven’t been released yet, and that is the case in point here, with some hands-on time with Synduality: Echo of Ada from Bandai Namco, partaking in a Closed Network Test. After playing, it’s safe to say that if you haven’t got this on your radar yet, you really should have.
Obviously with my time with Synduality being just a bit of a Network Test, I won’t be reviewing the game here – this is more of a factual, what-is-the-game-like kind of article. No real opinions, just the facts, as Joe Friday used to say. So, grab your best CRADLECOFFIN and let’s go exploring…
The story of the game is an interesting one, and in this test at least, is fed in dribs and drabs via the medium of loading screens. The game takes place in 2222, years after the world was brought to an end by a poisonous rain. Called The Tears of the New Moon, this rain killed the majority of the people in the world, and also created deformed creatures that now hunt the few survivors. These creatures are known as Enders, and they will be a major issue when it is time to explore.
Meanwhile, the survivors of the cataclysm built an underground city called Amasia, complete with a shield to block the worst of the rain, that continues to this day. Sadly, Amasia also had a bit of an accident and collapsed, and so the remnants of the remnants are left to try and eke out a living – and this is where you come in. As a new Drifter, it is your job to climb inside a big metal mech – a CRADLECOFFIN – and wander about the surface, finding and mining AO Crystals. And trying to stay alive too, with the Enders, hostile bandit CRADLECOFFINS and even other players trying to interfere with you. It is no easy task to get up to the surface and back again. Luckily, a Magus will join and help out on the trips up above. This is an AI companion with lots of useful abilities – not least of which is scanning for, and marking the location of the AO crystals that we need to find.
Synduality: Echo of Ada already looks very good indeed, with a massive area to explore as you arise from your underground garage. The world looks great, with many ruins and areas to explore and find, along with a load of resources to pick up. Indeed, one of the dangers of the game is that you will soon become overburdened, leading to your CRADLECOFFIN moving more slowly – not a good thing when there are hungry enemies out there, along with enemy mechs!
The big change to other games like this that I have played, and Armored Core is high on the list of comparisons, is that if your CRADLECOFFIN is reduced to zero HP, you have a limited amount of time to escape – and to get your AI helper, your Magus, to leave as well. Once you’ve bailed out, not only the mech you were riding but all the stuff you were carrying is lost – and this gets expensive after a while.
In terms of how things play, and the majority of what has been experienced has been on the surface, and there is already a pleasing grind that I like. Getting AO Crystals will provide you money, should you manage to get them back to your garage, of course, and that money can be spent not only on ammunition to keep you alive, but also on new bits for your CRADLECOFFIN. Upgrading the mobile tin can should be a focus.
Upgrading your garage is another way of spending your hard earned money, utilising the bits and bobs that you come back from the surface with. In a nice touch, if you need a particular material, it is possible to register it to a wish list, and the next time you pop upstairs, your Magus will tell you where it is likely to be found. Not only that, but it will mark it on your HUD when you get near, and this is a big help.
All in all, I am cautiously excited for the full launch of Synduality: Echo of Ada. The gameplay loop seems to be strong, and there’s no doubt that it already looks and feels solid. And there is a lot of story to soak up too, so combine that with the danger of other player-controlled mech, and the promise of PvPvE looks like it will be an interesting one. Upgrading the CRADLECOFFIN and strapping different weapons to it, in addition to playing mix and match with the various components, promises to be fun, and hopefully things will only get better from here on out.
Keep your fingers crossed as Synduality: Echo of Ada looks to release on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PC. Huge thanks go out to Bandai Namco for providing us access to the CNT.