Echo

Echo (2017) is a traversal game where you must survive AI versions of yourself that learn from your actions to hunt you down. You work through the levels of a palace using stealth, combat and traversal, but each move you make is obtained by enemies to make them harder to defeat. It stands out for the uneasy sense of being hunted by your own actions - in this game attack is not the best form of defence, but neither is defence.

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You play En, a woman who travels to a mysterious palace on a distant planet to recover ancient technology that promises to resurrect someone you killed. Play involves searching the many levels of the palace to recover the technology you need while evading the building's security: multiple clones of yourself. These clones constantly hunt you, and you must evade or defeat them in order to reach your goal alive.

However, the clones learn from your actions, mirroring the way you play the game. If you never use a gun, neither will they. If you try to stay hidden, they become more stealthy. The palace's power blacks out at regular intervals, and in the dark the clones learn from your last section of play. To survive, you need to consider the implications of the next level where you face opponents that have learned your current tactics.

The result is a game of cat-and-mouse where your hunters learn from you. You must not only survive in the present but be aware of the impact of your actions on your future survival, making for a clever deduction game wrapped up in a compelling sci-fi narrative.

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Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Echo a year ago. It was re-examined by Ollie Robertson and updated 5 months ago.