I was in love with the Enigma series and story wise this is a great game BUT ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ the main gameplay mechanic must be the most annoying device since the the MSDOS games.

You go into levels and solve puzzles and unlock paths and shorter paths to progress through those paths to unlock other paths in 3 interconnected levels and finally get to a part where you can just be done with the level.

So, man, what's the problem? You have a timer. That's the gigantic problem. There is a set amount of time you can stay in these levels and when you get a gun you get to shoot enemies to add time to your timer and when they touch you or hit you, you get a minus to your timer. You run out of time, you teleport back to the beginning of the level. The guy made most of these quite precise, so you get hit by 1-2 ranged attacks or stop to look around a bit, you're not gonna make it to the button that unlocks the shortcut.

Some puzzles are just repetitive and annoying. There are two mazes and that's just one too many for a game. You have a timer and the game jerks you around making you figure out mazes and puzzle paths repeatedly. Also game requires you to do very specific things most of the time and you can just not see or miss them easily because of the texturing and lighting. So you start getting frustrated after a while. Oh and, you get almost no hints.

Don't get me wrong if they implemented this mechanic to a single map it'd be wonderful and I could even put up with the mazes. This timer mechanic would be a lot of fun if it was implemented a lot more sparsely. If it was in a single level, it'd be a welcome switch of the pace but it is in EVERY level and it just gets overly tedious.

In this game there are some terminal sequences that I really enjoyed. Although in the second part you still get to go into those timed levels and guess what, the objective is even more vague and hidden now. So you get to run around like a headless chicken over and over again.

The reason I love Enigma series is the strong atmosphere and the engaging storytelling. The first two games were really good and I was at the edge of my seat through most of them. With this game, those two best aspects are ruined with the introduction of this new mechanic. I get it, it adds to the story but I can't for the life of me, enjoy it. Believe me I tried. It just feels like I'm forced to speedrun a beautiful game.

I will still recommend this game to the fans of the series. The game has its moments during those terminal sequences and I imagine I'll still have some great memories of this game. For the less favourable part of the game, you can always look up a guide once they're up.

The visuals are to die for. I really wanted to like this game purely because the visual aesthetic is so strong. (Music and SFX too.)

But it's just so repetitive, both in its gameplay and in its writing. If it were 10% gameplay and 10% writing with the remainder of your time spent exploring incredible visuals, I could recommend it. But there are long, LONG sequences of seemingly unskippable 'dialogue' expressing the same idea over and over and OVER and OVER, which is your reward for completing combat sequences that wear thin after 10 minutes but comprise HOURS of game time.

I really don't mean to be cruel or petty, but for a game that leans so hard on its text, it really needed an editor—not just to resolve big-picture stuff like the repetitiveness but to fix the constant misuse of "its" and "it's."

Maybe the game really opens up and becomes something else after the three cores are restored. If that's the case, it'll be my loss, because I think I'm done with this one.

Another fantastic game from ENIGMA STUDIO! I played the first one, The Enigma Machine when it came out and was instantly hooked.

Echostasis continue the story, taking you on another mind-bending adventure that really messes with you. It answers a lot of questions, but also leaves you with several new ones. Crossing my fingers we will see more games in this universe as there is a lot left to explore.

While the game might look like it's a shooter, it's a lot more than that, and the combat is only an isolated part of it in the grand scheme of things. Almost all of the game's story is delivered through text with codewords, and you should play the previous games before you play this one. This is a good game for people who are looking for a game that plays with futurism, AI and transhumanism as topics.

If you enjoy the previous games, this one will be a treat!

Let me start off by saying, you cannot simply play echostasis. Or, do what I did, dip your toe in, get addicted, and then realize you need to go back to the beginning. The tri/quadrilogy of The Enigma Machine / Mothered / Mothered [HOME] / Echostasis is not even a conventional series, but a single continuous story, and you truly cannot miss a piece.
It's extremely hard to describe the [echostasis] trilogy, but it is a dreamlike experience. It simultaneously tells a grounded story of a shattered family, and a soaring epic of the birth of a new form of life, and an apocalyptic end to humanity as we know it. It deeply investigates what makes a person who they are, the composition of a soul, and the nature of free will. It shows us the trilateral ways in which we hurt and are hurt by those around us, and questions, what if you were given an alternative to all the hurt? It turns the cycle of trauma and abuse into a path that you walk over and over to the same end, wearing a path into a deep canyon that finally becomes a part of who you are.
The story is bar none, one of the finest penned in a game. There are layers and layers of revelations, each of which repaints your experience and makes you reconsider your actions. There are phrases, lines of dialogue that appear over and over, first triggering emotions and illustrating the connections between characters, then subverted completely with alternate meanings as the developer plays with language, turning innocuous words sinister. There is deep symbolism, with objects also taking on multiple meanings, appearing in places you don't expect, furthered by their use as keywords to investigate in terminals throughout the game. You explore the world of echostasis through dreamscapes, and I've never seen another game tell a story through architecture like echostasis. The dreamlike echoes of places that once were, or are reflections of the minds of the characters, reveal their meanings in layers as well. You'll revisit the dreamscapes again and again as they connect to the minds of the characters and to each other, and you'll come to understand their purpose.
The whole arc of Enigma Machine - Mothered - Echostasis describes a horror, but somehow, amazingly, if you give it time, bends back to hopefulness. It's a high-concept adventure but ultimately one that knows exactly what it's trying to say - unlike many stories that bite off more than they can chew, leaving you with an inconclusive end (which can be fine), there is a reason for everything in echostasis, no ambiguity, and a satisfying ending. Both of these were quite surprising to me, as I expected to be left in darkness. You will be rewarded if you stick with it. (AGAIN: you must play through Mothered, and then you must discover what is hidden within Mothered: Home. The twist in this story hidden deep in the bowels of the game brings the germ of hope. I won't say more.)
If the story is the star here, the aesthetics and sound design are essential supporting roles. NOTHING looks like echostasis does. It's almost verging on a visual novel - text is central. Its glitchy visuals serve a dual purpose: the low-poly models draw you into the "dreamscape explorer," truly making you feel out-of-body, and the visual degradation punches you in the gut as the subjects' worlds literally fall apart. At the same time, it also allows echostasis to punch up wildly: with the visual treatment focusing on lighting, sound design, and effects, it doesn't require a team of hundreds of 3d artists or high poly-count models, but it takes you on a visceral trip nonetheless.
I think echostasis made a fascinating choice in gameplay. Where the earlier entries in the series were walking simulators, echostasis ups the ante and presents essentially a speedrunner FPS. To be sure, it's simple, with only 2 real enemy types and one weapon, but the rules are the rules: you have just a scant number of seconds to do what you need to do in these dreamscapes, and a single misstep usually means a failed run. For me, it adds a refreshing challenge on top of the story - it could have so easily just been the story alone - and gave me lots of moments of triumph and so many near failures. I also think there's some clever ways in which this influences and is influenced by other aspects of the game. For instance, the level design ends up feeling quite "Quake"-y, and some of the most hopeful advice comes in the form of "you may fail over and over, but it only takes one success," which cleverly refers again to the loops of Enigma Machine and Mothered which set the stage for the whole plot.
If you give this quadrilogy the time and space it needs, it will reward you deeply. I wish everyone could experience it, although I know it is likely not everyone's cup of tea. I know I for one will be carrying the story of L▓▓▓▓, and ▓▓D, and HER, and [[CONSTRUCT] [NAME]] with me for years to come. A completely unique experience in every way.

A true post human game , this is ART. At the crossroads between killer7/superhot/jazzpunk/observer and more , it s just the best of everything . I will buy the other games as soon as i 100% this one , and get some sleep . Thank you , this might be my new favourite game!

I'm not really the type to leave reviews, but this is a beautiful end to an amazing, haunting, and touching story, and I want more people to experience it. I want to mention the music too, as it is so well done and captures the mood of the scenes perfectly, whether it be a horrific revelation or some chill tunes to relax to.

This is the final installation in a trilogy of games (kind of, there are two side stories that absolutely are worth it too) that left me in awe. After playing the previous game MOTHERED I couldn't stop thinking about the story it told for a week straight, and now having finished Echostasis I feel myself left in a similar state.

This game in particular requires some problem solving that might not agree with everyone out there. There are a few puzzles the game throws at you without an obvious answer, and you have to search for some sort of hint. If you're like me and don't mind thoroughly exploring, or digging through the [KEYWORDS] for any missed tidbits, or backtracking to previous areas to check for any missed or new avenues, it's a fantastic experience. Otherwise, if you absolutely hate the feeling of not knowing what to do next, this might be frustrating at times, but I'm sure at the time of this review there are guides you can check for help if you get stuck.

a very great game that has so much depth and a very good story!
One of those games that makes you think a lot before you can achieve the next move of progress!

the music in this game is like TOP TIER, I could die all day long and keep going on the same loop just to enjoy the beat!

Thank you JAX for creating such a masterpiece

This certainly is a hugely ambitious conclusion to this trilogy. Perhaps TOO ambitious, with the story outstaying its welcome a bit, and the gameplay sometimes being too difficult. For the most part, I did enjoy the dreamscape exploration though, and though the story was inscrutable for the first half of it, in the second half it all kinda comes together and ties in with the previous games in a nice way. It looks amazing and sent shivers down my spine a few times.

If you haven't played the earlier entries, I do recommend starting with Enigma Machine, as it's a much shorter/tighter experience and it'll let you know if this is your kinda thing at all.

I really wanted to like this game, I played the demo and absolutely loved it.
Now vibes aside "gameplay" is practically smashing your head on the wall till it gives and it gets repetitive quick, and in terms of story you need to play the previous games to even make sense of what is going on, text speed is slow and makes it miserable to play and read anything, you have to write down everything in [brackets] like that to see what string will work and it gets annoying quick.

Vibes are cool and all but when in buried in ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ gameplay that is based on a timer with no margin for error with a shotgun that doesnt perform like a shotgun, and hidden areas and hidden pathways that require multiple playthroughs of a level to find, yea no thanks id rather play something else. Such a shame that a good asthetic like this is not utilized.

Breathtaking. Nothing short of a masterpiece. I'm astonished at the scope, the ambition, the lore, the music, the graphics. It's a mystery akin to INLAND EMPIRE via Philip K. D.i.ck, Valis's author. And you read while playing a cyberpunk shooter in a maze. In other words, original Doom meeting auteur cinema and pure horror.
The amount of feelings that ECHOSTASIS is capable of conveying is astounding in itself: horror, Drama, Delusion, Illusion, Violence, Loss, Despair, Hope, HEALING... there's so much to unpack. But the graphics, the music and the ARCHITECTURE are as impressive as the lore.
What a powerful way of conveying such a dark (and ultimately healing) message. I cannot believe how imaginative, how creative, how hard-working you need to be to create such an artifact. I mean, I started the game without having played Mothered and The Enigma Machine before and OH LORD they delivered too.
I think it's fine to start ECHOSTASIS without having previously played those two, but you should certainly play them mid game, just to get a hint of what you're going to face. The crescendo is out of this world- OH MY GOD. Truly I'm speechless. Gavin, you and your crew have my complete devotion.