Over the years, we’ve had our fair share of anime adaptations—some good, a few average, and mostly terrible. Echoes of Aincrad, set in the Sword Art Online universe, is developed by Game Studio Inc. and published by Bandai Namco. It sets out to be part of the former, and for the most part, it succeeds as a good video game. Let’s talk about it.

Now, admittedly, my knowledge of Sword Art Online isn’t the best. I’ve watched the original Aincrad arc, which followed Kirito and Asuna, and Echoes of Aincrad takes place alongside those events, occasionally crossing over with the anime. In this world, players log into the massively popular VRMMORPG, Sword Art Online, where they live virtual lives, taking on jobs, battling monsters, and exploring the world. What they don’t realise, however, is that if they die in the game, the NerveGear headset they’re wearing kills them in the real world.

In Echoes of Aincrad, you play as a fairly inconsequential character, at least in the beginning, who has been granted access to the Sword Art Online beta. As you learn how the world works, the game does a good job of introducing its mechanics, making it easy for those unfamiliar with the anime to get up to speed. During the first dungeon, you encounter PKers, players who hunt down other players for their loot. It’s here that you meet Iori, a fellow player who helps you escape the PKers, defeat the dungeon boss, and complete the quest. Afterwards, he suggests adding each other in-game so you can adventure together more often.

A couple of hours in, the game fast-forwards to the end of the beta and the launch of the full game. Here, you’re finally able to create your own character and begin experiencing the events of the anime, including running into some familiar faces. I won’t spoil what happens next, but overall, the narrative is solid. Fans of the anime will appreciate the extra context and connections, but I think even newcomers will find plenty to enjoy.

The combat in Echoes of Aincrad is fine enough, offering a good range of weapons like swords, axes, and spears, with combos to unlock that help make combat feel more fluid and varied. While there is no skill tree, there is still progression through a stats-based system, allowing you to put points into attributes such as Vitality for HP or Endurance for stamina. It’s not too dissimilar to the stat-based progression found in FromSoftware titles.

Enemies have a decent variety with heaps of different types, if it wasn’t for a repetitive gameplay loop thanks to its quest and world design that has you fighting them over and over. You accept quests at the main hub city, where there are also a few vendors to upgrade your weapons, infuse them or buy supplies from others.

Upon accepting a quest, you’ll fast travel to the open world. It’s vast and beautiful, accompanied by a nice orchestral soundtrack in the background. Unfortunately, it’s also quite empty, with only a handful of enemies scattered along your path and a few chests hidden throughout the world, some of which are tucked away behind breakable walls.

It’s here where some of the design choices don’t quite make sense to me. Stray even slightly off the intended path, and you’re met with a message telling you that you’ve moved away from the quest, before being teleported back to where you need to be. Cliff ledges are also essentially fatal, with even small drops of less than 10 feet resulting in the same outcome—truly bizarre decisions.

Then, when completing a quest, you head back to the hub to upgrade, restock and go again, as most quests follow the same structure, adding to the repetitive complaints I have with the game.

I briefly mentioned the graphics and soundtrack earlier, but the world itself is quite stunning. It blends realistic visuals with an anime-inspired art style that works surprisingly well. The soundtrack also knows when to elevate the experience, ramping up during boss fights while remaining calm and atmospheric during exploration.

Echoes of Aincrad is a good game with an interesting narrative, a beautiful world, and simple but effective combat. Despite some strange design choices and repetitive elements, there’s a lot to like here for both Sword Art Online fans and newcomers alike. It’s easily the best Sword Art Online game yet.

Written by: Dylan Kocins