Echo Night: Beyond

Reviewed by Victor Araujo
February 2005

Developer: FromSoftware Website: Click Here Publisher: Agetec Platform(s): PS2 Players: 1 ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Taking a trip to the moon may sound like a great idea. Unfortunately for Richard and his fiancée, things don't turn out so well. Upon crash landing on the moon, Richard awakens and finds himself alone with no trace of his fiancée. He must now journey though their vacation hideaway in space with the ghosts of prior residents still wandering the halls and a mysterious fog engulfing the dark passages. By interacting with these ghosts, he'll learn what fate brought this upon them and be brought closer to his fiancée.  Each ghost remains because of something they left undone, or because of a sorrow that doesn't allow them to move on. Their minds are wrought in their own sadness, and they are usually blocking Richard's path. Those ghosts who have wandered too far into the fog become so overwhelmed by their emotions, they lash out at any living thing that comes near. Richard has no way to defend himself against these attacks; he'll have to find other means around these malicious specters to find lost love.

You take control of Richard through a first person perspective. Being confined inside a space suit listening to the pulse of his heart rate, deep breathing and thumping foot steps add a sense of claustrophobia. Environmental effects such as fogging and lighting really add to the atmosphere. You venture through foggy, dimly light corridors relying upon a flash light for illumination. You don't always spot a ghost right away. Sometimes you'll just hear the muffled cry of a child, the raising of your heart beat, your breathing become more erratic, or your vision blurring. You may find yourself in a panic as you flail around, desperately trying to identify where the ghost is. While ghosts found outside of the fog will be friendly, it's hard to keep your cool when you start sense a ghost within a foggy corridor. With no way to protect yourself, you must either avoid them completely or dash past them. These evil beings will force your heart rate to rise; going too high will end your journey. By finding special key cards scattered about the station you'll be able to access a ventilation system to clear certain areas of the fog. This will then calm the specters enough so you may converse with them. Each ghost has its story or reason why it remains bonded to the station. By helping them solve their problems, you'll release their spirits. In return, they may give you more information or items that will help you along the journey. To help you along the way, you'll have access to the station's security cameras. Using the cameras, you can scout ahead or gather clues, as they pick up on really strong emotions and obtain a recording of a spirit's previous life.

The game has some good scares, but the great ones are few and sparse. The majority of the puzzles tend to be simply fetching an item and matching it with the right ghost. This does lead to the bulk of gameplay time wandering around searching for a missed item. Key points of interest blend too well as ordinary debris. At times, you'll end up not picking up an object because you weren't clearly focused on it. With no indicators of what you're able to manipulate, you just keep walking into walls constantly pressing the 'use' command in hopes of something happening. To help you, you are given a log of ghosts you've encountered along with hints of why they remain. Finding the story behind each encounter really brings you into the game. The voiceovers aren't bad, but the delivery leaves something to be desired. Each line of dialogue is delivered almost sentence by sentence with a pause in between lines and hinders any real emotion that may have been expressed.

Echo Night: Beyond does offer 4 different endings, giving you another reason for a second run through the game. The setting does take sometime to warm up to; ghost ridden space hotels don't exactly draw your attention that quickly. Don't mistake this for another game in the survival-horror genre. You won't find yourself blasting zombies with rocket launchers here. Echo Night: Beyond has more in common with games like Myst or Clock Tower. While it doesn't quite offer the levels of scares and puzzle solving that other games do, it's an entertaining experience for those looking for a more substance and less guts and gore.