Echoes of the Living Review – A Nostalgic Survival-Horror With Rough Edges
A heartfelt indie homage to 90s fixed-camera survival horror: great atmosphere, puzzles and gunplay, but hampered by excessive backtracking, inventory quirks and early-access bugs. For fans of classic Resident Evil vibes.
I jumped into Echoes of the Living hoping for a proper return to the tank-control, fixed-camera days—and MoonGlint Studio mostly delivers. The game is an earnest, often brilliant love letter to RE classics with fully 3D, current-gen visuals and an OST that nails the tension. At times it feels like the best parts of Resident Evil were stitched together into one sprawling map; other times the stitches pull apart—backtracking and some buggy systems remind you this is indie Early Access. Still, when it clicks, the game scratches an itch I didn't know I had.
Surviving Alba's Echoes
Gameplay in Echoes of the Living leans hard into the classics: fixed camera angles, tank controls and methodical movement that force you to think twice before firing. You spend most of your time exploring interconnected locations (an art gallery, hospital, city streets, theatre) searching for keys, documents and odd puzzle pieces. Combat is deliberate—the guns have satisfying weight and sound, and conserving ammo matters at first, though later runs can feel more generous. Puzzles are frequent and often clever, but some solutions are obtuse enough to require a guide. Inventory management and the item box loop force you to plan your trips; it's part of the tension, but also a recurring frustration when quality-of-life is missing.
Echoes and Innovations
What sets Echoes of the Living apart is how lovingly it translates old-school systems into 3D: weapon upgrades, unlockables, multiple playable story perspectives and a variety of enemy types (zombies, mutated fauna and stranger nightmare creatures) give the impression of a full package. The game experiments with larger outdoor segments—downtown Alba City feels like an expanded take on Raccoon City, with long exterior runs that mix exploration and scripted encounters. Save rooms and item storage return as comforting beats, and the unlock progression rewards patience. Unfortunately, some of the design choices—excessive backtracking, static maps that don’t log item usage, and puzzles seemingly placed to pad length—undercut pacing. Still, the narrative device of overlapping campaigns is promising and keeps me coming back for a second perspective.
A Cinematic Nineties Reborn
Graphically Echoes is impressive for an indie: current-gen lighting, moody street lamps and detailed environments sell the vibe. Character models are hit-or-miss—faces can look a bit plasticky in certain lights—but the sets, textures and grime sell the atmosphere. The OST and ambient cues are the game's MVPs; footsteps, distant moans and music swells build tension better than many AAA attempts. Performance is generally solid on my rig, though there are occasional glitches: controller dropouts, inventory UI quirks, and some animation/stutter issues during cutscenes. Accessibility options are limited and some QOL features (item box sorting, better map markers) are sorely missed, but the devs are active and receptive in the community.
Echoes of the Living is a passionate, sometimes brilliant indie tribute to classic survival horror that more than earns a place in the collection of any RE nostalgist—despite early-access roughness. If you love fixed cameras, puzzle-heavy exploration and atmospheric sound design, it's worth the ride, but be prepared for backtracking and a few technical headaches until updates polish it further.
Pros
- Authentic 90s survival-horror vibe with modern visuals and sound
- Satisfying gun feel and varied enemy types
- Large, interesting locations and multiple story campaigns
- Impressive soundtrack that amplifies tension
Cons
- Excessive backtracking and some padded puzzles
- Inventory/box sorting and map QOL missing
- Early Access bugs: freezes, controller hiccups and occasional glitches
Player Opinion
Players appreciate the game's faithful recreation of classic Resident Evil mechanics—fixed cameras, tank controls, weighty gunplay and tense exploration are commonly praised. Many reviewers highlight the atmospheric locales (art gallery, city streets) and the outstanding soundtrack. Recurring criticisms are the long runtime with pacing issues, heavy backtracking, and a clunky item box that becomes unwieldy late-game. Several users report bugs: controller disconnections, freezes and occasional animation issues. Overall sentiment is positive: fans of old-school survival horror are enthusiastic but ask for QoL fixes and polish.