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1460510cookie-checkEcho Video Previews Adaptive AI Learning And Unique Gameplay Mechanics
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2017/08

Echo Video Previews Adaptive AI Learning And Unique Gameplay Mechanics

Ultra Ultra has a new gameplay demonstration video up showcasing some new gameplay footage. The video takes place during the middle of the game at a palace, where the main character finds out that in an attempt to revive someone she’s lost, she ends up creating a bunch of duplicates of herself known as echoes. The video highlights the stealth and some of the breathtaking environments you’ll explore in the game, along with ever-adapting and ever-evolving AI menace.

Ultra Ultra’s CEO, Martin Emborg, walks gamers through the level, showcasing some of the stealth takedowns, some of the combat mechanics, and the game’s blackout feature where things really take on a completely different look, as you have to rely on your immediate purview to progress through an area. Check it out below.

The game’s visual motif reminds me a lot of an upgraded version of Nier Automata. The techno-bourgeois aesthetic really stands out here. It looks extremely distinctive, almost similar to some of the Void runs in Warframe.

There’s a torrent of information that the developers throw at viewers in a short amount of time, but essentially, the more tactics and weapons you use against the AI, the more it learns and will attempt to use those tactics against you. Adaptive learning will thoroughly work against you the further you progress into Echo. So essentially, the more creative you get with killing the AI, the more creative they will get in attempting to kill you.

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For instance, we see that the NPCs begin to crouch and use stealth against the player after witnessing the player using stealth. We also see that the NPCs learn how to use projectiles after players use projectile weaponry.

Additionally, after each blackout the echoes of En will revive. So you have to pick and choose when to use certain tactics and how often to use them.

This is the sort of game that could be very, very fascinating given that it puts a serious focus on how players interact with the AI and how players will have to constantly find new ways to overcome the echo clones.

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As they reiterate in the video, you can choose to be Rambo or you can choose to be Sam Fisher. You can choose how to employ a play-style that best suits your preferences.

The animations are a little stiff and if the environments aren’t varied enough they could very well get fairly samey. Hopefully things are mixed up throughout the game so the game doesn’t suffer from visual repetition and put upon players a bit of thematic fatigue.

Anyway, you can look for Echo to launch on PC and PS4 starting September 19th.

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