Echoes of Elysium Review Summary

Enjoyable and solid gameplay: Players find the gameplay enjoyable and solid, with a fun core loop that includes engineering, exploration, and building. The game is praised for its fun and engaging gameplay, which is easy to pick up and play.

Good value for price: The game is seen as a good value for its price, offering a lot of content and enjoyment for the cost. Players feel that the price tag is appropriate for the experience provided.

Great co-op and multiplayer experience: The game offers a great co-op experience, allowing up to 6 players to enjoy the game together. Multiplayer is fun and enhances the overall gameplay experience.

Impressive game concept and graphics: The game's concept and graphics meet or exceed player expectations, with a unique and well-executed intro. The art direction is impressive and coherent, contributing to a visually appealing experience.

Enjoyable exploration and gliding mechanics: Exploration and gliding mechanics are enjoyable and well-received. Players find flying and gliding through the air to be fun and engaging, adding to the overall enjoyment of the game.

Combat issues: Combat is described as boring, repetitive, and difficult due to control issues. Enemies respawn too quickly, deal too much damage, and have poor AI. Weapon durability is also a significant problem.

Lack of guidance: The game lacks clear direction, tutorials, and tooltips. Players report confusion due to no new player guidance, unclear objectives, and missing tutorials for essential mechanics like gliding and ship expansion.

Poor control mechanics: Controls are delayed, unresponsive, and lack customization options. Players cannot remap keys or change keybindings, and there are issues with mouse sensitivity settings.

Performance and optimization: The game suffers from poor optimization, leading to long loading times, frame rate drops, and laggy performance. There are also issues with rendering and visibility.

Visual and audio design: The game's visuals are described as underwhelming and poorly rendered. Animations are stiff, and the soundtrack is repetitive and annoying. There are also issues with UI design and menus.

Comprehensive gameplay mechanics: The game features a wide range of mechanics including flight, combat, crafting, resource gathering, building, and survival elements. Players can engage in various activities such as ship repair, gliding, and enemy AI interactions.

Enemy mechanics and combat: The game includes enemy swarming, respawn mechanics, and combat with flying enemies. Some enemies can be overly powerful and attack the player's ship, requiring strategic combat approaches.

Crafting and research systems: The crafting and research systems are integral to gameplay, involving tech trees and resource management. However, these systems may need more direction and improvement for better player guidance.

Building and base construction: Building and base construction are key elements, with point-and-click mechanics and resource collection. Players can build and live on their airships, balancing various mechanics.

Survival and multiplayer elements: The game includes survival elements and multiplayer functionality, with options for public, private, and friends-only gameplay. Corpse runs and co-op gameplay are also featured.

Performance and optimization issues: Players report numerous performance issues including lag, stuttering, long loading times, and poor frame rates. These issues are exacerbated by high-end hardware and specific in-game areas like large islands and the lighthouse area.

Graphical and rendering issues: The game suffers from poor rendering, with specific mentions of poorly rendered mountains and general graphical glitches. Adjusting resolution and graphics settings can sometimes mitigate these issues.

Control and sensitivity problems: There are significant issues with movement controls, particularly with flying and camera sensitivity. Controls often do not register light inputs, making movement feel linear and unresponsive.

Enemy and combat bugs: Enemies exhibit abnormal behavior such as invincibility and clipping through the world. Combat also suffers from syncing issues, making it difficult to engage in battles smoothly.

Multiplayer and netcode issues: Multiplayer experiences delays and netcode issues, affecting the overall gameplay experience and causing synchronization problems during combat.

Early Access Issues: The game is currently in Early Access and has several issues that make it not worth the current price of $20. Many players recommend waiting for further development and patches before purchasing.

Not Recommended in Current State: Many players do not recommend the game in its current state due to various issues and lack of polish. It is suggested to wait for further development before considering a purchase.

Recommendations for Specific Player Types: The game is recommended for players who enjoy building, exploration, naval exploration, and survival-crafting. However, it is not recommended for those who require custom controls or a polished experience.

Tutorial and Starting Guide Needed: The game lacks a proper tutorial or starting guide, which can make it difficult for new players to get started. Players are advised to stay at their start spot and research and build as much as they can on their ship.

Potential to Surpass Competitors: With enough effort and development, the game could potentially surpass competitors like Sea of Thieves. Players are hopeful for fixes and improvements in the Early Access version.

Steam Deck: The game has several significant issues that impact the user experience on the Steam Deck. The lack of controller support and frequent game crashes are the most severe problems, followed by control sensitivity issues and various Quality of Life shortcomings. These issues collectively make the game less enjoyable and more difficult to play.

Game in Early Access: The game is currently in Early Access, which means it is still under development and may have incomplete features or bugs. Players should keep this in mind when playing and providing feedback.

Uncertainty about content: There is some uncertainty among players about the amount of content available in the game, specifically regarding the number of parts. This suggests that more information or clarity about the game's content could be beneficial.