Echo Night is a horror adventure game released in 1999 for the original PlayStation. Considering the vast popularity of Sony's first console, you wouldn't have thought many of its titles are held in the Collection Chamber. This couldn't be farther from the truth...
Developed by FromSoftware, the game was unfortunately denied to European audiences for reasons unknown. If that developer has any meaning to any hard-core gamers out there, it's because they're responsible for the critically acclaimed Armored Core and Dark Souls series - some of the hardest yet satisfying games of the last generation.
Released in Japan and the U.S. midway through the PlayStation's life cycle, the game makes excellent use of the dated hardware. The environments are rendered in impressive detail given the limitations, really drawing you into the world and even going so far as to include dynamic day and night cycles. The only flaw is the slightly off-putting character designs, rendered in bulky lumps common in games at the time.
You take direct control of your character which can take some getting used to, especially those used to the more modern first-person games. While the D-pad allows you to move, looking up, down and strafing are assigned to the shoulder buttons. The DualShock controller's dual analogue sticks are sadly not utilised which is a wasted opportunity. This is alleviated somewhat in the custom PC-compatible download I've provided, giving a customisable control scheme (though the defaults have suited me adequately).
You begin the game by learning some terrible news. Your father has just died in a fire and the police have given you access to the charred crime scene because "you're family". The real reason is to lazily get us straight into the plot, so let's just put it to the back of our minds and call it cultural differences.
And being Japanese, the plot is filled with demon hunters, an over-abundance of politely depressed ghosts and metaphysical diatribes about one's soul told to us in a translation that varies wildly in quality. The real draw here, however, is not the plot - which in itself is interesting if a little convoluted - but the rich atmosphere and interesting puzzles. Most of the game takes place on the creepily well realised Orpheus, a passenger ship we learn has been lost at sea. We do leave the decks on occasion when we find one of the many books hiding around taking us on a tangent to different time periods It does get a bit muddled but it doesn't detract from the overall experience.
For a game this engrossing, it's a shame it didn't find its way to Europe. It was re-released on the PlayStation Network in 2007, but only to those fortunate Japanese gamers - why the English speaking world was denied this is again another mystery, but let's hazard a guess anyway. While FromSoftware published the game internally for their home country, the US release was overseen by Agetec, a company known to bypass many a great game for their frustrated European friends across the pond. For the past five years, the company has dedicated themselves to release shovelware for Nintendo's handheld systems. Their last 'actual' game release was Way of the Ninja 3 - a game that only disappointed in its unfortunate number of sales.
If ever a PlayStation game deserves to be rediscovered it is this one. It did see two sequels; the Japanese exclusive Echo Night 2 on the PlayStation and Echo Night: Beyond for the PlayStation 2. The latter actually found its way to Great Britain in 2006, only two whole years after its Japanese and North American release. This game manages to vastly improve on its predecessors and may yet see an escape from the Collection Chamber in the future.
It's about time we unlocked the vault and release Echo Night, letting it emerge from the darkness, blinking at the blinding shine of a bright new audience. Why not let us know your opinions and take a trip on the Orpheus? Just don't start waxing lyrical about your soul.
To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses Retroarch with a Mednafen_PSX core to emulate it on PCs. Keyboard controls are mapped to my preferred optimal specifications. Xbox 360 controllers supported. Tested on Windows 7.
01.07.2015 - Ver.2 - Improved installer
14.03.2019 - Ver.3 - Compressed ISO and improved menus
01.06.2025 - Ver.4 - Updated Retroarch to version 1.21.0
Added English (US) and Japanese manuals in PDF format
Game runs at 4:3 at original resoliution
Option to play at 4x resolution with widescreen hacks applied
Applied PGXP to improve graphical quality and accuracy beyond the capabilities of the original hardware
Remapped controls to suit modern sensibilities
Improved custom menus and icons
Fleshed out ChamberNotes to reflect changes.
File Size: 342 Mb. Install Size: 477 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ
Download
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Echo Night is © FromSoftware
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me
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I wonder if you could update this to the package you used for Echo Night 2. I can't save in this game, although everything else runs fine. However, I can save in Echo Night 2, which runs perfectly. The only difference between the two packages, as far as I can tell, is that you created this one for Windows 7 and the second one for Windows 10. It would be great if they were the same package, both for Windows 10. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHello, and sorry for late reply (day job took me away).
DeleteThis is one of my early PSX releases so the portability might not be set correctly. I tend to learn new things everytime I create one. Now that I'm aware of the issue I'll add an update soon. I want to get a new post out first after my work caused a hiatus.
Yes, I too am learning more with each new game I install, although on a much more elementary scale. By the way, there's no pressing need to update this "soon". I understand this is a one-man site and things take time. Do focus on all your other priorities first.
ReplyDeleteIt would be great to get an updated Windows 10 version of this at some point, to match the package used for Echo Night 2. Of course, it should still be low on your list of priorities. I see the front page has been very active this year, and those updates are certainly more important.
ReplyDeleteYeah, updating this is low on my list though I might give it a look.
DeleteI just noticed that you updated this 3 months ago! I don't know how I missed it. It's not that I don't check this site. I suppose I missed the subtle changes on the "featured post" in the right-hand column.
ReplyDeleteThe update is perfect, so thanks for doing it. I admit I was greatly confused by the Mednafen menu after pressing F1 at first, but then I worked out that I don't need to go there at all, since saving and loading can be done by pressing other Function keys. The saving, loading and everything else works just fine now.
Cool! I'm thinking about having a better way to alert people of updates beyond an Update post on the main page. Just have to think about the best way that won't take up too much of my time.
DeleteMan, Echo Nights are awesome. I played all of'em with a friend, including the PSP entry.
ReplyDeleteWe actually started with Echo Night: Beyond, and when we've played it, ah...
There's a moment where you could see the in-game date on a screen. And at this moment my friend stopped and said: "it's the current day, only the year is different".
"Surely the game grabs the date from the machine that runs it" - dismissed I.
My friend was not persuaded though and insisted to check the date in someone else's playthrough on YouTube. And so we did.
Turns out I was wrong. The game doesn't read the date from PC, the date is constant. And, by some stroke of luck, out of 365 days me and my friend decided to play Echo Night: Beyond on the same month and day the game is set in.
It was quite eerie, to say the least.
Damn! That would've freaked me the hell out! I wouldn't have slept for days.
Delete