Sword Art Online: Echoes of Aincrad Hands Off Preview
Sword Art Online: Echoes of Aincrad is the latest installment in the series of Sword Art Online games adapted from the light novel and anime series of the same name. Impulse Gamer was given a chance at a sneak peek of the upcoming game via a presentation and gameplay video. The upcoming game, like previous titles in the series, is an open-world RPG set in the world of the VRMMORPG of the same name from the series. However, unlike most previous games, Echoes of Aincrad does not follow the adventures of Kirito and his friends, but instead features a completely original protagonist created by the player. Not much is known about the game’s story so far, except that it is an original story that will feature characters from the series and that judging by the game’s name, will likely be set during the events of the Aincrad arc of the anime.
Much like Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet, players create and customize their characters, whom they will use to explore the game’s open world and take on main quests and subquests. Speaking of sub-quests, the gameplay video commences right after the player takes on a sub-quest called The Lost Log. They are sent to find a merchant’s lost notes, which sends them into one of the game’s open-world areas featuring all manner of flora and fauna, including aggressive monsters. Echoes of Aincrad features dynamic weather and day-night cycles that significantly affect lighting.
However, players don’t have to take on challenging quests and fight monsters alone. Despite the game being a completely single-player game, it allows players to group with AI NPC partners who help them on their journey, some new and some returning, including series protagonist Kirito himself. This time, the player has Iori, who fights alongside them and has a variety of useful combat skills. It’s worth noting that AI associates seem to talk during and outside of combat, but these quick comments can be repetitive, as Iori was already repeating several lines in the short video alone.
Gameplay, like previous titles, is played in third-person and in real time. Players can block, attack, and evade attacks through quick and precise movements. Combat looks fast and flashy but also very visually striking, almost too striking, as lights and colours splash and litter the screen with every hack and slash. Players have a variety of skills to utilize. This includes Parry Slash, which is a move that can be executed right after a successful parry, Dodge Slash, which can be followed up after a dodge, and Reversal Slash, which is a lot trickier than the others, as players need to specifically punish enemy openings with a reversal attack, which has its own dedicated button. Other than that, the video shows the player using a skill called the Focus Ability, which slows time, allowing them to react more comfortably in hectic moments.
Another showcased ability was Iori’s support skill, which creates a healing circle for the party that lets the player heal while still allowing them to attack simultaneously. We also see fantastic-looking finishers from both members of the party, including one that sees both the player and their partner executing a flashy and swift finishing attack on a monster together.
Judging by the content seen in the video, it’s safe to assume that Echoes of Aincrad will feature a variety of useful skills and even more impressive looking combat abilities. After each battle, players can pick up several items dropped by enemies, with rarer items showing up depending on the enemy or boss they defeated. Echoes of Aincrad’s more challenging enemies come in the form of Elite bosses, which are trickier and tougher to deal with and defeat, as some can cause several debuffs on the player. One boss was shown to cause a Poison debuff on the player, and another caused Sleep.
When taking on quests or exploring the world, players will come across chests that hold various items such as consumables, recipes, and items for crafting and upgrades. Players will also run into safe areas, which makes more areas of the map visible and accessible. Overall, gameplay-wise, Sword Art Online Echoes of Aincrad seems to be another decent entry in the series so far. It’s hard to tell how great an entry the upcoming title will be without knowing what else it has to offer to distinguish itself from previous titles, especially without any story details.
What was shown to us was gameplay footage of a game that’s clearly still in development, but still featuring some great, smooth combat. However, the visuals so far are far from impressive, and can only be described as rough and lacking in detail. Though this should change when the full game fully launches on July 10 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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