Chained Echoes melds magic and mechs into a nostalgic new JRPG

Aiming for a Q4 2022 release across Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One

Some games look so sweet, it doesn’t matter if they fall outside your everyday genres — you’re still drawn in. As someone who rarely invests 50-plus hours into turn-based JRPG comfort food, that’s how I see Chained Echoes, an upcoming Super Nintendo-style adventure from Matthias Linda. It’s a world of dragons and mechs, and it looks fantastic.

There’s a new trailer out today in collaboration with Deck13 Spotlight, the indie-boosting arm of The Surge developer Deck13 Interactive, which also repped CrossCode.

The magic phrase: no random encounters

I’m a sucker for this kind of just-get-into-it battle transition. It gets me every time! I’m also particularly interested in that sprawled-out Reward Board (shown at 1:03 in the video), which looks like a fun, satisfying way to spice up the usual JRPG grindin’.

“Chained Echoes is a story-driven game where a group of heroes travel around the vast continent of Valandis to bring an end to the war between its three kingdoms,” according to its creator, and sure, that’s a more-than-fine reason to hop aboard a cool airship.

Here’s the key promise: “You’ll find everything an RPG lover’s heart needs. A complex equipment and skill system, stats, loot, sidequests, big towns, dangerous dungeons, and since this is a classic JRPG-styled game, a whole lot of minigames.”

Trailer aside, the real news today is that Chained Echoes is coming to Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One in Q4 2022 — though I don’t know that any of us are going to strictly hold the game to that release window. It’ll be ready when it’s ready, I’m sure.

Chained Echoes seems like the kind of JRPG passion project that could only happen after a lifetime of playing the classics, the deep cuts, and a fair few flawed gems. It’s an especially tall order for an indie developer, but everything shown so far looks encouraging.

“We are almost there,” Linda said in a message to Kickstarter backers.

Jordan Devore

Jordan is a founding member of Destructoid and poster of seemingly random pictures. They are anything but random.