Med Echoes of Aincrad erbjuds en visuellt tilltalande återkomst till Sword Art Online-serien.

En svensk, AI-genererad sammanfattning finner du i slutet av recensionen

Once again, we step into the Role-Playing world of Sword Art Online (SAO). With a new spin on the story and your very own custom player character, does Echoes of Aincrad offer a truly unique player experience? Or does it fall into the same trap as most SAO games, over-relying on tropes and the original cast members to carry the weight?

Read on below for an in-depth look at the Echoes of Aincrad: Ultimate Edition content ahead of the DLC release.

Echoes of Aincrad

We step once more into the virtual world of Aincrad with our own unique character. Does Echoes of Aincrad fulfill the promise of a personalized, player-driven experience?

The game starts with an interesting narrative approach by casting your character as a beta tester a month before the Death Game goes into full swing, eventually allowing you to experience the thrill of the dreaded ordeal alongside the original main cast of Sword Art Online.

While this is a refreshing take given it’s one of the few games in the series where you control a custom avatar once the beta phase ends and the main game begins, you are locked into a rigid gameplay loop: start a quest, defeat a boss, gather materials, return to town, improve your equipment, allocate stat points, and repeat. The cycle never changes, and the further you go, the staler it gets.

That is the main drawback of Echoes of Aincrad overall. While it is a welcome addition to the series, it comes far too late. It feels like a PS3-era game that plays it incredibly safe, relying far too heavily on the original cast rather than expanding on this fresh crop of original characters.

Weapons and Progression

Echoes of Aincrad has a plethora of weapon types to choose from. Although you can only swap them at town inns (why we can’t swap at field safe zones is beyond me), the variety keeps the gameplay fresh and interesting despite the repetitive environments that plague the game.

Do you wish to play a tank-style class? Arm yourself with a Sword and Shield, or a Mace. Fancy something a bit harder-hitting? Take an Axe or a Greatsword for a swing. Want to cosplay Kirito? Ditch the shield and go single-sword. The choices are varied, and with each weapon type offering a staggering number of options and mod variables, you can craft a build truly unique to your playstyle.

Character progression is quite well thought out for this style of game. You are completely unrestricted rather than hardlocked into a class, which is a welcome change from the usual tropes. The EX-Mod system for crafting and improving weapons is also a great addition to a system that might otherwise feel static.

However, while I enjoy this mod system, there is no reasonable way to measure the exact impact your choices make. For example, numerous weapons come equipped with unique debuff mods; while you can add EX-Mods to increase your status infliction chance, there is no way to tell how long it takes to poison an enemy or how much damage that poison does.

While the combat and overall design are acceptable, many elements feel unfinished or unpolished. It often feels as though Echoes of Aincrad rushed out the door and needed much more development time to become the game the creators envisioned. Given that we currently only have access to two floors for the entire game, the developers really should have put more effort into polishing what was included.

While I don’t dislike Echoes of Aincrad and had some enjoyable moments, several defining issues (covered in the conclusion) quickly turned me off the overall experience, making me want to rush to the end rather than savor the journey.

Unanswered//Butterfly

As an exclusive bonus for the Ultimate Edition, buyers receive extra content beyond the previously mentioned DLC. While some might expect just a standard digital artbook and soundtrack, Echoes of Aincrad surprisingly includes a full-length feature movie: Sword Art Online: Unanswered//Butterfly.

Sword Art Online media is extensive and hit-or-miss when it comes to movies and anime adaptations (seriously, some of the anime arcs should put the writers on a watch list). However, Unanswered//Butterfly is definitely one of the better releases in recent years. It effectively ties together the continued story of Echoes of Aincrad long after players complete the main campaign.

To avoid spoilers, it is highly recommended that you only watch the film after fully completing the base game (including the hidden bosses), as it makes heavy reference to the main plot.

Unanswered//Butterfly follows the adventure of Emirun a bright and vibrant 14-year-old girl and her tutor-turned-gaming-buddy, Rex. After losing their party, they navigate the Death Game on a quest to find the Black Swordsman to avenge their friends. Despite being underleveled, Emirun’s enthusiastic attitude paired with Rex’s purely analytical mindset makes them a great team. The story starts slowly and follows a somewhat predictable movie format that leans a little too heavily on pre-established characters, but it remains an enjoyable experience that expands (and slightly spoils) future DLC content.

Overall, Unanswered//Butterfly is a solid addition. At two hours long, it is definitely worth a watch. A shocking betrayal, while obviously early on, is executed well and remains genuinely entertaining to watch unfold. That said, it drops into controversial story tropes for shock value once again (reminiscent of the Oberon/Asuna conflict in the Fairy Dance arc). I personally feel the movie could have done without this, though it does illustrate how deranged someone can become in a world with no rules or repercussions.

The only other downside to the movie is Emirun herself. She is overly enthusiastic to the point of being annoying, constantly shifting between an irritating little sister, a whiny brat, and a dominant yandere archetype. While this showcases the voice actor’s impressive range, it results in an erratic character who jumps from angry to sad to instantly happy at the mere thought of food a trait even used as a running joke in the film.

While I enjoyed the movie more than I expected, I don’t think the Ultimate Edition price tag is fully justified. While the new characters are great additions, the narrative’s over-reliance on established figures proves that SAO content still struggles to stand on its own without Kirito and Asuna making an appearance.

Conclusion

I have quite a few issues with Echoes of Aincrad, which I’ll break down below (if I weren’t mindful of the word count, I could easily write several pages on these points alone):

1. Your Player Character is Entirely Pointless to the Story

This is one of my biggest issues with the narrative. While other SAO games share this flaw, the explicit selling point of Echoes of Aincrad was crafting your own personal journey. Instead, your custom character acts as little more than a taxi transporting the actual cast from point A to point B. You add nothing to conversations or the overall plot; there is nothing special about you. You are essentially a sidekick to side characters while the core cast (Kirito and Asuna) handles the real issues.

To make matters worse, despite choosing from numerous voice options during character creation, your avatar remains mute during dialogue exchanges. Your interaction options are limited to nodding, shaking your head, or looking confused. Furthermore, your choices carry no weight.

Example:

NPC: ”What do you think about this potential world-ending information?”

Player Response Options: [Nod Head] / [Shake Head]

Regardless of what you choose, the dialogue progresses identically. Even if you respond negatively, NPCs react as if you told them exactly what they wanted to hear, which feels extremely jarring.

The real gut-punch is that your character does speak quite frequently, in fact but only to call out other characters names or shout the iconic ”SWITCH!” command in battle. Your character isn’t intentionally mute; their voice simply has zero relevance outside of combat.

2. Maps and Chests Are Infuriating

While I understand the design attempts to emulate an MMORPG, locking off areas with strict boundaries ruins the exploration experience. Frequently, you will spot an item, enemy, or chest only to hit an invisible wall with the dreaded ”Outside of Quest Area” warning, forcefully teleporting you back a few feet. Why place visible items there if players cannot interact with them?

While these areas eventually open up through sidequests, it feels like an artificial constraint. I suspect this was done to avoid loading entire floor maps at once, but the areas aren’t large enough to justify such aggressive boundary enforcement. It becomes especially confusing in areas with heavy verticality, forcing tedious backtracking to find the one hidden path forward.

Similarly, outside of crafting blueprints (many of which turn out to be useless anyway), treasure chests feel entirely unrewarding. Why spend time clearing a map to collect chests when you can buy 99 units of those exact items at any town vendor? While a few chests might help in a pinch, the vast majority contain junk. It actively discourages exploration and makes you want to rush to the end even for players who didn’t buy the Deluxe Edition and start with the 50,000 Col bonus.

All in all, Sword Art Online: Echoes of Aincrad is a visually appealing but shallow entry in the SAO video game franchise, burdened by a steep price tag. While it has its moments, the experience is weighed down by an over-reliance on legacy characters, a lack of enemy variety, and repetitive gameplay loop design. Even hardcore SAO fans should think twice before purchasing; it is best to wait for a steep discount.

AI-genererad sammanfattning på svenska

Echoes of Aincrad erbjuder en visuellt tilltalande återkomst till seriens ikoniska virtuella värld, men det lovande konceptet tyngs i slutändan ner av repetitiva spelupplägg och ett tungt beroende av gamla serietroper.

Anpassningsförmåga kontra repetition

Spelets bästa egenskap är karaktärsutvecklingen. Genom att frångå låsta klassystem ger Echoes of Aincrad spelaren full frihet att skapa unika spelstilar kring ett brett utbud av vapen och ett djupt EX-Mod-hantverkssystem. Att kunna byta vapen på värdshusen i städerna håller striderna underhållande en tid.

Denna flexibilitet undermineras dock rejält av en tjatig grundloop: ta ett uppdrag, besegra en boss, samla material, uppgradera utrustningen och upprepa. Bristen på fiendevariation och varierande miljöer leder snabbt till att man tröttnar. Dessutom känns utforskandet begränsat och dåligt belönande. Godtyckliga gränser för ”Utanför uppdragsområdet” återställer ofta spelarens framsteg, samtidigt som den absoluta majoriteten av alla kistor bara innehåller värdelösa föremål som enkelt kan köpas i staden.

En meningslös huvudkaraktär

Handlingen börjar förvisso med ett intressant upplägg – din egenskapade karaktär är en betatestare innan dödsspelet drar igång på allvar – men genomförandet lyckas inte leverera en genuint spelardriven historia. Din avatar är i princip en stum åskådare. Dialogvalen saknar helt betydelse, och datorkaraktärerna reagerar exakt likadant oavsett vad du väljer. Trots att du väljer röstlinjer under karaktärsskapandet förblir din karaktär tyst under viktiga sekvenser och fungerar mer som en chaufför åt det befintliga figurgalleriet.

Innehåll i Ultimate Edition: Unanswered//Butterfly

För dem som köper Ultimate Edition är den medföljande tvåtimmarsfilmen Sword Art Online: Unanswered//Butterfly en klar höjdpunkt. Filmen följer de nya karaktärerna Emirun och Rex i deras jakt på hämnd i dödsspelet. Den bjuder på bra tempo, starka känslomässiga vändningar och en välutförd tvist – även om den lutar sig mot bekanta grepp och korta framträdanden av Kirito och Asuna. Även om Emiruns drastiska humörsvängningar kan vara irriterande, erbjuder filmen en betydligt mer fängslande historia än själva grundspelet.

Omdöme

Echoes of Aincrad känns som ett spel från PS3-eran som spelar det alldeles för säkert och släppts långt efter sin tid. Det öppna progressionssystemet och bonusfilmen ger förvisso ren glädje, men den ytliga handlingen, den passiva huvudpersonen och den föråldrade uppdragsdesignen gör den höga prislappen svår att motivera. Det rekommenderas enbart till tvåhuggna fans, och även då först efter en rejäl prissänkning.

Vi har fått denna produkt från tillverkaren. Eftersom GameElite.se är helt oberoende har tillverkaren inte kunnat påverka recensionens innehåll (läs mer).

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Written by: Steve Gilman