Game Studio inc. / Bandai Namco (studio)
16 (certificate)
26 January 2025 (released)
03 February 2025
I’m a man of simple tastes. I enjoy many finer things in life, whether they be mechas, extracting vital resources for an underground society which has been hiding from rain that kills people …. And Wifus. And sci-fi PvPvE shooter, SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada has given me all of those things and a little bit more. With my preview a few months back, I was intrigued by how SYNDUALITY would be able to up the ante and implement some much-needed changes. So once again, I overcame my fear of online multiplayer games and dived into the world of mechas, wifus, and extraction shooting to check out the release of SYNDUALITY.
What is SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada?
SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada is what I can describe as very anime, very mecha, and all about extraction, shooting, and taking care of your helpful Wifu or Husbando. To certain levels of cringe, but also certain levels of anime wholesomeness that will have you questioning if you can love a gathering of polygons …. Of course, you can, we all fell in love with Lady D in RE8 didn’t we?
SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada takes place in the year 2222, many years after a devastating event known as The Tears of the New Moon. This catastrophic event produced poisonous rain which wiped out most of humanity and created strange creatures that now hunt the remaining populous on Earth. To survive the world-ending event, humanity burrowed deep within the Earth, laying low within massive bunkers to survive the deadly rain (yep, very anime but at least we’re not all in an online video game world… which is a popular anime trend).
Years have passed and while life within the underground has provided safety from what lurks on the surface, it is tough, and resources are running low. Taking on the role of a “Drifter”, a sort of hired hand/gun who ventures to the surface to gather resources, it’s up to you to collect a plentiful bounty and survive your daily trek to the surface. And a successful bounty is usually harbouring a haul of “AO Crystals”, a rare mineral that provides heat, light and energy for the underground civilisation. And it fetches a very high price. So, you can imagine that every Drifter is looking for a handsome payday with any meals possible… even to stab another Drifter in the back!
Well, nothing changes am I right?
But in your quest for those sweet AO Crystals, you have a trusty AI companion, either a Wifu or Husbando, who helps, provides useful tips, and hints, and congratulates you after a good day’s work! Quite a winning formula if you ask me! And believe me, you have to look after them as they look after you!
Mecha, Crystals, and a handsome Husbando!
Extraction shooters have become a big deal over the years, with the likes of Hunt: Showdown excelling in intension mission-based action, that rewards skill, and professionalism, but also giving you an open hand of wealth for carefully betraying your fellow hunters. This is an enthralling experience, and one that many find great accomplishment in, but can become a little too much if you’re more focused on the core gameplay loop, outside of the betrayal.
SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada does have the notion of betrayal and scavenging your fellow mecha buddy’s loot for an extra stash of wealth but ensures that safety and punishment for misdeeds are met. I can see people turning away from extraction shooters because of this key mechanic of PVP stealing, but rest assured there were some things to deter you from it, but not completely.
SYNDUALITY provides grand-scale environments for exploration, the chance to extract resources, and plenty of opportunities to be mortality wounded, and humiliated. The point of a PvEvP extraction shooter, like Escape from Tarkov, is taking high risks for immense rewards. You venture out on the surface, fight aliens, and gather vital resources for a massive payday. And all the while either ignoring and evading other Drifters, providing a level of mutual respect so everyone wins, to being utterly hostile and taking everything for yourself. It’s an engaging formula that has captured the attention of many gamers. It can be quite daunting if you fancy chilling with your Wifu and want to have some fun (not that kind of fun).
SYNDUALITY does allow this and while the experience will change for other players, I was able to mostly avoid conflict, even seeing players who were quite civil… which is nice for me. But in all honestly, I found myself not even considering the notion of killing another player, and I rarely come across another in the field. The world is so massive that there is plenty of room for half a dozen players and you’ll never see another up close. I did find there were enough resources to get what I needed, and while the AO Crystal appearances can be limited, they are there and ready for picking.
I do feel that early on, there isn’t much point as you’ll fill up your inventory way too quickly to even care about killing another player for their loot! That’s not to say there wasn’t an intense encounter or two, and in truth, some of these felt like warning shots and no one pursued me as such. But in two instances it was either me or them, and after fending for myself, I made quick getaways. The funniest thing I observed was a fight between two players, one killed the other, and then another came to finish the job. I walked on by and they didn’t bother with me but did give me a little wave, which was nice.
I can see player experiences will differ drastically, and sure enough you can play safe, but there are reasons to push players into being A-Holes, and that’s a good thing. Being a Blackmarket player (which is a focus on PvP) will be tasked with killing other players, and this is indeed for those who enjoy games like Hunt: Showdown. But outside of that, the game feels quite chill, and this might change, but I feel a lot of players just want to mine, get their stuff, and maybe help someone else out as their good deed of the day.
And there is the bounty system, which acts as a nice deterrent for those who kill other players, as you can be swamped if you have a price on your head. One of my end-game sessions revealed while I didn’t see anyone, there was a massive gathering where three battled on one player and they were smashed to bits it seems. So there is enough incentive for playing it safe and being a total douche.
Otherwise, you will indeed face off against other enemies from aliens to bandit mechas, and while combat can be brutal and methodical, it’s never truly gratifying or evolving as you progress. Mechas here are much slower than in other games, like in Armoured Core. It’s not to the point like movement in Gears of War, but you won’t be flying high, and able to pull off devastating attacks. It’s all about positioning, reserving your ammo, and knowing what battles to pick.
The shooting, gear, and weaponry have weighed them, feeling impactful and generally being quite enjoyable when you fight. There is a decent selection of firearms for the job at hand, and is an element of resource management, where making every shot count ramps up the tension and meaningfulness of combat. And the choice of mecha parts and cores is fantastic, with lots of designs to suit everyone's style.
But I do wish there were more creative options or meaningful upgrades that vastly expanded the range of attacks, as it felt like players I came across had the same gear I did… remember, variety is the spice of life. Look at Armored Core VI which kills it with the amount of tools, weapons, and special attacks you can do in the game. Here, all the mechas feel the same, move the same, and perform the same overall.
Mecha, Mecha, joy, joy!
As for the extracting, it’s perfectly fine if not a little tedious at first since your inventory is limited. I actually did find after a while quite a bit of joy and relaxation in just finding and mining AO crystals. It again, never evolves and you will go on rinse and repeat to gather them, but if you can gel with this component of gameplay, it is rewarding and often the most interesting part of the game.
What does affect the process and not in the best way are the Wifu/Husbando companions and the rain. I loved the idea of having a digital companion follow me around and guide me through extractions, but these guys are just so dull and repeat the same few lines over, and over again. Even Pikachu, who says only one word over, and over has more personality and variety in their vocabulary and expression than these guys. They’re here just to dress up and that’s it. There are no subsystems to flesh them out or make them grow as your companions sadly.
And the rain, the rain is a nice idea, one that could work incredibly well. But as you’re on a timer, it can lend to a chunk of time just being eaten up and unfairly in some instances. It could work if more covered areas were introduced, like tunnels running along the map which could be ultra-dangerous for players, making a delicate decision of moving up on land, or below where more monsters lie could have been more engaging.
I will say that SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada is a rather visually striking game, that harbours a lot of variety, high detail, and generally a nice art style. I appreciated the vast number of biomes, the level of density, the scale and the intensity of detail and colour to make them visually stunning. You’ll find yourself immersed within ruined cities, oddly neon-coloured vistas, and other stunning landmarks that will often leave you in awe.
But what made SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada quite engaging and kept me going back for more AO crystals, was the customisation. There’s a bountiful amount of stuff to customise from your Mech, mummy Wifu, and your base of operations. It does take some time to find the right resources at first, but it’s worth it due to the number of ways you can change up and personalise your base in the way you see fit. However, when you start getting deeper into the customisation and expand your changes at the base, you’ll notice the cost and time consumption for upgrading/customising your base can become painful and too much of a grind.
In short, the economy at the time being is not great, often asking you to wait 10 to 30 minutes while stuff builds, and the required amount becomes incredibly high and tedious to farm. But there are tokens to buy to speed up building times and all… which is not great either.
Overall?
When I played the beta, I rather dug SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada for plenty of reasons, from its solid mecha gunplay and exploration, the depth of customisation, and course, the cool open alien world filled with monsters …. And the mummy Wifu/Husbando stuff.
But I now can dive deeper into the world of SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada, I can see plenty of problems arise, and while the game is still pretty decent overall, it is disappointing as more could have been included, such as quality of life changes, depth to your companions, more urgency and perks to engaging with other players, be it positively or negatively, and just more compelling actions/firepower for your mecha. But also, not having a broken economy.
SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada is worth checking out, but it is likely after a few patches and revisions from the developers. Keep an eye on it and hopefully, some, if not a lot of the problems addressed here will be fixed.
++ Visually pleasing, compelling game-world, and cool anime Wifu/Husbando stuff
++ Solid combat, and intense survival gameplay
+ Lots of cool customisable content
-- Lack of depth with companion mechanics, and extraction gameplay
- Needed more mecha firepower and variety
- The economy is grindy and unfair currently
A review copy of SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada was kindly provided by publisher Bandai Namco