Synduality Echo of Ada is a new and exciting extraction shooter developed by Game Studio Inc. and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. This title catapults players into a post-apocalyptic landscape, where mankind has been decimated by a poisonous rain that has altered the ecosystem, animals and plants, giving rise to aberrations known as Ender. The few survivors have taken refuge in underground cities and undertake expeditions to the surface.
The Drifter’s best friend
The technology of 2222 gave birth to humanoid AIs specialized in exploration and combat, called Magus. These support their uniter (owner) in battles against Enders and in recovering AO crystals. Those who dedicate their lives to exploring the surface supported by Magus are called Drifters, and make good use of powerful humanoid machines called Cradle Coffins.
In Synduality Echo of Ada players therefore take on the role of Drifters, and begin their adventure by creating their personal Magus using a dedicated editor, in which it is possible to define the type, personality and physical appearance. There are five types of Magus capable of providing different advantages in the form of passive and active skills. The five types are Weather Observer, Cradle Support, Anti-Ender, Anti-Cradle, and Defender.
The Weather Observer allows you to display information relating to acid rain on the radar and is equipped with a broad-spectrum scanner specialized in searching for AO crystals, its active ability allows you to create a bubble of protection from bad weather, allowing the Cradle to survive longer under acid precipitation.
The Cradle Support enjoys efficient use of consumables that can greatly accelerate its usage time, the scanner equipped with this unit allows you to more quickly view data relating to nearby players as well as the load they are carrying. The active ability creates a healing dome at the location of the Cradle, useful for saving consumables and gaining an advantage in combat against Ender and Cradle.
The Anti-Ender is a specialized hunting unit. Its scanner displays the vital signs of Enders, while its active ability unleashes a storm of hits on prey. Unfortunately, the Anti-Ender’s scanner has a limited range of action when searching for crystals and a slow analysis in capturing information on Cradles.
The Anti-Cradle grants an advantage in battles against other Cradles, specifically against other players and bandits, PVE enemies aboard Cradle Coffins. Its passive ability allows you to view the vital parameters of other Cradles, while the active ability freezes enemies in place allowing you to focus your shots on their weak points. As with the Anti-Ender, the scanner has a limited range of action when searching for crystals and a slow analysis of Cradles.
The final type of Magus is the Defender, useful in identifying and resisting explosives such as grenades and mines left by other players and bandits. This unit uses a wide-range scanner specialized in quickly capturing information on Cradles even at great distances, guaranteeing the player excellent tools to avoid hot zones and ambushes. The Defender’s active ability creates a large frontal barrier capable of absorbing hits, useful for defending against ambushes during extraction.
The garage and ruins of Amasia
The vehicle used by players during exploration is the Cradle Coffin, a humanoid robot with interchangeable parts and equipment, each of which is equipped with different parameters and passive abilities. Before performing a sortie (leaving on the surface) players choose which parts of Cradle to use and the consumables to transport. In case of defeat the parts and equipment will be lost. Fortunately, it is possible to take out insurance before departure which, after a certain period of time, will cover part of the credit loss. The player’s operational hub is the garage: inside it it is possible to carry out renovations in order to unlock menus and useful functions that were initially not accessible such as the laboratory, supplies and the piggy bank. Renovations require the passage of in-game time as well as credits and materials found in the ruins of the city of Amasia.
The exploration of the ruins consists of collecting resources and extracting AO crystals, the latter are defended by the Enders and are converted into credits after extracting them from the map via the elevators. The first area explored at the beginning of the game is the Northern Ruins, characterized by a lower concentration of enemies and events, later, by completing requests, the Southern Area is made available, full of cooperative and enemy events. In addition to the extraction shooter experience, Synduality Echo of Ada offers a single player versus bot mode in which it is possible to collect confidential documents, converted at the end of the mission into short films about the history of the game world. The types of enemies are not very varied, often differing only with the change of color and an increase in basic parameters, such as life or damage
A look at the game world
We tested Synduality Echo of Ada on a PC with an Nvidia RTX 3070 video card and a high-performance Ryzen 7 3700x processor. The game remained fluid, allowing us to enjoy the full experience without any kind of problem. The game maps, although limited, are defined by a good vertical level design and extremely immersive environments. The soundtrack faithfully accompanies the changes of pace between combat and exploration following the style of Japanese anime.
Unfortunately in the game it is not possible to invite other players into your game, as you do not have a friends list, and the few cooperative interactions with other players are limited to temporary collaborations in events, and communications via emotes or gestures. The game follows the live in service model by presenting an expansion pass full of cosmetic elements for the Magus and parts for your Cradle, which can then be recreated in the laboratory through projects. The game economy is not very balanced towards players who favor PVE, the main source of in-game income consists in the sale of equipment of defeated players, encouraging PVP. Overall Synduality Echo of Ada is a good game recommended for lovers of mechs and extraction shooters focused more on PVP than PVE.