echochrome is a Puzzle Game released for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable in 2008. The game was produced by Jun Fujiki and was released as part of the Game Yarouze! lineup, which gave the spotlight to indie games.
Set in a minimalistic, monochrome void, the player is responsible for guiding a single animated artist's mannequin through checkpoints dotted around the level and back to the starting point. Players can alter the level's layout by tilting the camera such that two otherwise disjointed platforms can be navigated to and fro in normally impossible ways, a la the Penrose staircase
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echoshift, a spin-off game, was released solely for the PSP in 2009. Players directly control the mannequin this time and must navigate a series of 2D platforming levels to reach the exit. The catch is that time is rewound through a "Time Bounce" after a fixed amount of time, at which point the player controls a new mannequin and the previous timelines' mannequins continue to act on the level as they did before. Players must take advantage of this to create a path so that at least one of these mannequins reaches the exit, or risk getting a game over due to running out of Time Bounces.
The series eventually saw a proper sequel, echochrome ii, which was released in 2010 solely for the PS3. Instead of perspective trickery, the game revolves around light and shadow puzzles. The mannequin exists solely as a shadow, and the player is required to manipulate the shadow landscape projected by objects in the level by moving a light source around using a PlayStation Move controller.
Tropes:
- 2.5D: echoshift uses this style of gameplay.
- Actionized Sequel: echoshift is an actionized SpinOff, putting the mannequin Player Character's control directly into the player's hands instead of being automated. The game also has several level hazards that are dealt with via Quick Time Event, something that isn't present in either echochrome or its sequel.
- all lowercase letters: All of the games in the series have their titles stylized like this.
- American Kirby Is Hardcore: Inverted for echochrome and echoshift. The Japanese and American versions' box art simply displays the mannequin either by itself or set against the backdrop of some levels, with the title usually being presented in some variety of unassuming serif font. The European versions of both games, on the other hand, feature pastel colors, a completely different title presentation using colorful, sketched letters, and a real person at the bottom emitting Rebus Bubbles with the mannequin and/or game levels portrayed in them. Nobody really knows why the drastic shift in box art tone was made, but at least one website speculates that Sony thought the game's simplistic monochrome style wouldn't drive sales.
- Classical Music: The games' soundtracks are exclusively of this genre.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: In echochrome ii, yellow blocks indicate points where a path can be formed on the shadow version of the level, given the correct light source position.
- Fast-Forward Mechanic:
- In echochrome, the player can make the mannequin walk faster by holding down the X button.
- In echoshift, players can skip to the next Time Bounce by selecting "next cast" in the pause menu instead of waiting for the timer to count down.
- Forced Perspective: Much like the "impossible object" art the game takes its inspiration from, levels in echochrome are always presented with a forced perspective to facilitate the game's gimmicks. In this case, it's the parallel isometric camera projection (that is, the same object appears the same regardless of its distance to the camera).
- Market-Based Title: echochrome's original Japanese title is 無限回廊 (mugen kairou, lit. "infinite corridor"), possibly referencing the Penrose staircase. echoshift, on the other hand, is named 時限回廊 (jigen kairou, lit. "time corridor"), which more obviously references the game's time manipulation gimmick.
- Obvious Rule Patch: In echochrome, players aren't allowed to tilt the camera completely above or below the level. The camera will also automatically shift slightly up or down if the player attempts to move the camera completely perpendicular to the level. The reason for this is made apparent through echochrome's prototype, the OLE Coordinate System, in which tilting the camera into any of these positions results in several Game Breaking Bugs due to the engine trying to apply the Perspective Travelling rule on blocks occupying exactly the same space in the 2D projection.
- Real-Time with Pause: In echochrome, pressing the triangle button causes the mannequin to stop walking and take up a thinking pose. This is particularly useful for when the mannequin has very little space to maneuver between obstacles.
- Rule of Perception: The entire gameplay loop in echochrome and echochrome ii revolves around five "laws" that employ this trope, treating the 2D projection of the 3D levels very literally. This is even lampshaded by the tutorial narrator in both games, who says that "what you see is the truth".
- Perspective Travelling: The mannequin can travel between two disjointed paths if they appear connected.
- Perspective Landing: When the mannequin falls through a hole in the floor, they'll fall onto whatever appears to below it.
- Perspective Existence: If a gap in a path is covered by a foreground object, the gap is filled in.
- Perspective Absence: The inverse of Perspective Existence. If an obstacle such as a hole in the floor is covered by a foreground object, it ceases to exist.
- Perspective Jump: The inverse of Perspective Landing. When the mannequin walks onto a jump pad, they land on whatever appears to be directly above them.
- Temporal Duplication: echoshift's main gimmick.
- Title Drop: Downplayed. The games partially reference their titles by calling certain gameplay elements "echoes", like the checkpoints in echochrome and the player's temporal clones in echoshift
