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I have long been interested in Synduality: Echo of Ada ever since Bandai Namco first revealed it around the 2022 Tokyo Game Show. The premise of exploring a world inside a mech while being accompanied by a customizable waifu (or husbando) sounds very appealing to me. However, I ended up having to readjust my expectations after learning that the title would appear as an online-exclusive game.

The general gist of this game's flow is that you are a Drifter who has to gather materials while piloting a mech unit called Cradle Coffin on the ground. You will also be accompanied by an AI consort called Magus, whose appearance you can customize to your liking.

When you just start the game, you will get to create your first Magus. While you can adjust their face details and body part lengths with sliders, I noticed that dragging the bars with a mouse lets me adjust with closer precision compared to a gamepad.

One of the most important items to gather during your outings will be the AO (Amorphous Orange) Crystals, which you will sell to earn money. These crystals are originally from outcrops that occasionally spawn at specific locations. But drilling through the outcrops to break them will take some time, and it will also generate noise that attracts monsters called Enders that attack any Cradle they come across.

The world of Synduality also has toxic rain that is hazardous to humans and their Cradles, the latter of which will have actual damage after the weather resistance layer is already depleted. The same rain will temporarily strengthen the Enders as well. However, it will also increase the grade of the harvestable AO Crystals, which generate more money when sold. And as some of the late-game missions will require you to get high-grade crystals, it will gradually force you to take higher risks for not only better rewards but also further progressions.

Your Magus will play a lot of roles during your exploration sessions. Besides scanning containers for important items, they can detect any Ender or Cradle from a distance. And for the latter, they can also determine whether they are hostile bandits and bounty targets or potential friendlies.

I said "potential" just now because, as the game's tutorials taught us, we are supposed not to blindly trust every player on the field. While some players can invite you to form a co-op party, several others may threaten you to surrender your loot to them.

There are even some players who are striving to the dark side and become a bounty target by deliberately destroying another player's unit. This is partially because there is an entirely different mission line by ing the dark side. However, they must clear the first few missions in a map specifically geared to host fellow trigger-happy players before they can return to the initial map as a real menace.

Although from what I've seen on the public leaderboards, I find it a bit weird that there is a value ceiling for the bounty target players (600,000 as of the launch season) while there is none for the bounty-hunting of the Association. On one side, I do acknowledge the need to balance the bounty values when they are destroyed. But on the other, I feel like there should be another way to properly show the bounty targets' rankings outside of the aforementioned values.

After gathering enough items, you must head toward an available Return Elevator to retain both your Cradle and loot. If your Cradle is destroyed before you can return, you will lose not only all the loot but also your unit parts. However, you can purchase insurance for your Cradle's parts and weapons so that you can claim some funds as compensation when you lose them in the following session.

Once you have made a successful, safe return, your Magus will give you a debriefing rundown of your activities in the last session. Other than showing the routes and items taken, it also reveals details on the bandits and other players you have encountered. This feature looked cool the first few times, but it ended up feeling tedious after a long while due to the repetitive lines, especially the ones for first-time discoveries. So I eventually just opted to fast-forward or sometimes even skip the scene altogether.

The first-time encounters I mentioned just now, however, will be actually important for subsequent outings. Your Magus will record the sightings in their database. The next time you open your map, you can check the locations of the items that become relevant to your newer missions, and you can even place your own Objective Point marker to set a waypoint towards those locations.

My gripe with this feature, though, is that I can only check the map during a sortie. Even though the Magus will put you at a starting point where you can accomplish your mission objectives more easily, I would've preferred more if I could study the map and the recorded locations at a calmer place like the Base so that I could plan my routes better.

Speaking of the player's Base, it is shaping up to be one of the biggest motivations in this game. You initially start with a run-down building, but you can gradually renovate it with the materials you have collected from your sorties.

Renovating the Base's foundations and upgrading its facilities will bring many improvements to the gameplay experience. You can get not only feature improvements like larger inventory limits, daily bonuses, and cheaper repair costs. You can also notice how your Magus interacts in a more leisurely manner with all the high-quality facilities.

After completing several missions in the online mode, you can unlock a new line of missions issued by the Amasia Collapse Investigation Committee. These are single-player missions that will differ in a big way from the primary extraction shooter mode, as they will pit you in unique maps with a fixed gear loadout. That means you will have to complete the missions by precisely utilizing the limited amount of ammunition and items that can also drop from destroyed enemies.

Instead of AO Crystals, the scan mode in these missions will let you locate record logs which, if successfully obtained, will let you watch audio and/or video records of past events that also help explain the game's world setting. The exclusive and limited resources given in these solo missions make them even more challenging, though I hope there could be a mode in the missions where we can bring our own loadouts from the main mode.

One particular thing I noticed with Synduality: Echo of Ada is that the game has very demanding requirements for playing with maximum graphics settings. Even on a regular (non-Pro) PS5, the "Prioritize Graphics" option will make it unable to maintain a decent frame rate. That means those who play on the older console will have to settle with "Prioritize Performance," although I didn't notice any significant graphical downgrades in the console.

I also managed to the open network test on PC back then, but my now-substandard i9-10900 processor also struggled with "Prioritize Graphics," so I had to choose the performance option, which also ended up making the Magus model look very blurry. The full release thankfully has more detailed graphical settings, so I can set the model detail setting to High while retaining other options to maintain a somewhat more stable frame rate.

One thing that might draw away the more casual players other than the loot and gear perma-loss, though, is that since Synduality: Echo of Ada is being made as an online-exclusive live service game, it has daily and weekly missions which, when completed, will contribute more experience points than most regular outings. These points will be gathered to unlock exclusive level rewards in the Drifter , which will be reset when a season has run its course for about three months.

This game also has a currency called Syn Coins, which are mostly obtained through microtransactions. But even though the game has a Shop menu, it does not have any Gacha or Lootbox purchases.

A majority of the entries in the menu consist of access to additional Magus and sets of outfits and accessories for them, so most of them are only for Magus cosmetics. Other than that, you can also spend the Syn Coins to purchase level boosts for the Drifter , which also include the Deluxe and Ultimate Drifter es with additional exclusive bonuses.

But even though you can have multiple Magi in your roster, I find it rather odd that we cannot make them interact with each other. Only the Magus you have selected as your current main partner appears in all the main menu scenes, and the rest are nowhere to be seen at all. I understand some players want to focus on their primary waifu or husbando, but I think it wouldn't hurt at all if there is an option toggle to enable interactions between multiple Magi.

The other thing I find very lackluster as of the game's launch pertains to the color customization. The only things with changeable colors here are the Magus' hair, skin, and facial features like eyes and lips. Despite having an abundance of outfits and accessories, none of the wardrobe items are colorable, so it ends up limiting the fashion sense.

But the one thing I find the most disappointing from my playthrough of the game is the complete lack of opportunities to customize and take great care of the Cradle Coffins. There is already the inability to color the mech parts, just like the aforementioned Magus wardrobes. And there are also the exclusive stat buffs that only apply when all parts of the Cradle come from the same series.

However, the development team is somehow trying to inject some realism more than necessary by making the mech parts and weapons eventually wear out beyond any further possible repairs, and your only plausible options at that time would be to either sell them or insure and abandon them to recoup some funds. Coming off from games like Gundam Breaker, Megaton Musashi, and Front Mission, such a feature goes completely the opposite way from my expectations.

Synduality: Echo of Ada has the potential to become a fun mech-based exploration third-person shooter game with a waifu/husbando companion. But while I wanted to recommend it to my fellow mecha-loving friends, I really cannot at the moment due to the lack of personalization features in that aspect. On the contrary, the spotlight is more focused on customization for the humanoid Magus consort so that you can watch your ideal AI waifu or husbando interacting with you.

As Bandai Namco launched this title as a live service game, the company will regularly update it with new maps and features, which may or may not address the concerns I have written in this review. But at the same time, being a live service game with time-limited content means that players will have to commit a good portion of their time to this game. And I also feel more guarded than I should because I haven't even seen more assurance on features outside the single-player missions being retained when the game inevitably goes offline either.

Synduality: Echo of Ada is available worldwide on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC.

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Dokibird has revealed that a t-shirt inspired by the independent Vtuber will appear in Bandai Namco's Synduality: Echo of Ada. Players of the mech shooting PvPvE game will be able to obtain the t-shirt and wear it on their companion Magus.

The independent Vtuber will run streams on Bandai Namco's YouTube and Twitch in addition to her own channels on January 24, 2025, at 5 PM PST / 8 PM EST. People who watch the stream will be able to find the method required to claim the t-shirt. As a side note, January 24, 2025, will be the date Bandai Namco formally releases Synduality: Echo of Ada worldwide.

Dokibird's announcement tweet also contains more screenshots showing the t-shirt from four sides:

Synduality: Echo of Ada is not the only game to officially include a cosmetic item featuring Dokibird. In November 2024, players of the multiplayer survival game Rust could get an official skin for the AK assault rifle that features Dokibird and Sykkuno via Twitch Drops.

Bandai Namco will formally release Synduality: Echo of Ada digitally for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC on January 24, 2025. The game is immediately playable via physical releases and early access incentives from digital pre-orders.

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In an interview with Famitsu, Yosuke Futami (the producer for Synduality: Echo of Ada) discussed why the game has a single-player mode. To summarize his answer, it’s to prevent the game from being unplayable in the future should the servers go offline. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

As you progress through the game, you’ll unlock a mission to investigate old Amasia in your Cradlecoffin (or Coffin, for short). What you do in this quest doesn’t really have any influence on the main online file, and it’s more for the story. This means that while you won’t really receive any rewards for playing it, you won’t lose any items either. As a note, while the mission to investigate old Amasia is a single-player mission, you’ll still need to play online to get through the tutorials and such.

During the interview, Famitsu asked Futami about why Synduality: Echo of Ada is mostly online, and yet Game Studio still implemented the single-player mission. Futami replied that he didn’t want the game to become unplayable should something happen in the future and you can no longer access the online servers. He doesn’t mean this in a negative or pessimistic way. This is simply something to assure players that even if the game goes offline in the future, they’ll still be able to play Synduality: Echo of Ada.

Physical versions of Synduality: Echo of Ada will come out on January 16, 2025. The digital version will come out on January 23, 2025. It’ll be available on the PS5, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC.

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Bandai Namco has announced that it will hold an open network test for Synduality: Echo of Ada in mid-December 2024. After previously holding two closed beta tests with exclusive registrations, the company will let all prospective players check out the online PvPvE mecha shooting game for free ahead of its launch in January 2025.

In the open test client, all players will be able to try out customization features for the Magus companion and CradleCoffin mech. They can also explore the Northern and Southern zones in multiplayer rooms that can host up to 12 players. Bandai Namco will also add a Forced Move option to free players who can get stuck in certain terrains.

The network test client will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam. The PC version will have minimum requirements of 16GB RAM, an Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 1600X for the U, and a GeForce GTX 1060 or Radeon RX 480 for the GPU. Fulfilling these requirements should make the game runnable at 30 fps with a 1080p resolution.

The Synduality: Echo of Ada open network test will run on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC on December 12-20, 2024. Players who have pre-ordered the game will be able to access the test client for two more days until December 22, 2024. Bandai Namco will release the full game on the same platforms on January 23-24, 2025.

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Bandai Namco has confirmed the full release date for Synduality: Echo of Ada. The mech-based, action game with survival elements will be available worldwide on January 24, 2025. Japan will get the game on Xbox Series X and PS5 a day earlier on January 23, 2025. The company made the announcement via a new trailer that appeared at the Xbox TGS 2024 Showcase.

Synduality: Echo of Ada will be a mech-based survival action game with PvPvE gameplay. Players will strive to gather materials while fending off monsters with customizable mechs called Coffin Cradles. They can also interact with other players who spawn on the map in either cooperative or hostile manners. Echo of Ada will also have a customizable Magus AI character who will act as the player's companion.

Bandai Namco originally planned to release Synduality: Echo of Ada in 2023. However, the company delayed the game to give the development team more time to polish it. Bandai Namco has since held two closed online tests for the title in March 2024 and September 2024.

Bandai Namco has also ed a standalone Japanese version of the Synduality: Echo of Ada release date announcement trailer on its Japanese YouTube channel.

Synduality: Echo of Ada will be available first in Japan for Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 on January 23, 2025. The worldwide release date, which includes the PC version on Steam, will be January 24, 2025.

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Bandai Namco has revealed details on its appearance at the Tokyo Game Show 2024. There will be demos from only three games Bandai Namco will place on its TGS 2024 booths. The titles in question will be Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, and Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival.

The SAO: Fractured Daydream demos will be available in two versions: The "Kirito The Hero" mini-game on Nintendo Switch and the cross-play online multiplayer mode on other platforms. Meanwhile, the Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero will let players choose from 77 characters available in the demo. Demos of Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival on the Switch and PS5 will appear separately at the Family Game Park zone on September 28-29, 2024.

In its Japanese press release, Bandai Namco acknowledged that it will approach TGS 2024 in a different way from prior years, as it wants to focus on the titles that it will release soon. Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream will appear first on October 4, 2024. Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero will follow suit the week after on October 11, 2024. Bandai Namco will also release the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC ports of Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival the following month on November 7, 2024.

Bandai Namco will also hold its live streams completely separate from the TGS 2024 Official Program. The company will host three live streams of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero on September 21 and 22, 2024, at 8 PM JST, and September 28, 2024, at 12 PM JST. It will also broadcast a stream for Synduality: Echo of Ada on Friday, September 27, 2024, at 7 PM JST. Tales of Graces f Remastered will also have its own stream on Monday, September 23, 2024, at 7 PM JST—three days before TGS 2024 even starts.

Tokyo Game Show 2024 will take place at Makuhari Messe on September 26-29, 2024.

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Bandai Namco has opened applications for a new closed network test for Synduality: Echo of Ada. The company will hold the test for the PvPvE mech survival action game on the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC in mid-September 2024.

The closed network test will feature a newer game build that Bandai Namco had improved after receiving from the closed beta test held in March 2024. Other than gameplay balances, the company will also add tutorials that let players understand the features better. There will also be more hairstyles and a better color palette visibility to help players perform customization for their Magus companions.

The new test will also be available for PC s. However, Bandai Namco will only accept applications from those whose PC specs meet the minimum requirements. People who want to apply must make sure that they have a RAM of at least 8GB with an Intel Core i5-10400 processor and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti graphics card.

Bandai Namco has also ed a new trailer for Synduality: Echo of Ada at the same time:

Bandai Namco will close the application period for the Synduality: Echo of Ada closed network test on September 3, 2024. The test will take place on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam on September 13-16, 2024.

Bandai Namco has still yet to announce the Synduality: Echo of Ada release window, following its delay from 2023.

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Bandai Namco kicked off registration for the Synduality: Echo of Ada closed beta test ahead of the trial this month. It will be held on the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC starting on March 28, 2024. 

To be considered for a chance to play, people need to sign up via either the North and South American or European site. People must be at least 13 years old. They also must submit an application to be considered by March 19, 2024. Those selected will get their codes starting on March 25, 2024. People who decide to play on PCs via Steam can pre-load the game on March 25, 2024, while those on consoles need to wait until March 26, 2024 according to the European site. 

The American site went over some of the things people can do while playing this Synduality: Echo of Ada trial. You can sortie, and there will be some Bounties and Requests available to show how the PvPvE shooter works. You will get to change how your base and Magus AI companion will look, but this will be limited compared to the full game. You can also get new items and equipment via crafting or visiting the Item Shop.

There’s also a trailer showing what people can expect:

Synduality: Echo of Adais expected to come to the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC in 2024, and its closed beta test will run on all three platforms between March 28, 2024 and April 2, 2024. As a reminder, the Synduality: Noir anime tied to the game is streaming on Disney+. 

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Bandai Namco published a new Customization Trailer for Synduality: Echo of Ada. It reveals that the mech shooter game will let players customize not only their Cradle Coffin mechs but also the AI companion Magus.

The trailer newly reveals a robust Magus customization menu that players will be able to access in the Synduality video game. The menu will first offer several default presets based on four personality choices. Players can then opt to manually adjust the Magus' body details, as well as the colors of their hair, eyes, skin, outfit, and any additional accessories.

Players will also be able to customize their Cradle Coffin mechs by assembling parts available for the Body, Arms, and Legs. They can also choose up to two weapons from the six available types: Shotgun, Submachine Gun, Assault Rifle, Light Machine Gun, Railgun, and Grenade Launcher.

The new trailer is available to watch via Bandai Namco's Japanese YouTube channel:

Bandai Namco had previously showcased a demo build of the Synduality game at Tokyo Game Show 2023. The PvPvE game will have players explore fields to collect materials from mining ores and slaying enemy Enders. The Magus will accompany them inside the Cradle Coffin unit during missions. They may also encounter other players, from which they can either form temporary alliances or even fight against each other.

The company has also been regularly holding additional hands-on trial events in Japan. On the same day the new trailer came out, Bandai Namco opened applications for the third trial event. It will invite a number of lucky people who are at least 17 years old, have followed the game's Japanese official Discord server, and currently residing in Japan to attend the event at an undisclosed location on February 18, 2024.

Synduality: Echo of Ada is under development for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. Bandai Namco has yet to announce a new release window for the third-person shooting game, which was originally slated to come out in 2023.

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During a special preview event at Bandai Namco Entertainment, I had the chance to try Synduality: Echo of Ada, an PvPvE mecha looter shooter. The game is being developed as part of the wider Synduality multimedia franchise, that encomes and anime, manga, and light novel series currently in publication. At the event, director Yohei Kataoka and producer Yosuke Futami gave some information on the multiplayer mech adventure as well. For example, the game will not only be an online game, as it will count with a single player story mode.

The main gameplay loop of Synduality: Echo of Ada is simple. Online Raid is the main mode at the moment. In it, players sortie into vast maps, look for resources, and fight with enemies and interact with other pilot Drifters. Inside their Cradlecoffin mechs, players will be accompanied by an AI Magus companion that grant them essential intel and skills. Your Magus AI constantly gives advice and input based on your playstyle, preferred weapons, and other data, and they are very chatty. Hopefully, the final release will include English VA for players, as having to look at subtitles can be a major hindrance to players.

The only objective available during my time playing the game consisted of mining a required quantity of AO crystals. While I could extract from the field at any time in the build I played, completing these objectives will be a requirement for progression in the final version of the game.

The multiplayer aspect of the game relies on no preset parties, and no verbal communication between players. Instead, players will have to create uneasy alliances with other players using emotes and other forms of non-verbal communication. While most players will be marked as friendlies, it is possible to choose to betray and attack them for their resources. While the risk of PvE-focused players encountering a lot of PvP players intent on grifting exists, Kataoka and Futami assured that there will be measures to balance the game out, such as your AI Magus partner warning you, and marking the map for hot spots, as well as a reputation system that marks aggressive players intent on PvP as untrustworthy or risky.

During my first sortie, I encountered a player Cradlecoffin that I thought was an NPC enemy, and got into a gunfight that I narrowly won. In my second sortie, I found a player peacefully mining for resources, and noticing an emote wheel in my button layout, I tried to say hi to them. This occurred before the developers confirmed that the focus of the game is on multiplayer PvPvE gameplay.

The gunplay in Synduality: Echo of Ada is really solid so far. There are plenty of weapon types in the game already. Aiming feels nice and all weapons feel very powerful. During my three different sorties, I had the chance to try out several different assault rifles, shotguns, and snipers, and I also grabbed a powerful railgun at one point that felt particularly powerful and fun. The weapon and loot system feels familiar, close to something like Apex Legends or Borderlands.

Controlling your Cradlecoffin mech, however, is extremely weighty and even slow. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, at the time I had just finished playing Armored Core VI, and the difference in maneuverability was stark. Cradlecoffin mechs are weaponry closer to tanks, and while they can jump and boost to gain some speed and traverse the uneven terrain, they are very deliberate machines to control, unlike other mech games with gameplay focused on shifting between ground-based and air-based maneuvers.

As for the PvE aspect, enemies in the game (called Enders) will gather near AO Crystals, and some will roam around the map. Enders come in a few varieties so far, and they can overwhelm players easily if they’re alone, or under certain conditions, such as heavy rain (which damages your mecha) as well as near bigger AO crystals. PvE enemies didn’t feel particularly outstanding so far, but I can see how mixing Enders and other pilots could be an interesting aspect, and lead to some fun and tense scenarios.

The Story Mode in Synduality: Echo of Ada will be Amasia Research, and will be PvE focused. In it, players will go through maps with specific preset loadouts for each mission. The player will explore the underground city of Amasia, and will uncover the mystery of what happened in the past to Drifter Alba Kuze and his Magus companion Ada. The developers said that Amasia Research and Online Raid are not fully disconnected, and that the story mode will be an extension of the online mode.

While Synduality: Echo of Ada seems to have a solid foundation, and what I played of the game was fun, releasing a new multiplayer shooter in a market flooded with competitors is a risky endeavor. Hopefully, it’s indefinite delay can help the game’s developers polish what they have, and expand on the basis of what seems like an ambitious and promising project. Ultimately, whether multiplayer games like these live or die hinges on many factors, but I hope Synduality: Echo of Ada offers plenty of varied content on release, and is properly marketed to its potential audience outside of Japan.

Synduality: Echo of Ada is currently in development for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam.

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The first playable demo for Synduality: Echo of Ada appeared at Tokyo Game Show 2023. Bandai Namco also provided gameplay footage of the demo build on its livestream. It shows how the player can use their Cradle Coffin mech to explore the world's regions while gathering items and destroying hostiles.

Players will find containers that contain lootable items. They can also use AO Search to detect nearby mineable AO Crystals. When players reach a yellow spot, they can send their companion Magus to investigate it directly.

The initial reveal for Synduality: Echo of Ada mainly teased PvPvE combat where players can engage others with conflicting objectives. The demo footage showed that players can also send friendly greetings and even ask to form a party. Rain in this world will gradually corrode the unit's resistance, so players will have to take shelter in a covered area until it subsides.

The mission's grand objective will require the player to find an escape elevator and stay there until the elevator moves to return safely. If the player's mech gets destroyed, they will lose all the items they gathered during the session.

Synduality: Echo of Ada is under development for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam. The game used to have a 2023 release window, but Bandai Namco delayed it indefinitely due to the need for more development time.

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