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Chained Echoes
Take up your sword, channel your magic or board your Mech. Chained Echoes is a 16-bit style RPG set in a fantasy world where dragons are as common as piloted mechanical suits.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-02 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-12.
What reviewers agree on
65 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“It saddens me a little to give this game a negative review since it has a lot of potential to be a great game. But, unfortunately, after 6 hours of gameplay, just a quick reflection told me I really hadn’t had any fun…”
“Chained Echoes is a fantastic game and highly recommended. The story is really good, with some truly mind-blowing plot twists that caught me off guard. Combat feels classic turn-based, but with smart twists: - No…”
“Loved every moment, for real i wish it had a spanish traslation so i can gift it to some friends! This was the first game i finished in a 5 year period. Highly recomended”
45 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“It saddens me a little to give this game a negative review since it has a lot of potential to be a great game. But, unfortunately, after 6 hours of gameplay, just a quick reflection told me I really hadn’t had any fun…”
“Chained Echoes is a fantastic game and highly recommended. The story is really good, with some truly mind-blowing plot twists that caught me off guard. Combat feels classic turn-based, but with smart twists: - No…”
“A great love letter to the traditional turn-based RPG. You essentially have two different styles of battles, your traditional party-based fights where everyone has their own separate equipment sets, skills and synergy,…”
18 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“It saddens me a little to give this game a negative review since it has a lot of potential to be a great game. But, unfortunately, after 6 hours of gameplay, just a quick reflection told me I really hadn’t had any fun…”
“[h1]Chained Echoes is what a JRPG should be.[/h1] [b]A must play for any JRPG fan.[/b] The story, The setup, The gameplay, to the games that inspired it. This game was Developed by one man, Matthias Linda whos favorite…”
“[h3] Great game; good graphics, stellar turn based combat, and music. [/h3] Though, a few things I would like to point out. Get used to Menuing, as upgrading equipment and party layout is something you'll be doing…”
13 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“It saddens me a little to give this game a negative review since it has a lot of potential to be a great game. But, unfortunately, after 6 hours of gameplay, just a quick reflection told me I really hadn’t had any fun…”
“[h1]Chained Echoes is what a JRPG should be.[/h1] [b]A must play for any JRPG fan.[/b] The story, The setup, The gameplay, to the games that inspired it. This game was Developed by one man, Matthias Linda whos favorite…”
“[h3] Great game; good graphics, stellar turn based combat, and music. [/h3] Though, a few things I would like to point out. Get used to Menuing, as upgrading equipment and party layout is something you'll be doing…”
12 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“Chained Echoes is a fantastic game and highly recommended. The story is really good, with some truly mind-blowing plot twists that caught me off guard. Combat feels classic turn-based, but with smart twists: - No…”
“-EASY RECOMMEND WITH A MASSIVE CAVEAT- game's level design and progression is excellent and the combat is easily top 3 best turn based systems i've ever seen, but the UX is inexcusably bad. it's fine in the early game,…”
“[h1]A Smart JRPG That Somehow Still Couldn’t Hold Me[/h1] Chained Echoes is clearly made with passion and understanding of classic JRPGs. The combat is fun and tactical, the story is interesting from the beginning, and…”
22 of the 103 reviews raise this · 15 of them still recommend the game.
“It saddens me a little to give this game a negative review since it has a lot of potential to be a great game. But, unfortunately, after 6 hours of gameplay, just a quick reflection told me I really hadn’t had any fun…”
“I do not like the developer. Went to publish the game as a complete physical edition. Ends up releasing DLC before that 'complete' edition is even released. Ends up partnering with a knowingly trash company to print the…”
“Game gets disappointingly boring and turns into a slugfest”
13 of the 103 reviews raise this · 12 of them still recommend the game.
“I have to face the harsh reality and realize that despite JRPGs sounding fun they are just not for me. sometimes I have problems with AAA games going past the 50 hour mark and I shudder at the thought of this being…”
“Fun battle mechanics that keeps the encounters fresh. It's nice to see when battles occur instead of the random encounters ubiquitous with JRPGs. The dialogue is probably it's weakest point, but it's still decent.”
“Solid artwork, gameplay, and storytelling. I really appreciate being able to adjust battle difficulty anytime, which helps a lot during tougher encounters. The map felt a bit overwhelming at first, but it gets easier to…”
12 of the 103 reviews raise this · 11 of them still recommend the game.
“-EASY RECOMMEND WITH A MASSIVE CAVEAT- game's level design and progression is excellent and the combat is easily top 3 best turn based systems i've ever seen, but the UX is inexcusably bad. it's fine in the early game,…”
“Chained Echoes has a solid foundation but there are some ugly and confusing design decisions that make it hard to stick with for me. First, the art is really hit or miss. Most of the art of the game is fantastic, but…”
“[h3] Great game; good graphics, stellar turn based combat, and music. [/h3] Though, a few things I would like to point out. Get used to Menuing, as upgrading equipment and party layout is something you'll be doing…”
7 of the 103 reviews raise this · 7 of them still recommend the game.
“I don't think I've ever played a JRPG that legitimately tried to tell an actual story before and I didn't care in the slightest about it or any of the characters. It has an extremely annoying upgrade system with the…”
“The game's plot, the several twists, and its characters were really enjoyable. The pixel art is also very good, especially during major cutscenes. Recruiting members for your clan and seeing Hermit's Isle become more…”
“Best JRPG I've ever played. I just wish you could carry on your characters in NG+ and not having to unlock them again :(”
4 of the 103 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“Chained Echoes has a solid foundation but there are some ugly and confusing design decisions that make it hard to stick with for me. First, the art is really hit or miss. Most of the art of the game is fantastic, but…”
“The gameplay is a fun twist on the jrpg formula. The overdrive system and the level system makes the game interesting and fresh. The story is wonderful too, very twisty and engaging. Unfortunately the indie presentation…”
“tl;dr, A rock solid indie retro RPG inspired by PS1-era titles like Xenogears, Suikoden, and Final Fantasy Tactics. You should buy it if you liked those other games. Combat is turn-based with a few twists based on…”
Counted across 103 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 88.6% positive rating · as of 2026-05-12
“I started Chained Echoes but nearly uninstalled it within the first hour or two. Luckily, I persevered, and I’m glad I stuck with it. The Good: ∙ The characters are superb and fun to follow through their adventures ∙ The story is really great overall (but had some stretches here…”
— a player, Steam review · 29 hrs played“This game, to me, is a jewel of an RPG, and up there in the list of my most beloved RPG games. Is a 2d cartoon JRPG-ish game, combat is turn-based and is heavily story-driven. No random encounters, enemies are engaged on place without a separate combat scene (if you're familiar…”
— a player, Steam review · 146 hrs played“Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, Expedition 33, and dare I say even some modern Persona, all wrapped into a neat 16-bit JRPG style game with a great cast of characters, intriguing story, and superb combat system with a wide variety of mechanics to always keep things fresh. Nothing…”
— a player, Steam review · 53 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-09-05.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-09-04). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Genres | Indie, RPG |
| Player tags | RPG · Pixel Graphics · Turn-Based · Indie · JRPG · Turn-Based Combat · Retro · 2D · Exploration · Story Rich · Mechs · Party-Based RPG (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Steam Achievements · Full controller support · Steam Trading Cards · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English, French, German, Korean, Japanese, Simplified Chinese |
| Controller | Full support |
| Achievements | 37 |
| Official site | http://www.chainedechoes.com/ |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS *: Windows 7 or newer Processor: Dual Core Processor Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: Radeon R9 200 or equal DirectX: Version 11 Storage: 900 MB available space