Fading Echo, the debut title from French developer New Tales, is shaping up to be more than just another action-adventure game. While its striking desert punk aesthetic, fast-paced combat, and blend of Japanese manga and American comic visuals grab immediate attention, the true intrigue lies beneath the surface – in its unexpected origins and a core gameplay system built entirely around dynamic fluid interactions.
Surprisingly, Fading Echo`s roots aren`t purely digital. The game stems from a tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) setting created years ago by New Tales co-founder and co-director Emmanuel Obert for his friends. Inspired by the systemic freedom of games like Chronicles of Amber and adapted using the Marvel Heroic Cortex Plus system, this homebrew world provided the foundational ideas that the studio found had “potential.” While adapted significantly, whispers of that original TTRPG magic, particularly its legends, live on in the digital realm.
The world of Fading Echo is Corel, a planet discovered and ultimately fractured by the aggressive colonization efforts of House Kelevra. This house, to which protagonist One and her mother Rahne belong, sought to tame the world using advanced technology and liquid magic. However, their actions scarred the planet, leaving behind a world actively fighting back. This struggle is manifested through Fading Echo’s most innovative feature: its deep, systemic focus on fluids.
A World Governed by Fluids
Forget traditional mana systems; in Fading Echo, water is life, and also the primary resource. Studio head Sylvain Sechi explains that this concept expands beyond just water to include lava, waste, and corrosion. Each fluid possesses elementary reactions when interacting with others, creating a complex environmental and combat sandbox. The goal? To make the player feel clever.
Players must anticipate how different fluids will react. A simple example is pushing water into lava, which solidifies it into temporary rock platforms for traversal – a neat trick for getting over hot obstacles. This systemic approach means there`s rarely a single correct path or combat solution. Success often hinges on observing the environment and creatively combining fluids already present or utilizing One`s own fluid abilities. While a traditional hack-and-slash option exists if all else fails or strategic thinking runs dry, the game actively rewards intelligent fluid manipulation.
This emphasis on player autonomy and environmental interaction directly channels the spirit of TTRPGs, where emergent gameplay and freedom of choice are paramount. The developers aimed to recreate that feeling of boundless possibility within a video game structure.
Cross-Industry Collaboration: A Breath of Fresh Air
New Tales didn`t stop at TTRPG inspiration for mechanics; they also looked to the tabletop and other industries for talent. The game features voice work from renowned TTRPG figures like Matthew Mercer and Laura Bailey. Notably, game master and actor Jasmine Bhullar serves as the writer and voices One`s mother, Rahne, bringing a fresh perspective, having not previously written for video games.
Protagonist One is voiced by Samantha Béart, known for roles in Baldur`s Gate 3. Béart`s experience highlights New Tales` unconventional, collaborative approach. Unusually for game development, Béart was given early access to play the game, allowing her to better understand One`s character and how she moves and feels in both her humanoid warrior form and her cutesy water droplet transformation. This droplet form, incidentally, retains a core visual symbol matching One`s humanoid “face,” a small detail Béart noted unifies the character`s dual forms. Béart appreciated this deep involvement, contrasting it with the more siloed processes sometimes found in the industry (looking at you, typical large-scale productions). Being welcomed into the development`s Discord felt less like a guarded secret and more like a “true collaboration,” reminiscent of early Lucasfilm`s integrated workspace philosophy.
Béart also voiced excitement about portraying a protagonist centered around water, an element less frequently explored in video games compared to fire or destruction. This unique focus aligns with the game`s core fluid mechanics.
Exploring the Echoverse
The narrative itself embraces a concept ripe for varied experiences: the Echoverse. Fading Echo is hinted to be just the first foray into this multiverse of realities. Within the Echoverse, Primary Realities (like Corel) can spawn variable realities called Shadows. Corel, initially rich and untouched, was manipulated by House Kelevra, causing its Shadows to become twisted reflections of the house`s exploitation and crimes.
As One embarks on her quest for self-discovery and to save her home, she will traverse these diverse realities – glimpsed in trailers showing shifts from a desert landscape to an entirely underwater world. This allows the game to present places that are simultaneously familiar yet drastically altered by past destructive choices, providing narrative depth and environmental variety.
Bringing in talent like Jasmine Bhullar, with her background as an Indian-American writer from the US, was a deliberate choice to ensure diverse perspectives shaped this multiverse. New Tales believes that drawing from different crafts and industries injects a unique creative DNA into their work, empowering innovation beyond what a homogenous team could achieve.
Fading Echo, with its fascinating TTRPG origins, innovative fluid-based gameplay, diverse talent pool, and ambitious multiversal narrative, presents a compelling package. While no release window has been announced, the game is slated for launch on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC, and promises an adventure where thinking fluidly is key.
