Chained Echoes is an indie Japanese role-playing game released in late 2022 that was notable for its charming sprites and overall feel that harkened back to the SNES golden era of RPGs. Also highly regarded for being created by a solo developer, Matthias Linda, it was generally well received, with complaints being the dry battle system and poor ending. Rarely are there DLCs in the JRPG genre given their linear structure, so there is much curiosity surrounding Ashes of Elrant.
An entire article could be written on the virtues or demerits of the existence of DLC. What was once non-existent, to then becoming a luxury, to now being ever-present, range a gamut of cool expansions to shameless cash grabs. Short of additional costumes or weapons, there isn’t much to add to JRPGs when it comes to DLC that either is shoe-horned in or becomes an outright retcon.
Ashes of Elrant represents a side story during the main narrative of Chained Echoes. In a twist unlike many DLCs, the content is not immediately available; rather, players must make their way through most of the game. Near the final battle is where this side content can be accessed.
Content-wise the expansion adds a brand new area to explore, new enemies to fight, and new weapons, music and mini games. The main addition is a new character called the White Wolf. The name of the game here is more of the same. If someone enjoyed the base game and was eager for more, this is going to scratch that itch.
However, a problem with JRPG DLC is often how it fits into the entire game, and this is no exception. Given that it is only open for those late into the adventure, it isn’t going to be anything that will entice new players. Furthermore, some of the problems with Chained Echoes, namely the ending that rubbed many the wrong way and the far too repetitive battle system, do not change.
An issue of the base game was the concept that between battles players are completely healed, including SP. It sounds great in theory, but what it turned into was each battle becoming an intense slog, and the kicker was never a feeling of strength or progression. There was little reason to ever “fight” when specials could just be unloaded over and over, and because it was refilled each battle they felt proportionally weaker than in comparable games. Ironically there was nothing special about the moves that represented the base selections.
By the end of the game these elements combined to make it far more of a slog than the developer likely intended Chained Echoes to be. In this regard, Ashes of Elrant does nothing to fix it. As a result, the recommendation is going to come down much harsher, whereas if someone enjoyed the game with few complaints and needs more content, this will be an easy sell. Players that were so-so on the experience, or especially found it wanting by the end, will find this DLC won’t change anything.
