SYNDUALITY is Bandai Namco’s most recent attempt at a multimedia franchise, with an anime is available to watch and other projects likely on the way. In my eyes, I can say it has left an impression as a new addition to the mecha genre, which is often led by Gundam in games and anime. With the anime and manga out, it only made sense the franchise’s next stop would be a game, and it comes in the form of SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada, the latest entry in this project from Bandai Namco.
SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada is a third-person, mech-based PvPvE game focusing on loot. It’s set in the far-off future on the surface of an abandoned Earth. You can pilot a mech and traverse this ruined world as you get the resources you need and encounter other players, some friendly and some not. Take requests, maintain your resources, go out of the battlefield, and repeat. There is a bit more here, but that’s the core gameplay loop, which can be fun, repetitive, or abruptly end.
SYNDUALITY: Echo of Ada Takes Place on a Decayed Earth
SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada is set in the year 2222. Many years ago, a poisonous rain called The Tears of the New Moon wiped out most of humanity and brought along monsters that hunted the remaining survivors. Humanity had to move underground and build a new society to survive. This has caused a need for people to go to the surface and collect resources. The people who go to the surface are called Drifters, and they go to the surface in mechs called CRADLECOFFINS. They are accompanied by an AI partner called a Magus, who assists you with abilities and different playstyles on the surface.
You play a new Drifter who has just gotten clearance to traverse the surface. Your main objective is to collect different resources based on your needs. The primary resource is called an AO Crystal, and these become money as soon as your expedition ends. You’ll use the other resources for crafting, upgrading, selling, and more. It seems simple enough, but on the surface, there is no shortage of things trying to kill you.
You spend all your time in your mech while exploring the surface. It’s extremely dangerous, and the rain that wiped out humanity is still a problem and will damage your mech. There are also monsters called Enders that have been birthed from that rain that will hunt you down. How you tackle the surface is entirely up to you. You can prioritize loot and requests, be on the attack, or try to be cooperative.
In SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada, you can pick from two maps, one of which you unlock after finishing a handful of requests. The first map is the Northern Zone, which is more beginner-friendly. After completing enough requests, you unlock the Southern Zone, a more difficult PvP area. You can and will adjust your loadout based on your needs for either Zone. Your mech is divided into three parts that can be swapped in and out, along with two guns and an excavator. You can also adjust your skills and play style based on your Magus. A lot of thought can go into your loadout before you set off, but sadly, it doesn’t amount to much, and that is where the problems show up.
To the Surface
In SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada, you will mainly be doing PvPvE raids, also known as Sorties. Before each raid, you can adjust your mech, loadout, and abilities. The game encourages you to try out different styles. However, after a couple of raids, I mainly defaulted to the abilities I started with, and the only other changes I make are slight upgrades to my loadout and mech. The shooting feels very standard and is nothing to write home about. Melee attacks aren’t much of an option outside of a last-ditch effort when an enemy is right in front of you.
Your mech has a battery, so you are always within a time limit, but I never managed to deplete it completely while playing. Most runs were 15 to 20 minutes for me, the experience started to feel tedious since runs can be affected by bad RNG. For example, you can run into bad luck with enemy placement or spent 20 minutes looking for specific items, only for them not to spawn. Now, you can also have good runs, but they’ve felt somewhat lackluster.
Another major aspect that feels lacking right now is the online component. When doing raids, you occupy the same map as other players, which can lead to fun interactions. I always waved high when I saw someone and sometimes played together for a bit. After you unlock co-op parties, you can pair up with people on the map and make specific co-op requests. These are fun, but they’re short-lived since the party immediately disbands. SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada seems ideal for playing with friends, but there is no way to party up before a raid.
The co-op potential is there, but it’s full of short missions you can’t even do with your friends unless you get lucky. In its current state, you’ll probably have full runs where you don’t even run into another player. I don’t want to blame the game too much for that in its early access phase, but I believe there needs to be more of an incentive. Outside co-op, you can also attack other players and steal their loot. If you attack other players enough, you’ll eventually become a bounty target and join another faction. This will lead to other requests exclusive to bandits, but it doesn’t offer an entirely unique experience.
In the Garage
While raids are the primary game mode, SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada does offer more elements aside from combat. Since you are a Drifter, you get a home base. It was very barebones in the beginning, but you can upgrade and clean it up as well. You do this by getting specific items and spending the needed money. These upgrades take time, so you’ll want to do other runs or turn the game off as work on your home is done overtime. Many of these upgrades will improve your runs and even open up more crafting capabilities or upgrades. Even when runs started draining me, I enjoyed upgrading my home base and turning it into my personal living quarters.
The game also has another series of requests that let you play alone with pre-selected loadouts. These missions require you to collect logs to learn more about the world. Although the missions can ramp up in difficulty, it’s a pretty fun way of making you try out different abilities and playstyles. These are fun distractions, but it’s easy to lose interest when they don’t provide you with loot or money.
The game also has some customization options. Your mech isn’t customizable, but your Magus is, and you can buy new items for them to wear or style. It’s not very in-depth, but you can still enjoy it. You can also have multiple Magus for varied playstyles or more characters to customize. However, you can only have one Magus accompany you on raids.
Monetization of Ada
SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada wants to be the next game you play forever. It has a battle pass that you progress by gaining experience from playing the game and doing daily missions. The game has a premium currency and a premium shop as well, but I didn’t find any of the offerings to be enticing. It felt added on as another way to try and make money, along with the battle pass. I typically don’t like seeing this level of monetization in a premium title, but it’s not intrusive to the gameplay experience.
If you want a new Magus, buying it from the premium shop is the quickest way. The shop feels out of a gacha game, even if you can buy the character you want outright. If you’re going to redo your character from scratch, you need a remake ticket, with the first one being free. Remake tickets are also available from the battle pass, or you can just buy it from the shop.
I didn’t feel the need to focus on earning battle pass rewards, despite it having some weapons and mechs. At the very least, maxing out the battle pass and earning all rewards doesn’t appear to be time consuming. The dailies have been easy so far, too. I think the battle pass could benefit from a rework to make it much better and more compelling.
Looking to the Future of SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada
SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada is an interesting game with a lot of potential. It’s hard to recommend in its current state and it does have flaws, but it also has aspects worth praising. The game has impressive visuals, the post-apocalyptic Earth is fascinating, and it has some incredible environments. I enjoy the home base mechanic and wanted to keep upgrading it. The few brief moments of co-op were very enjoyable. After that, there’s just a repetitive game that isn’t satisfying and could benefit from reworks. Even at the base price of $39.99, the live service and monetization elements make it feel steep.
Despite that, I’m not ready to write off SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada yet. The developers want to continue working on this game, and there’s already been emergency maintenance with updates from the producers in response to the players. Post-raid payouts have already been adjusted at the time of writing this, and I expect many more updates to come. I will continue to check in on the game during its first season to see what other changes are made. Although it is repetitive, the untapped potential of SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada makes me come back for more.
Disclaimer: Bandai Namco provided Final Weapon with a PC (Steam) copy of SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada for review purposes.