Free-to-play 3D platformer

Echo’s Climb Demo is a free-to-play adventure from indie developer bumbleborn. In this 3D platformer, you get to navigate a kingdom entirely frozen in stone. As you travel its different districts, you find traces of the life that once graced this solidified location. Despite being in its demo stage, it establishes the premise well and gives players an idea of what it aims to be.

Visually and in terms of gameplay, Echo’s Climb Demo feels reminiscent of the later entries in the Zelda Classic franchise. Its use of wildly colorful environments is similar to those in Risk of Rain 2.

A promising new world

Echo’s Climb Demo manages to capture your attention all throughout its short game time. It starts out with a simple, lifeless landscape that reveals the premise of the game. You try to discover what happened to the petrified people and try to restore them to life. It then transitions to feature glowing hot lava stages and vibrant green subterranean areas.

For gameplay, this doesn’t add anything new to the table. It does utilize the same standard control set, letting experienced players navigate through traps and pitfalls with relative ease. Another interesting part, though, is its puzzles. These challenges feature good combinations of visual and intellectual treats, although there are certain sections that are still buggy. You can interact with elements yet others do not respond the way they should.

Similarly, since it is in its demo version, the other stages are not yet well fleshed out. The textures are not available on some parts and the animated background still looks unfinished. It feels like playing a prototype stage instead of an actual, detailed one. Also, as mentioned earlier, it’s far from done and you can only enjoy it for a few minutes at a time.

Try this teaser

Echo’s Climb Demo makes a good case for online fans supporting this project even though it’s far from being completely playable yet. Whatever assets are available are enough to give players an idea of what is possible and what this project is trying to accomplish. If you’re looking for an interesting yet challenging 3D platformer experience, you can give it a try as it is.