London Goes to Hell-In-A-Hand-Basket with Echo Bazaar on Twitter

It has been some time since we looked at anything making use of Twitter as a social gaming platform, but the browser-based role-playing title Echo Bazaar is doing just that. Developed by London-based Failbetter Games the title first got our attention when it was announced that it would be coming to Facebook. It doesn’t look to have done so yet, but the browser-based app is still available through Twitter login credentials. Though it is a role-playing game, Echo Bazaar shares little in common with other social titles of the genre. While many found on networks such as Facebook do have story, few have the level of storytelling that Echo brings to the table. Built in a choose-your-own-adventure style it’s a game that evolves based on player choices, allowing them to tailor their virtual selves around more than just attack power, defense, and mafia size. The premise of the game is an alternative history type of concept where players find themselves in a faux-Victorian London that is all sorts of messed up. A mile beneath the earth, the world is dark, bizarre, and full of strange people and creatures including hedonists, devils, and squid-men. Oh, and the player starts off in prison. This is where the game begins taking shape, as players are given choices to make their escape using Dangerous, Persuasive, Shadowy, or Watchful abilities. These become the primary character stats in the game, and based on what the player chooses, different story paths will unfold. Each time a path unlocks, different tasks will become available and grant experience towards a particular stat. Typically, this is the stat(s) that the player is best at, meaning that if they initially chose the Shadowy path, more of these will be presented. As the story advances, more advanced story tasks will appear as a skill is leveled. However, these are unlocked with a minimum required level of a skill, so the lower it is, the greater the chance of failure, forcing the player to skill up through the repetition of older, repeatable tasks. What makes failing costly is that the player can only perform 10 actions at any given time. This works like energy in mafia-style RPGs, and regenerates over time, but only so many, in total, can be done in any 24 hour period. When a task is failed, it seems that players garner less reward, but the big detriment is not being able to progress in the story. Another element of the game that uses up actions are what are dubbed “Opportunity Cards.” Every couple of minutes, new cards are added to a deck. Interestingly enough, these may not have much to do with the main plot line, so they are more along the lines of side quests. However, many have unique rewards that one may not find in the story as well as opportunities to level up different skill sets. Rewards (items) in general, earned through both opportunities and story, are quite important. There are many situations in the story where the player must accomplish some specific task(s) in order to reach new chapters (so-to-speak) such as finding a home. What is curious is that there are different means of doing so. If one is Shadowy, there are spy-like tasks to find information and pay bribes. High Persuasive skills might be used to convince someone to let them stay in their home. Or, if money is no object, then a direct purchase may be in order. Unfortunately, cash is a bit tough to come by. The game isn’t completely clear on how to earn it, but the main currency is called Echos. The only evident way to earn it is through selling tangible items one finds in the world, but most, at least early on, only sell for a fraction of an Echo, called Pennies. All the same, it is needed to buy new equipment and items that can enhance the various skill sets of the player. As for social elements, these are tied directly into both the story and Twitter. With each task, a new aspect of the story is unlocked and players can Echo the short “storylet” on their feed. What is more interesting, is any Twitter friends that plays can have their story viewed in-game as well. Other than that, the sharing of stories doesn’t do much. However, it does refill one’s energy once a day. The other social mechanic is a battle system called “The Game of Knife & Candle.” Players have to actually sign up for it to attack other users or be attacked themselves, but it is not recommended for new players. The reason is that the game states that the Dangerous skill is the most important for it and should be at least at level 25. This does create a bit of an issue for some players though, as if they choose a different skill set in the story, it can be a bit difficult to raise this statistic quickly, leaving them to rely on randomly drawn opportunity cards most of the time. The last element worth mentioning is a pretty cool Mysteries section that has a series of questions about the storyline. Should the player input the right answer, they could win some virtual currency called Fate, that is used for little things like refilling actions or getting more opportunity cards. It seems that they are limited in time (more are likely released on a regular basis), so it's prudent to answer as soon as possible. What's nice, though, is that users can see what other players think the answer might be as well. Overall, Echo Bazaar is a curious little title, with a more interesting story to it than most browser-based RPGs. Its best elements are the more engrossing element of choosing one’s own story and customizing it based on a specific skill set. At the same time, however, choosing certain skill sets can slow the player down in their ability to effectively participate in the battle system, though at the very least they still have the social aspect of seeing friends’ stories and what they are doing. It's probably not a game for everyone, as many social RPG players do like the player versus player aspect, and here, it just feels overshadowed. Regardless, if one is an advocate of story, then Echo Bazaar is worth a look; with any luck, it that will appear on Facebook sooner, rather than later.

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London Goes to Hell-In-A-Hand-Basket with Echo Bazaar on Twitter

Christopher Mack

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Christopher Mack