SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada Review: The mecha extraction datingsim

Would you steal a stranger's AI waifu or husbando for profit?

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First impressions can sometimes be deceiving. You look at SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada and on the surface level, it seems like one of those PvPvE extraction shooters that are dime a dozen at the moment. A battle pass and cash shop that offer options for meaningless customization don’t make it better. And being presented as the centerpiece of a still fledgling multimedia franchise doesn’t help its case either. But as you slowly wade into what looks like just another live service extravaganza, it slowly unravels into an experience that has a lot to offer under its surface.

It takes a Magnus and a Drifter to build a base

shows a drawing of a magnus telling the player to get to work
The quirky Public Service Announcement never failed to make me chuckle.
Source: Bandai Namco

My first few hours with the game were frustrating. It was a dire affair of running the same map over and over again, looking for specific resources I could never find, and slowly making progress. You play an up-and-coming Drifter who alongside their Magnus puppet (which you get to dress up) takes on commissions and loots the dangerous overworld in your mech. It mostly boils down to busy work like checking locations, taking on the monsters littering the map, or finding specific resources. Eventually, as the mechanics started to open up more, I started to appreciate that gradual climb. Every time you construct something new in your hideout, unlocking a crafting recipe for a weapon or piece of equipment feels meaningful.

shows the end of raid screen of SYNDUALITY Echo of Ava with your robot companion and the mech in the background
Your companion through good times...
Source: Bandai Namco

Being disconnected from the rest of the world, which only wants to communicate with you over text messages, brings you closer to your artificial companion. Watching them dillydally around in your slowly expanding base of operations is weirdly charming. They are always at your side, cheer you on, and will try to chat with you about this and that between missions.

But what really won me over, is how effortlessly charming the game manages to be when it wants to. The little video and audio logs have a lot of personality and your quirky Magnus companion is sometimes just effortlessly funny. As an example, after I lost my first bout with another player and failed to eject my Mech in time, my poor Magnus was sent temporarily to the shadow realm. When they returned to me a little later, covered with little burn marks and with half their hair missing, they apologized profusely and vowed to never let me down again. The idea of this whole process is horrifying but the delivery on the lines and the visuals had me barking and clapping like a seal.

shows the player companion a little worse for wear after falling in combat
... and the not so good ones.
Source: Bandai Namco

Like other games in the genre, missions exist to get you moving and run into players instead of running the same two loot hotspots and dipping out. I must admit, it works a lot better here compared to some of its genre contemporaries. Everything you find and own is valuable. Running into another player, who you are encouraged to team up with, is always tense because you never know which ones are the bad apples. Controversially, you can’t team up with your friends. Instead, you can invite other players you meet to tackle co-op objectives for valuable rewards. This seems upsetting at first but makes sense once you realize that almost every weapon in this game hits hard, and two players could easily dominate an entire lobby.

PvP for the Sickos

shows a mech and their robot companion wandering through a desolate world
There is danger around every corner, but sometimes the post-apocalypse is kinda pretty.
Source: Bandai Namco

The real juice of SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada is in its PvP and combat. As mentioned above, equipment is valuable and the good stuff is hard to come by. Eventually, you reach the point where the allure of loot from another player becomes too big, just farming somewhat valuable AO Crystals won’t help you process fast enough. Instead, you can just kill another player and sell their Magnus back to the company for a decent profit. Doing that will brand you as untrustworthy and if you overdo it, you’ll be kicked out of the Drifter Support Association. Now you can either pay off your bounty or take on all the new contracts that are now opening up for you.

Combat plays snappily once you can wrap your head around it. Instead of having hundreds of weapons with thousands of attachments, there are different ammo-type versions of each of your classic gun archetypes. The different power levels of those types of weapons mare it more about investment and risk than whatever is the meta choice. When you go up against other players, positioning, map knowledge, and taking risks become key. Because everything hits like a truck, combat always feels dangerous. While the monsters and AI littering the map are less impressive on their own, they turn into nuisances during PvP which adds a welcome element of surprise to this. The only thing that gets in the way of a weighty, rock-paper-scissors combat system with quick dashes and corner peaking are the clunky controls and blurry visuals. Sometimes you get caught up in the geometry of the map and other times the weird shader effects make it hard to keep an eye on what is going on. Your Magnus’ ability can also make or break encounters. Some skill sets are more useful for exploration and PvE while others give you more combat-oriented skills like being able to look at other players’ health or summon a shield wall.

shows two floating girls teaming up for coop
Teaming up with strangers in the wild is an oddly wholesome experience. Until you shoot them in the back because they picked up that item you need.
Source: Bandai Namco

If you’re not interested in PvP, you can keep on working for the Drifters Association which will usually ask you to complete PvE-focused objectives. Most of the players you’ll meet will be friendly, but there is always this sense of paranoia that anyone could show up and ruin your day. It's nice that the PvP aspect is mostly in the later stages of your Drifter career. Alternatively, you’ll also unlock special solo missions which will throw you into more elaborate combat gauntlets that can be quite demanding sometimes. It's just a shame that there is such a notable difference in challenge depending on whether you’re going up against the predictable Ender monsters or an AI-controlled mech.

We're in it for the long haul

shows a mech in a strange environment with giant puppets and the leftovers from building them
I'll let this image speak for itself.
Source: Bandai Namco

After thirty hours with the game, I’m starting to really vibe with its systems. The way the story is delivered via video and audio logs from those solo missions is neat but can be completely ignored if you’re just here to make your Magnus look pretty and steal people's loot. Progression still feels satisfying because every new base feature build or upgrade is useful, even if I can see the slow drip-feed of progress turning people off the game completely. While the battle pass and in-game shop seem offensive at first, outside of purely cosmetic stuff that doesn’t even look that good it's just there and can be ignored.

I’m more interested to see where SYNDUALITY Echo of Ava goes from here. Its current version lays the groundwork for bigger and brighter things, even if the foundation could use more polish. It's not a game for everyone, and unless you’re into the franchise or are looking for a more casual extraction shooter experience with science fiction flavor, it won’t turn you into a believer in either.


Reviewed on PC. A review copy was provided by the publisher ahead of release. SYNDUALITY Echo of Ava releases on January 24th, 2025 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Contributing Editor

Timo is an avid enjoyer of all things video games hailing from Germany. After being abandoned as a child on the Rolanberry Fields of Final Fantasy XI, they have developed an undying love for the digital worlds of MMOs. But if you can't find them crafting up a storm in Final Fantasy XIV, you'll probably find them workshopping combos in action/fighting games or being extremely passionate about the latest mobile title.

Outside of gaming, Timo is usually skimming through the Criterion Collection or praying to whatever Eldritch horror that their latest favorite manga doesn't get damaged in shipping. You can find live reactions to all of that on Blusky @alahftel.blusky.org.

Pros
  • Hard-hitting PvP
  • Loadout choices matter
  • Charming AI companions that don't steal your data
  • Good vibes
Cons
  • Janky controls
  • Overbearing shader effects
  • Slow progression
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