The Sword Art Online franchise has spent over a decade putting players in Kirito’s shoes across its game adaptations. Echoes of Aincrad throws that formula out. Developed by Game Studio Inc. and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, the action role-playing game drops Kirito entirely and puts players in control of their own custom character. You’re just another player trapped in the death game this time, trying to survive inside the tower of Aincrad. My time with a preview build was enough to know that the shift works.
The world is what grabs you first. The environments are detailed, and the open areas have real scope. You can see mountains reaching up toward the ceiling of the floor above, which is the kind of touch that sells the setting. The Town of Beginnings might be the best part. NPCs fill the streets going about their business, and that population sells the idea that thousands of people actually live here. The whole franchise is built on the fantasy of being trapped inside a virtual world, and Echoes of Aincrad actually makes that world feel worth getting stuck in.
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The music helps. Combat tracks bring the energy when a fight escalates, and the score knows when to pull back during exploration and let the atmosphere breathe. Having a good soundtrack is vital to making an engaging world, and Echoes of Aincrad nails it so far.
On the surface, the combat in Echoes of Aincrad is straightforward.
The combat is straightforward on the surface. Light attacks, heavy attacks, and Sword Skills you unlock as you go. But each one pulls from its own resource gauge, so there’s a constant balancing act. Health doesn’t regenerate on its own, either, so getting careless costs you fast. Echoes of Aincrad isn’t quite a Souls-like, but it borrows enough from that playbook to keep you honest. It’s slower and more deliberate than what Sword Art Online games are known for, and mashing buttons will get you killed.
Echoes of Aincrad offers six weapon types, and while there wasn’t time to dig into all of them, the axes stood out. They hit with serious weight and chew through groups. Swords stay reliable as long as the right attributes back them up. Swapping weapons to experiment never felt punishing.
The parry system is where the combat starts to show real teeth. The window is tighter than dodging, but the payoff is bigger. Worth learning, but when things get chaotic, a clean dodge is still the safer call. That balance gives the combat real room to grow into.
The tension in Echoes of Aincrad never fully lets up.
There’s no universal pause function in Echoes of Aincrad. Safe zones exist in towns, but hitting the menu button out in the field doesn’t stop the world. I found that out the hard way when I paused to jot down notes mid-fight and came back to my character almost dead. It sounds minor, but it keeps you on edge. The tension never fully lets up, even on the default difficulty.
The companions are better than expected. There are a few NPC partners to pick from, including original characters like Iori alongside returning series favorite Argo, and they all play differently. Iori was the go-to pick. Charging headfirst into every fight works a lot better with a healer watching your back.
The Switch Mode mechanic lets a companion step in and draw enemy attention while you fall back to heal. Without that option, the companions would just be background noise. With it, they’re part of the strategy. The right partner for a given fight makes a real difference.
Bosses demand more attention and bring their own mechanics to learn in Echoes of Aincrad.
Bosses are a step up. Standard enemies go down with clean fundamentals, but bosses demand more attention and bring their own mechanics to learn. They hit hard on the first attempt, but the fights click once you learn the rhythm. If the bosses in the full game keep that same energy, the combat should hold up.
Echoes of Aincrad only covers Floors 1 and 2 of Aincrad’s 100-floor tower, and specific story details are still under wraps, but the groundwork for fascinating world-building and high-stakes storytelling is already there. If Game Studio Inc. and Bandai Namco can flesh out these early floors with real, in-depth side content, Echoes of Aincrad could end up being the strongest entry the Sword Art Online franchise has produced on the gaming side.
Echoes of Aincrad launches July 10, 2026, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
