Back in 2021, Echo Generation quietly became one of those games people couldn’t help warming to. Its mix of voxel visuals, small-town mystery and coming-of-age adventure gave it a charm that stuck around long after the credits rolled.
Now, Echo Generation 2 is here – and while the original focused on bikes, neighbourhood weirdness and kids uncovering strange secrets, the sequel looks ready to launch things into full-blown sci-fi territory.
Available now on Xbox Series X|S and PC with Play Anywhere support, Echo Generation 2 also arrives Day One on Game Pass for Ultimate and PC subscribers, making it one of the more intriguing additions to the service this month.
And if you’ve been following this one since its reveal, you’ll already know why we previously called it a Game Pass sequel worth watching.
At A Glance
- Game: Echo Generation 2
- Developer: Cococucumber
- Publisher: Cococucumber
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC, Play Anywhere
- Genre: Turn-Based RPG / Deckbuilder
- Game Pass: Day One – Game Pass Ultimate & PC Game Pass
From Small-Town Mystery To Galactic Sci-Fi
This time around, players step into the role of Jack – the father – as the story shifts away from Maple Town and heads into something far stranger. What starts as a family trip quickly spirals into dimension-hopping chaos involving hidden experiments, existential threats and multiple interconnected storylines told across several playable characters.
Across the adventure, players will follow six heroes in total, each bringing their own abilities, decks and perspectives to the wider narrative. One chapter might lean into noir horror, another into cyberpunk sci-fi, while others explore strange alien worlds or dangerous scientific conspiracies.
It sounds ambitious. Thankfully, Cococucumber already proved with the original that it knows how to build atmosphere and character.
Turn-Based Battles Meet Deckbuilding
Combat has evolved quite a bit too. Echo Generation 2 focuses on deckbuilding mechanics, with more than 150 cards available to unlock, combine and build strategies around. Characters can be customised through skill trees, badge upgrades and different deck setups, encouraging experimentation across your party compositions.
There’s also a new stance-breaking system at play during battles, rewarding careful timing and combo-building rather than simply hammering attack commands. The overall vibe feels somewhere between classic JRPG structure and modern roguelite-style build crafting – all wrapped inside that chunky voxel presentation Cococucumber has become known for.
That Voxel Style Still Looks Great
One thing that absolutely hasn’t changed is the visual identity.
Echo Generation 2 still uses that retro-inspired voxel art style that made the original stand out, but the scale appears much bigger this time around. Neon-lit cities, industrial wastelands, alien dimensions and cosmic environments all feature heavily throughout the trailers and screenshots released so far.
And then there’s the soundtrack. Composer Pusher returns with another synth-heavy score inspired by classic 80s and 90s sci-fi, which feels like a perfect match for the game’s slightly nostalgic tone.
A Day One Game Pass Highlight?
Game Pass has had no shortage of RPGs lately, but Echo Generation 2 feels like it it filling a slightly different space. It’s stylish without trying too hard. Weird without disappearing completely into chaos. And most importantly, it seems to carry forward the same sense of heart that made the original so memorable. Pick it up from the Xbox Store.
We scored the first Echo Generation a solid 4/5 back in 2021, calling it “a very enjoyable adventure which captures the magic of being young.” This sequel may be going much bigger in scope, but there’s every chance Cococucumber has another special little RPG on its hands here.
