Way back in the distant past of 2022, my entire Game of the Year plans were blown out of the water by a sensational JRPG made by solo developer Matthias Linda. Chained Echoes was easily one of the best RPGs I had ever played, with ridiculously clever combat, an engaging story with real stakes and strife, and some of the most rewarding exploration the genre has ever seen. I was in love, and it was my personal game of the year. Finally, some DLC has come down the grapevine, with Chained Echoes: Ashes of Elrant, and I’m besotted all over again.
DLC comes in all shapes and sizes, so let’s start with what you’re getting when you jump into Ashes of Elrant. It’s a full story campaign, which takes place just before the very final stretch of the original game. Despite this though you can also access it from the main menu, with either imported characters or a party of perfectly levelled heroes with skill points ready to spend so you can tailor them to your liking. Once you enter the DLC portion of the game you’re in for around 6-8 hours (more if you do absolutely everything) of content that feels just as good as the rest of this masterpiece.
As you’re preparing for a final battle to end all final battles, a call to arms you cannot ignore is thrust upon you. This call to arms will take you into what seems like another world, or perhaps another time? Because of this setting it also means you’ll learn a bit of backstory about Princess Lenne, who was rather mysterious back in the main game. It’s basically impossible not to spoil something if I talk anymore about the story, but it’s an engaging tangent that adds to the world as a whole and introduces a new character for combat.
One of the first things that comes to mind when I think of Chained Echoes is the perfection of its turn based combat, and getting to jump back into it thanks to Ashes of Elrant was delightful. With a massive cast of characters with a huge array of skills at this point in the game, there are so many approaches you can take to combat. There are healers, tanks, and more nuanced character builds to experiment with that’ll ensure you find a favourite way to deal with foes, and it’ll probably involve Leonar.
Our new hero is a humanoid white wolf who is a military leader in the world you find yourself in. This makes him sound much more serious than he is though, with one of his earliest scenes he’s just vomiting constantly due to some poor eating decisions. He’s a beast in combat too, with a special attack that deals massive damage on his first turn, and the power to leave Bite Marks on opponents. With a finishing move that deals huge damage to enemies with multiple marks, you’ll likely find he’s the best option for longer and tougher boss fights.
All the other elements of combat that made Chained Echoes special are present and accounted for here, and in the boss fights (which are some of the most engaging and testing encounters I’ve played in an RPG in years) you’ll need to master them all. The overdrive system means you need to balance the moves you use to keep the meter in the green for bonus damage and reduced SP costs, and it’s such a clever way to ensure you need to concentrate and adapt your plans on the fly instead of just clicking the best option on repeat. The mech suits even come back to the battles too, with their twist on Overdrive and unique abilities making for a fun change of pace.
As much as I adore the combat in all of Chained Echoes, it’s the exploration that really sucks me in every time. The areas you’ll explore in Ashes of Elrant are just as packed with goodies as the base game, and there’s an all new Reward Board to fill out too. This grid has a ton of little objectives to check off, from finding materials to killing certain amounts of monsters, and you’ll get loads of bonus points you can use on upgrades if you check them off.
To ensure that you aren’t too overpowered with your main story characters when you enter Ashes of Elrant, your party loses their equipment pretty much immediately. This means you get to gear up all over again with exciting weaponry and armour, add on some more simplified crystals, and really go to town on those character builds. There are also Wells of Power you can find that buff everyone’s stats equally that function similarly to Scadutree Fragments in the Elden Ring DLC, which can help beef you up for harder final encounters and encourage exploration even more.
For anyone still worried about Chained Echoes: Ashes of Elrant not adding enough to the game, let me ease those fears for you. On top of all the brilliant combat and superb exploration, there are also a couple of side activities to jump into. The fishing is the highlight of these, with way more depth than it has any right to have thanks to all the bait options. The digging game is a bit more of a chore, but the rewards it brings make it worth sticking with.
Outside of one somewhat ropey minigame, there’s so little to complain about in this wonderful DLC package. The story is perhaps not the best that Chained Echoes has to offer, but it still adds to the lore of the world. It also might be a bit jarring to jump back into combat with well over a dozen characters you’ve not played as in years, but for me part of the fun was remembering how best to use everyone.
Chained Echoes: Ashes of Elrant is a fantastic reason to return to one of the all time greatest RPGs. The combat and exploration are still the best the genre has seen all these years later, and the new character is a wonderful addition to the roster. If all DLC was as good as Ashes of Elrant then the gaming world would be a better place, so go and download it already.
