The Xbox Games Showcase for the Xbox Series X on Thursday morning was filled with new game announcements. It was so packed, some announcements even came before the show during Geoff Keighley's pre-show. The highlight had to be the reveal of Echo Generation, a voxel-based adventure game that seems strongly inspired by the Stranger Things television show.
Echo Generation was revealed with a minute-long gameplay trailer. It featured the game's protagonist, a young boy named Dylan who wields a hockey stick, exploring a gorgeous 80s voxel world and interacting with all manner of supernatural beings. Alongside the boy is Dylan's little sister with pigtails and overall shorts, as well as a fluffy Himalayan cat named Meowsy. Locations in the trailer include a cornfield, a junkyard, a graveyard, and other mysterious locales that kids might find exploring on their summer vacation.
These three characters make up Echo Generation's party, as the game also features turn-based combat. Much like an RPG, Players encounter enemies as they explore, which include an odd living jester doll, a zombie-ish werewolf ina buck skull with a sword, four-legged junkyard mechanical engine monsters, giant rats, and also huge robotic creations with rockets and more. Then, to close out the trailer, a giant worm monster was shown, too.
The Xbox Wire provided some further information about Echo Generation's story and setting. It's set in 1993 in a small Canadian town and school's out for the summer. Dylan and friends discover a mysterious crash in a local cornfield, which they absolutely have to go investigate, leading to the sudden appearance of monsters and mechs in town. Players will have to discover where the story goes from there on their own.
Developer Cococucumber, which also developed the game Riverbond, says that Echo Generation is inspired by the 80s and 90s coming-of-age and horror films. So while there's definitely a Stranger Things vibe, it's more that both Stranger Things and Echo Generation are inspired by the same pop culture ideas.
Players can look forward to Echo Generation running at 4K resolution with 60 frames per second on Xbox Series X, which the game will launch on. Xbox One players will also get to play the game, too, as Echo Generation will launch on both.
Echo Generation releases in 2021 on Xbox One and Xbox Series X.