FromSoftware may now be known mainly for Elden Ring and Dark Souls, but in 2004 it released a sci-fi horror game called Echo Night: Beyond, the third in a series in which each game is its own unique story. Despite being a survival horror, players have to navigate a futuristic space setting without the help of guns for defense. Echo Night: Beyond manages to create a science fiction horror game without relying on the use of aliens or monsters, instead incorporating the supernatural with ghosts as the primary enemies.
Echo Night: Beyond takes place on the Moon, where a newlywed couple has decided to spend their honeymoon. Unlike other FromSoftware games, like Elden Ring where characters have weapons to use for fighting, Echo Night: Beyond arms players with a flashlight, which they must keep charged through the use of batteries. Players will face a few key choices throughout the game, and their decisions will decide which of four achievable endings they'll receive.
Echo Night: Beyond manages to set itself apart from other sci-fi horror games in multiple ways, from relying on a more supernatural threat with ghosts, to creating a feeling of helplessness by not giving players weapons with which to defend themselves, a design that would later find explosive popularity in games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Despite having a first-person camera, Echo Night: Beyond isn't an FPS game like Alien: Isolation since it lacks the shooter element, and players have to use the ventilation system in order to clear enemies from areas instead. Echo Night: Beyond leans heavier into supernatural elements than some sci-fi games, and it includes a more personal story as a man is trying to reunite with his new bride after they ended up being separated.
Echo Night: Beyond Is Like A Sci-Fi Fatal Frame
Echo Night: Beyond does feature some classic sci-fi elements for its setting since it takes place in space with characters that are androids, but the decision to include ghosts as enemies gives the game a similar feel to Fatal Frame, another survival horror game. While the Fatal Frame games, like Maiden of Black Water, use a camera to deal with the ghosts, Echo Night: Beyond requires that the mist around ghosts be cleared by using the ventilation system, or that the ghosts are purified by bringing them items that were important to them in life. Encountering the ghosts can lead to the character dying from a heart attack if he's near them for too long, but in a way somewhat similar to Five Nights at Freddy's, players can use security cameras to find the locations of ghosts that they would be better off avoiding.
Echo Night: Beyond combines several elements that are seen in other games to create a horror game that has a tense environment and an engaging, emotional story. While it might not be the most obscure horror game, Echo Night: Beyond seems to have become a forgotten sci-fi horror gem. Although the Souls games and Elden Ring are popular, perhaps it's time for FromSoftware to create another sci-fi horror game since Echo Night: Beyond was a classic.