(20.2 hours in total according to Steam Clock. This review is based plying Full Bloom edition on Steam Deck with Traditional Chinese text and Japanese voice-over. 10.1 hours to get through.)
Water Margin, Romance of Three Kingdom, Journey to the West and Dream of Red Chamber are the so-called Four Great Chinese Novels. The first 3 of those had given gifts to video game industry: “water margin” is pretty much the “suiko” in Konami’s Suikoden series; Three Kingdom makes up about half of old Koei’s library; and I know many of you are more excited about Black Myth: Wukong than I can ever be. Somehow, direct adaption of Red Chamber is almost impossible for the interactive media.
It’s not to say that the book does not have its influence given how many stage adaptions of it my grandmas, both paternal and maternal mind you, had seen. Those plays had been focused on a very narrow aspect of the book, the gallivanting life of a bohemian lad, according to literature professors. Those academics would compare this brick of book to something like Emmy award winner Succession, for the real meat of the book is in how various rich assholes in the book despise the other half and how they act according to that spite. Dream of Read Chamber is a soap opera blueprint through and through, yet one cannot help but be surprised to see some space opera took inspiration from it.
Sigono is an indie video game studio based in Taiwan and they make a science fiction anthology called OPUS. Echo of Starsong is the third one in the series and the most ambitious one released of the lot. For one thing, the game was launched on PC rather than mobile. The game also features polygonal models and environments instead of the previous two’s purely 2D endeavor. OPUS series also implies the setting of a spacefaring civilization, while Echo of Starsong is the first time such civilization’s working can be seen on screen. This sleep hit from the year 2021 surely is one to behold.
PFM ships
In a very distant future when humanity is spread across the galaxy, fossil fuel is still all the rage. Only it’s called Lumen and known to be relic left by an ancient yet advanced (Humans are sun-worshippers for the stars centered in their resident solar system while this dead civilization seemed to manipulate the stars.) alien race. War for such resource was fought in the solar system called Thousand Peaks, only to have it ended in a cold war state under the boots of an interstellar corporation. Into this stew entered Lee Jun, an exiled noble from another solar system called East Sea. He is on a quest to secure Lumen mines for his family when he meets a singer named Eda and gets a ride on her ship OPUS-3 (Guess the developers did make a joke there.) Red Chamber. Together the 2 young souls start to chase their dreams in Thousand Peaks, or die trying.
Echo of Starsong is unmistakably a space opera with elements recognizable to readers of the genre. Resource war among stars and noble houses? Yep, that’s Frank Herbert’s Dune, al’right. Though unlike Mr. Herbert’s focus almost only be on the titular dust ball, OPUS the third is a space trucker and occasionally miner experience. Thousand Peaks is a system composed mostly of Gas Giants, so all the drama and action take place in space stations and on asteroids.
The story is certainly about youthful dreams and things one gives for those under the background of an interstellar cold war. Usually, presentation contains character portraits and word bubbles. With moment too dramatic for such “child play”, illustrations that can fill the whole screen. The currently available Full Blossom Edition (Funny enough, the “original” Chinese sub-title is closer to “Final Cut” while “full bloom” is kind of a spoiler for this game’s tear-jerking ending. And yes, the English one should be taken literally in case any of you sickos got other ideas.) also added Mandarin (Given how fancy pants in my city speak Mandarin in an accent similar people in Taiwan, I refuse to listen to that in a tale of “high tech, low life.”) and Japanese voice-over, which is quite effective and a good reason for we who play this game for a second time.
Navigation is the name of the game
Mento, a dedicated member of this community, once pointed out that OPUS 1, aka 2015’s Day We Found Earth is Mass Effect Planet Scan the game. In that case OPUS 3 Echo of the Starsong can be seen as Mass Effect Galaxy Map the game. Well, only the 2007 original’s pointing at a destination and clicking to get there mechanic applies here. Also, this game does not take place in a galaxy, it just takes place in a solar system.
Fuel, armor, probes and currency are the 4 resources one has to manage in this game. The amount one can have for the first 3 is upgradable. Besides those, the ship Red Chamber has many upgrades, including a radio. Radio signal alternation is a player’s most powerful weapon to wield in this game. With all sides of this cold war ready to cop up and foul someone else up, player will be helmed and ordered to stop during their trip from one point to another. The options to get out include tough out by losing armor, pay currency when bribery or fines is raised or alter the signal to get out Scott free. This game does add a certain gameiness by having such checks on what otherwise might be seem as a visual novel.
Points in the system include ruins that can be probed for resource and full hub accessible through menu. Hubs all have trade center to buy and sell goods. The real big ones packed with production value are the Lumen Caves, which require Eda to search for the titular echo of Starsong first then Lee Jung can be played in side-scrolling adventure game levels. The puzzles are not challenging for they are finding keys for doors affairs. This game is marketed for a focus on story and that marketing is true enough. A couple of zero-g sections are peppered in just to add that space flavor.
No scope
Video game is no stranger to space opera, yet the media form has a narrow focus on space marines. I got nothing against space marines. In fact, when I read Hyperion by Dan Simmons, Legend of the Galactic Heroes by Hideki Tanaka or the Expanse by James S.A Corey, there is always extra excitement in seeing a character and thinking “Heh, that’s a badass space marine!” Yet, I grew tired of playing as one ever since 2012’s Mass Effect 3.
So I guess that’s why OPUS Echo of Starsong and its tales about sad space truckers feel like a breath of fresh air. The developer is known for tear-jerking stories. When the end credits rolled over one celestial body shown in the game after another, I started to recall the short description of each in the game and think they did well on the science fiction set in space front as well. I would recommend this one to any “vet” tired of seeing space through scopes of guns.