Synduality Echo of Ada Review - One More Sortie?
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Synduality Echo of Ada blends anime-style mecha combat with an extraction shooter framework, a subgenre made popular by the perpetually early-access title Escape from Tarkov. Its concept may prove intimidating to those unfamiliar with the subgenre. While Synduality has a strong foundation to emulate the extraction shooter experience, everything else struggles to justify the grind required to have any significant progression, as various balances and systems make it a tedious affair with true appeal only to the committed, and to those familiar with the source material.
The Wild World of Synduality
You take on the role of a Drifter, a scavenger who pilots a Cradlecoffin—a specialized mech designed to withstand the deadly rain and fend off monstrous creatures known as Enders. Humanity survives by the use of AO Crystals, a valuable resource, from the hazardous surface. However, competition is fierce, and other Drifters may betray you to steal your loot.
As a Drifter, your job is to extract said AO Crystals that are found only on the surface. Each sortie sends you back to the surface to gather materials, complete faction tasks, and fend off threats, both human and AI.
Each Drifter is partnered with a magus, an AI that assists the pilot on various tasks, from fixing their base of operations to providing key details during a mission. You can also give him/her a bath for reasons I have yet to figure out (the game even charges you). Players can customize their appearance to their liking, as whatever you pick will be the face you’ll see 80% of the time playing this game.
The other 20% is the game’s single-player story mode, which is hidden within the extraction shooter's many mundane quests. Players looking for some solo content will find it, but they’ll need to spend hours on the game's main online mode before gaining access.
Solo missions are even unlocked in frustrating batches, forcing players to grind through online content before accessing more of the story. This disjointed structure disrupts narrative pacing and makes the story feel like an afterthought rather than a compelling reason to play. It's a tedious affair that rewards your patience with a broken storyline that was never interesting to begin with.
The story missions themselves aren’t particularly memorable. Players are dropped into linear stages with preset loadouts, fighting through waves of enemies to collect scattered logs. While the occasional boss battle spices things up, they’re typically just oversized versions of standard monsters or tougher bandit Cradlecoffins. If the campaign had been accessible from the start, it could have served as an effective tutorial. Instead, it’s locked behind an unnecessary grind.
Survive the surface
As of this review, the extraction shooter portion of the game features two maps, with the second eventually being unlocked once you complete enough tasks from various factions. They are large, but still small enough that it’s possible to encounter a player in just minutes. These maps feature unique landscapes and level design with the potential to become interesting venues for skirmishes against other players.
The second map is where the game truly shines in terms of level design, as each section has its own unique biome to set it apart from other parts of the map. Players can find themselves exploring the snowy mountain, then quickly travel to an abandoned facility, or visit the lush jungle just a few minutes away.
Combat: Shallow Mechanics, Missed Potential
Combat in Synduality Echo of Ada is pretty straightforward, as far as third-person shooters are concerned. Don’t go jumping in expecting Armored Core levels of customization and mech loadout depth, as players will only be equipped with the typical weapon types such as SMGs, assault rifles, snipers, shotguns, and special weapons. You can only carry two types of weapons plus throwables like grenades. You can also do melee attacks when needed. That’s all she wrote, as this is a shooter with limited mobility boosts, as the mechs’ boosters are liable to overheat if used too much.
More customizations are found in the types of mech parts you can find and bring into the arena, but these are limited to just three parts – the Cradle Coffin’s core, arms, and legs. Each part has specific properties, such as reduced fall damage or higher storage capacity, but after 15 hours of grinding, I came to realize how little there is to load-outs, as all I cared about was a higher life pool and more inventory space to bring more loot home. Weapon progression is simplistic—higher rarity means stronger stats, but without unique properties or attachments. A blue shotgun will always be superior to a green one, making loadout choices feel uninspired.
This Extraction Shooter is uneven
I’ve jumped into extraction shooters before. From The Cycle, Delta Force’s Operations, to even Tarkov, the daddy of them all. The concept is not for the faint of heart, as the idea of losing all the gear you bring into the match with players roaming the map eager to shoot to steal your loot can make your hands sweat.
The game features two factions: one group where players can band together and assist one another in co-op tasks, and the other takes on the role of bandits - players that have a bounty on their heads from attacking other players. Both sides have their share of quests and goals, but with the current state of Synduality’s economy and player base, it feels more one-sided depending on where you play.
Synduality’s attempts to bring the extraction shooter formula into an anime-inspired world are commendable, but it struggles to capture the genre’s signature tension on one platform, and somehow has too much of that tension on another.
In the game’s first weeks on the PS5, it wasn't a tense series of missions, but a nice stroll through a torn-up Earth. Instead of high-stakes encounters, players often avoid PvP altogether due to economy balance issues, making early matches feel more like cooperative PvE missions than ruthless survival battles.
On the other side of the coin, those playing on PC are experiencing a lot of aggressive players, making it more PvP-oriented, which is another problem in itself as it’s really difficult to bounce back financially one loss after another, as constant deaths put a high wall in front of players hoping to progress.
The source of the imbalance is the equipment and materials being so scarce and expensive that some players try to not fight and would rather cooperate with you, grouping up and taking on the game's co-op tasks, but those well-versed in PVP push player combat because of this very reason as well.
It’s also an unusual choice to make crafting attached to real-time timers as base upgrades or crafting later in the game takes over an hour of real-time to finish. To speed it up, you can spend the game's premium currency or in-game currency, a system mostly seen in free-to-play titles.
It’s uneven. For those who prefer one playstyle over the other at the moment one playstyle can tip over and ruin the flow of the whole gameplay loop all thanks to the current state of the game’s economy.
There’s also no option to form parties to go on missions with friends or random players as well, as players can only co-op with those they encounter in a match - you’ll have to request to team up, which in turn triggers a co-op event nearby. That goes for PVP as I have seen bandits band together to increase their odds of scoring big.
A missed opportunity that could get better in time
Synduality Echoes of Ada has potential, but its flawed economy, tedious grind, and lack of meaningful story incentives make it hard to recommend in its current state. Without drastic improvements, it risks being forgotten before it ever finds a steady audience. The more I play, the more I start to lose interest, as each sortie is starting to feel similar to the last, with no stories to bring back and share, no loot to get me excited, and not wishing frantically that I get out of this alive for the big payout. Maybe I should hop to the PC version for more PVP, but the fact that your experience differs depending on your platform makes it clear that there’s a problem that needs addressing.
Verdict: 2.5/ 5 (Poor)
PROS
A beginner-friendly extraction shooter, making it a perfect choice for those interested in trying this type of title
The extraction shooter loop foundation is established, with solid starting maps
CONS
Solo missions are locked behind online progression
Uneven balancing, making the grind more tedious than rewarding
Uninspired story integration
Unbalanced equipment pricing and low money results in frustration and struggles to progress
WHAT I'VE PLAYED
I spent over 40 hours with the game on PS5
Collected roughly half of the recordings found in the solo story missions
I have done over 100 sorties with a loadout filled with blue gear
Have rebuilt my base close to the max
Experienced a few PvP encounters (with me always engaging first)
*This review is based on a PS5 review copy provided to the reviewer
Synduality Echo of Ada has potential, but its flawed economy, tedious grind, and lack of meaningful story incentives make it hard to recommend in its current state. Without drastic improvements, it risks being forgotten before it ever finds a steady audience.