After a long drought for RPG fans, recent years have brought a mini-renaissance to the genre, with new and interesting takes on the old mix of turn-based battling, exploring, and storytelling landing almost every other day. This growth has been fueled both by the indie gaming scene and by subscription platforms like PS Now and Xbox Game Pass, which have been a boon to patient gamers and lower the barrier for getting into complex, time-consuming games.

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Inspired by 80s cultural touchstones and old-school JRPGs like Earthbound, Echo Generation takes place in a seemingly idyllic suburban town where something sinister lurks just below the surface; it's up to you and your little sister to uncover the truth in between games of Dungeons and Dragons with your friends. You'll have to fight tough battles and solve puzzles in order to do so, but it won't always be easy, and you'll need to keep a few things in mind if you want to survive.

10 Talk To Grandma Mabel

The player character learns that a local grandma is handing out cookies in Echo Generation

Echo Generation begins with you exiting your house to the great wide world. But before you run off on your adventure, make sure to talk to your neighbors. Next door to your house, you'll see the kindly old Grandma Mabel on her porch, and she has a gift for you: a fresh-baked cookie.

This isn't just for flavor text, either. Cookies are powerful healing items and will fully restore both your health and your skill points, which allow you to execute powerful special attacks. Echo Generation's battles can be tough, so Grandma Mabel might be the difference between victory and defeat.

9 Time Your Button Presses

The player character selecting the "Hockey Smash" move in Echo Generation's battle system

Many of the best turn-based battle systems put a twist on the formula, and Echo Generation is no different in that regard. Like the battles in the Paper Mario series, the battles are spiced up with short quick-time button prompts - for your basic attack, a timed button press will add damage, while each special attack features a unique prompt that might include moving a targeting reticle or executing a series of button presses quickly.

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Defending against enemy attacks works on the same principle. This kind of battle system rewards practice, so take your time, learn the prompts, and soon you'll be executing flawless attacks with ease.

8 Interact With Everything

The player character's party explores a mountain road silhouetted by sunset in Echo Generation

Its gorgeous voxel-based art style fits right into the wave of modern retro games, but Echo Generation's detailed environments aren't just there to look pretty. As you putter around town, make sure to take your time and interact with everything you can - even garbage cans or nonessential NPCs.

There are plenty of missable side quests and helpful item drops like money, or healing items, or character upgrades just lying around, so be attentive and you'll be rewarded.

7 Collect Comic Books

An NPC offers the play character a comic book in Echo Generation

Any RPG worth its salt features a way for characters to learn new abilities - think the Sphere Grid in Final Fantasy X or HMs and TMs in Pokemon. Echo Generation's version of an ability system takes an unusual form: comic book collecting.

Comic books are hidden throughout the world, either as items in the environment or as rewards for completing sidequests, and each one will teach your party members new attacks or abilities in battle, often adding status effects or area-of-effect bonuses.

6 Keep An Eye Out For Cassettes

An NPC rocks out with headphones on while the player character looks on in Echo Generation

There are plenty of excellent video games set in the 80s, and though Echo Generation's exact time frame isn't specified, it has plenty of details that indicate that it should be added to the list. Its retro style extends to the squat-looking cassette deck in your bedroom.

But this isn't just a minor detail - as you progress throughout the game and unlock new areas, you'll come across cassette tapes that you can play on your tape deck. Each one contains a song from the game's rocking soundtrack, which you can listen to for fun on your cassette deck - and which come in handy for story purposes later in the game.

5 Garbage Grinding

Raccoons taunting the player character in Echo Generation

Like the old-school RPGs that inspired it, Echo Generation can be brutally difficult. If you're not careful, even grunt enemies can really lay the smackdown on you; so while there are quite a few classic RPGs that don't require grinding, Echo Generation definitely encourages it.

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In the first area, you'll notice a few raccoons lurking in garbage cans around your neighborhood. If you talk to them, they'll challenge you to a battle, offering an easy way to grind out some experience without putting yourself at risk.

4 Take A Nap

The player character stands in her messy bedroom in Echo Generation

Echo Generation has a much smaller scale than other turn-based RPGs, so you're never far away from your house. This is a great thing, and you definitely need to take advantage of it. If you're ever running low on health or skill points - and at some point in the game, you probably will - head back to the house and sleep in your bed.

It's a free way to restore yourself to full health, and since money and healing items can be hard to come by, it's a good idea to use it as often as you need.

3 Pay Close Attention To Your Surroundings

Giant rats lurk behind the player character and his sister in Echo Generation's overworld

In addition to the usual RPG loop of explore-battle-level up, Echo Generation adds adventure game-style puzzling to its bag of tricks. These puzzles are pretty fun, since they give you the incentive to explore Echo Generation's gorgeous world, but they can also be pretty challenging.

To get through them, you'll have to pay close attention to your surroundings, and remember that innocuous elements (such as, say, the date on a calendar) will often have a use that's separate from their explicit meaning. Don't lose heart, examine your surroundings, and think outside the box.

2 Upgrade Wisely

A giant worm rears up to attack the player character in Echo Generation

Every time you level up in Echo Generation, you're given the option to upgrade one of three stats - your HP, your attack strength, and your skill points. Your decisions here can make the difference between life and death in the game's tough world, so make sure to upgrade wisely.

If you skimp on HP, later bosses can kill you in one shot, while upgrading your skill points will allow you to use your powerful specials more frequently. Don't just prioritize one thing. As in life, variety is the key.

1 Recruit Pets

The player character wonders where their cat Meowsy goes in Echo Generation

There are three party slots in Echo Generation - one for you, one for your little sister, and one for one of five recruitable pets that you can find throughout the game. These range from your family cat Meowsy, to a neighborhood dog named Doggo with a taste for human bones, to a broken-down robot that needs fixing.

Each one has a useful skill (such as healing, or extra-powerful attacks), and you can switch them between battles to take advantage of their different skill sets.

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