Echo Rift

Mission briefing

Echo Rift is a pixel-art survival action game. Kaede has been pulled into the rift, and you are the Echo, a small ninja who follows her through ten islands to bring her home. Your weapons fire on their own: you move, dodge and pick a new power card at every level-up. Evolve weapons and combine them into supers. Each island is a journey of seven checkpoints with a different task at each one: charge a shrine, herd lost echoes, ride a mine cart, outrun a lava flow. Then beat a three-phase boss and lead Kaede to the door. 10 islands, 40 different tasks, 12 bosses, 10 heroes, Boss Rush and Endless modes.

Field manual

Survive, complete each checkpoint task and defeat the island's boss to rescue Kaede. Keyboard: WASD or arrow keys to move, Shift or Space to dash, 1-4 to pick a card, R to reroll, P or Esc to pause. Touch: drag anywhere to move, tap the round button to dash, tap a card to pick it. Your weapons attack on their own.

Launch orders: press Launch mission above and the game loads on this page itself — nothing downloads and no form stands between you and the first move. It is designed for a flexible screen and takes its orders from mouse, keyboard or touch, depending on the mission. It adapts to both upright and wide screens, so phones, tablets and desktops all frame it sensibly. If it offers a fullscreen control, use it — a fight this size deserves the whole screen.

Field notes for action operations

• First run is reconnaissance. Spend it learning where the danger actually spawns from instead of chasing a score — most action games announce their patterns honestly in the opening minute, then repeat them with worse manners.
• Movement is a defensive stat. A moving target at half health outlives a stationary one at full health in nearly every game on this board, so keep relocating between shots, strikes and reloads.
• Learn the exit before the entrance closes. In arena and chase games alike, the players who survive longest are the ones who noticed the second doorway while everyone else was watching the first.

Echo Rift — questions from the ranks

What does it cost to play Echo Rift?

Nothing at all. The mission is free from the first order to the last — no sign-up, no download, no paid tier guarding the good levels. The advertising around this page is what keeps the board free.

What sort of mission is Echo Rift?

Echo Rift is filed in our Action theatre. Like every operation on this board, it is a browser game — read the briefing above for the publisher's own account of what you are deploying into.

Can I run Echo Rift on a phone or tablet?

Yes. It plays in the browser on phones and tablets exactly as it does on a computer. It adapts to both upright and wide screens, so phones, tablets and desktops all frame it sensibly.

Do I have to install anything before playing?

No installation of any kind. Echo Rift is an HTML5 game: press the launch button and it loads on this page, and closing the tab leaves nothing behind.

After-action

Mission complete, or still pinned down? The full Action theatre is one click away — The main hall of the board: 469 operations where something is always moving, exploding, escaping or being chased. If a game has a pulse and a problem, it is probably filed here.