Echo Chaser

Overall★★★★★★★★★★4.21
Fun★★★★★★★★★★4.10
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★4.12
Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.27
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.46
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.88
Mood★★★★★★★★★★4.15
Chase echoes. Explore an interconnected world.
Find the source of the echoes.

Before you continue reading this description. I urge you to go in blind the first time.

------

Controls:
arrows - Move
x - Echolocate

I interpreted the theme in 2 ways:
1- You follow echoes
2- You use echo to see around you

There are many ways of reaching the end.
If you've finished it one way you can play it again to find an other path.

Special thanks to my playtesters: aniseako, starfury, snowpardux and poetphin
mhughson for it's platformer demo code
and to you for playing!

Comments26

Guardaro
Guardaro20 Apr 2026, 01:28
Looks amazing! Any possibility of a cart? I'm trying to try as many pico8 games as I can on my handheld.
Psycanic
Psycanic20 Apr 2026, 05:25
How you handle the pixel is insane.. got any inspiration from Animal Well by any chance? Both of you are insane
Umaiit20 Apr 2026, 07:22
Love your pixel art!
quietchili20 Apr 2026, 12:13
I love the art and audio! Very Cool!
7uc4s
7uc4s21 Apr 2026, 10:36
the art is really cool, also love the concept, though I wish it we could spam the echo locator a bit more :p
Wouter52
Wouter5221 Apr 2026, 12:51
Loved it! The graphics are amazing, I love what you can do with such limitations. Having the platforms appear and disappear using the echo technique itself is really clever. If I may give a suggestion: Add a cover image to your game! It deserves the love! I managed to play all the way until the end.

One little thing I found: while explaining the controls, the "Z" key is not displayed.
Verbante
Verbanteauthor21 Apr 2026, 15:26
@guardaro yes! i'll let you know when I upload it to bbs
Verbante
Verbanteauthor21 Apr 2026, 15:29
@psycanic hehe thanks! Yeah I love Animal Well. I really like the games that immerse you in their rule system. So I was thinking about Rain World as I started this, and the sonar part probably comes from Barotrauma. Because of it's style sounds, and puzzle platformer aspects I started thinking more and more about Animal Well towards the end of the development
Verbante
Verbanteauthor21 Apr 2026, 15:31
@7uc4s Deciding on those limits are really tricky lol one of my play testers requested to spam it less so that he'd have to rely more in his memory. Glad you liked it regardless
Verbante
Verbanteauthor21 Apr 2026, 15:34
@wouter52 Yey thank you! I will add a cover image you're absolutely right. Glad you reached the end!!

About z: I try to keep my tutorials as simple as possible, usually at the cost of not explaining alternative controls. You can also jump with up key so I left that one out. Though I will put it in the explanation down below
Guardaro
Guardaro21 Apr 2026, 15:55
I finally got around to trying it (I had to fight the LD embed pretty hard to get it to work). Amazing game! Might be my favorite of the 10-ish I've tried so far? Absolutely beautiful graphics, and I kept being surprised to find that there were more mechanics (I loved the blue / green blocks). Fantastic job.
NE-Aquilon
NE-Aquilon21 Apr 2026, 21:50
Amazing. Truly beautiful. Visual style absolutely elevates standard platformer and echo gameplay.
Volkolak
Volkolak22 Apr 2026, 13:35
It's beautifully done, very vibey and interesting to explore the world.
iovorobiev
iovorobiev23 Apr 2026, 18:10
Love it! I had constant feeling that I missed a turn somewhere, but then I saw the guy in the end and was like "oh, hello!" :)
qmdev
qmdev24 Apr 2026, 19:14
The game is very cool, visually similar to Animal Well, very beautiful.
LDJam user 243193
LDJam user 24319325 Apr 2026, 11:20
Well done, I love how signal is used to trace your surroundings. I can see the possible alternate paths but I'm happy with the one I've taken to reach THE END.
Purrseus
Purrseus26 Apr 2026, 09:29
I just finished your game for the first (possibly not last!) time. This was a really unique experience! You really captured the feeling of being stuck with a novel sense humans typically don't have!

The game is, simply put, beautiful. It's amazing, what you wrangled out of PICO-8 here. The sound/music is also super atmospheric. I was really immersed! Figuring out the rules of this world tingled something in me that I thought was reserved to nostalgia :heart:

I played on my phone and it worked buttery smooth, however being able to jump with Up was a minor nuisance with a digital dpad because I jumped a lot accidentally. This was really minor though.

Thanks for creating this gem!
smilewood
smilewood26 Apr 2026, 15:41
Very fun, I love the concept of an echolocation - based game and this is one of the best that I have had the pleasure to play. I think the 8-bit graphics style was excellent for communicating how the echos light up the world. I also really appreciated how the rippling lighting up of the world contributed to the soundscape, I think that added a lot to how immersing the navigation was. Fantastic game jam entry, well done!

edit: my completion time was 5:19
Verbante
Verbanteauthor26 Apr 2026, 17:31
@purrseus WOW thanks for the high praise!

I can add a setting to toggle jump with up for post jam
RenD
RenD26 Apr 2026, 19:30
Impressive entry! All the mechanics you introduce are really clever and it's super engaging to understand how they work and navigate the levels. The sound design, the aesthetics, everything works together perfectly to bring a mysterious and almost spiritual vibe, just like Animal Well as others have mentioned. Incredible game, I think that's the best I've tried so far
Papaver
Papaver30 Apr 2026, 11:35
That was a fun and mysterious adventure! Great entry :clap:
LDJam user 352490
LDJam user 3524904 May 2026, 21:50
This game was extremely cool! It felt like I had to relearn how to see the world from scratch, and it was satisfying seeing all the ways different materials interacted with the echoes. There were a lot of cool platform designs, like the thin platforms that you could only see one side of, or the platforms you had to jump and alternate at the same time. And the visuals were gorgeous with all the particle effects.

I don't really any critiques, it was just fun to explore the world you built.
deformhead
deformhead6 May 2026, 12:52
Awesome game!

I had the idea of this gameplay for more than a decade, really happy to see it done better than I could have done, especially on a COMPO timeframe!

Loved your work on the particle effect, it makes the whole game, so I imagine it was a huge bet, but you did it perfectly well!

:clap:
nexusasx10
nexusasx108 May 2026, 15:42
I've seen several games where you make impulses to see in the darkness but this game is the most stylish an well made game ot them. I love this art and sound. Also the idea of changing environment when you make a signal is really cool.

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