Introduction
Echo Bazaar is a text based social game that originated on Twitter but which can now be played via link-up with Facebook as well. It’s a weird, Victorian, eerie game in which your character tries to progress through society – of all kinds – to a position of safety and power in a London that is far changed and very dangerous even compared to its normal self.

This is a fusion of weird tales, penny dreadfuls, steampunk, Lovecraftian strangeness and Carrollian whimsy brings to mind several authors of ‘the new weird’ but is its own thing, unique and special.

Story
London has been stolen away, or sold, and now has sunk into the underworld, a stone’s throw from Hell and other underworlds. You are one of many survivors, but a prisoner. Your first order of business is to escape your captivity and remake yourself in the cavernous new London as a success. Along the way you might run into bohemian honey-addicts, tentacled rubbery men, criminals, constables, devils, conniving orientals and loveable street urchins.

This is a rich – and confusing – world of secrets and mystery, your own personal story cuts through rich layers of narrative and background, even though you’re rarely, if ever, told anything explicitly. In many ways – and this is a recurring point – this relative scarcity is a great strength of the game. You’re given enough room to decide some things for yourself, to interpret and to make the game – and the world – your own to a degree.

Gameplay
This is an RPG and your character is defined by unconventional statistics that reflect the nature of the Machiavellian underworld in which you find yourself. Your main characteristics are Dangerous, Watchful, Persuasive and Shadowy. These statistics are supplemented by other ones such as daring, or ‘Contacts’ of a particular kind and combinations of statistics are required to either complete or unlock various missions. The consequences of bad decisions or unsuccessful attempts are also reflected in temporary statistics like ‘Nightmares’, ‘Wounds’ or ‘Scandal’ amongst others.

You can equip various weapons, clothing and devices for bonuses and bring various allies along with you to aid you. The bonuses aren’t huge so this is largely a matter of personal taste and style, rather than an essential aspect of gameplay. Other items are found and taken during missions and provide access to missions, are used up in their execution or can be sold in exchange for currency (echoes and pennies). The sorts of items one can find include ‘secrets’ which are themselves a kind of currency in the underworld.

One key aspect that enhances the social side of the game is that you can meet up with other players in your ”lodgings’ for various activities that can heal damage or give you ‘try again’ chances within your various fields of expertise. There’s a genuine, good reason to be social in this game, unlike many other ‘social’ games.

One final thing that brings the game ahead of many other social games is that there is also a ‘deck’ of random events and encounters that supplements your standard missions and mixes them up, giving you more options than simply doing the same thing over and over again.

Controls
It’s a simple point and click with the mouse. The controls could be a bit streamlined as clicking through and through constantly when you’re repeating the same missions over and over again as you advance gets a bit tedious. Otherwise it’s fairly simple and you’re limited to only so many turns per day – unless you spend real money of course!

Atmosphere
This is where the game truly shines. The prose is tight and short, but evocative. The spartan nature of the text and the game as a whole is actually a strength, as mentioned above. It leaves you enough room to enage your own imagination and to interpret many of the missions in your own way to your own understanding. It’s this light touch that, in my opinion, makes the game so successful, at least for the more literate and imaginative players.

Graphics
The graphics are sparse and cartoonish, but it works, shorthand for the whole game’s approach to design can be seen in the character portraits, which are cameos (silhouette pictures), leaving your imagination to fill in the gaps. I’m in two minds as to whether it would be better to see more of this underground London and its people, or whether it’s better as it is. Perhaps some more pictures of landscapes and areas of the city would be good as inspiration, but I still can’t really decide whether more is genuinely better than less.

Conclusion
I only passed this up when it was Twitter based because I tend to shy away from fads and crazes for the most part. Now I’m kicking myself as it is genuinely as good as people have said it is. You get extra actions for ‘echoing’ information from the game and while this is obviously to help the game advertise and perpetuate itself, for my part I don’t mind as I don’t echo what it says to but, rather, inform people of my progress in the game in my own words and interpretations and that, ultimately, is what makes the game for me. It inspires me in my own creativity.

On the plus side:

• Wonderful, eclectic game world.
• Room for your own interpretations.
• Inspiring creativity.

On the minus side:

• If you’re not creative you may find it too spartan.
• The cartoonish graphics are sometimes at odds with the feel of the text.
• Not enough actions per day!

Score
Style: 4
Substance: 4
Overall: 4