In 2022, I had a delightful time with the indie-developed, JRPG-inspired game Chained Echoes, and now a massive DLC, Chained Echoes: Ashes of Elrant, is on the way. As such, I had the fortune to play the DLC ahead of its release. How is it? Is it as good as the original game or better? Find out in our Chained Echoes: Ashes of Elrant review.
Game Name: Chained Echoes: Ashes of Elrant
Platform(s): Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PC (Reviewed)
Developer(s): Umami Tiger
Publisher(s): Deck13 Spotlight
Release Date: August 7, 2025
Price: €9.99
Before the final battle in Chained Echoes, a researcher comes to Glenn and his party members asking for help. They were researching rocks in a town when a general from one of the enemy kingdoms started to terrorize the town. As the main party helps clear the town of enemies, the researcher starts a ritual that channels all the residual ether into a portal, transporting them to an unknown location. From what Lenne can see, it turns out to be the town she grew up in, Elrant.
The Good
I love how much focus Ashes of Elrant gives to only a few of the characters. I forgot just how large the cast was, but since it’s mainly centered on the White Wolf, Lenne, Raphael, and Magolia, the story gives them far more time to shine. I did wish other characters had a chance to stand out, but I’m glad it didn’t try to give everyone a purpose, which often results in very thin arcs.
The combat gets to shine in the DLC, with plenty of tough encounters. Some have fun gimmicks, like chess characters progressing on a board to become stronger. It makes it enticing to finish off pawns quickly, because if they reach the end, they turn into powerful queens and heal back up. Other fights have you exploring the map to solve puzzles or reach your Sky Armor before heading back.
The White Wolf becomes powerful once you understand how to use him. He needs enemies with lots of health, and you’ll want to stack about three buffs before going to town, biting enemies to build up their bite marks. Once a target has enough, you can unleash the White Wolf’s weakness bite to deliver an ungodly amount of damage.
The Bad
Chained Echoes: Ashes of Elrant starts off jarringly. It’s the day before the final battle, and yet Glenn is okay with taking front-line generals to a random town to help researchers study rocks? Given how wary they should be of sabotage, Glenn and his team should at least send scouts to verify the researchers’ claims.
Some characters have fun moments but don’t contribute meaningfully to the DLC’s story or area. One possible fix would have been letting some party members stay behind, leaving you with a more focused team of eight. This would help the story concentrate on those it highlights, while giving you the flexibility to swap others in as you wish.
The base game of Chained Echoes is around 35–40 hours. Ashes of Elrant is billed as a “massive DLC,” but my completion time was 7 hours and 45 minutes. That’s not what I’d call massive, though I didn’t use guides and had to reattempt fights early on while shaking off rust from not playing for two years.
The original Chained Echoes ran perfectly on Steam Deck before launch with no issues or configuration needed. Ashes of Elrant, however, didn’t start as smoothly. I had to switch to the Proton Experimental branch; otherwise, the game launched with the DLC installed but didn’t recognize it in-game. Once I changed the Proton version, I was able to get started without issue.
Also, I wish there were a menu option to return to the main menu after saving. Since the DLC is accessed from a separate menu, if you want to go back to the base game, you have to exit the game entirely and restart it to select your original save.
The Verdict
The base game of Chained Echoes still shines in the Ashes of Elrant DLC, but for its premium price, the DLC doesn’t entirely shine on its own. There are minigames like fishing, but they didn’t feel like worthwhile additions in my opinion. If you’re in it for more of the battle system, it may still be worth checking out.
Chained Echoes is available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The Ashes of Elrant DLC should be available now on all platforms.
Review Disclosure Statement: Chained Echoes: Ashes of Elrant was provided to us by Deck13 Spotlight for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.
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Summary
Chained Echoes: Ashes of Elrant may have its flaws with its execution, but if you liked the combat and the characters, then it is worth a look.
Pros
- Combat has good difficulty
- The Elrant region is varied and has nice art
- Lenne gets to be explored quite a bit in this DLC
Cons
- Story writing is out of place and probably should have been a post-game story rather than a pre-end-game story.
- Some puzzles are not as intuitive as they should be
- For a huge cast, the DLC only focuses on some of them, making the rest of them just exist.
