Sword Art Online: Echoes of Aincrad Preview - A More Dangerous Return to Aincrad
“Preview Access Provided By Bandai-Namco”
After spending roughly two and a half hours with Sword Art Online: Echoes of Aincrad, my biggest takeaway is that this game is clearly trying to do something different for the Sword Art Online series. This is not just another anime action RPG built around flashy combat and familiar characters. Echoes of Aincrad leans much harder into deliberate combat, stamina management, exploration, gear progression, and danger.
In many ways, it feels like a Souls-like take on Sword Art Online, though I would compare it more closely to Code Vein than something like Dark Souls or Elden Ring. It has the slower, more intentional pace of a Souls-like, but it still carries the anime-styled energy and party-based structure that fits the SAO universe.
The preview began with character creation. Players can customize their own avatar with different visual and voice options, though the selection did feel somewhat limited in specific areas. Personally, as someone with locs, I was disappointed that the hairstyle options were narrow. The main loc style available was closer to the Killmonger-style look, which works, but it would have been nice to see more variety for players who want their character to better reflect their real-world appearance.
From there, the preview started in a dungeon as I made my way toward the Town of Beginnings. This opening section introduced the basic flow of combat and movement. Light attacks are mapped to RB, heavy attacks to RT, guarding is on LB, and LT acts as an action shift. Items are assigned to the D-pad, while skills are tied to the face buttons.
Running and dodging both consume stamina, which immediately changes how you approach combat. You cannot simply rush enemies, spam attacks, and dodge endlessly. Every action has a cost, and that makes each encounter feel more meaningful.
During the opening dungeon, I met Iori, a companion character who fought alongside me for part of the journey. Later, after reaching the Town of Beginnings, I also encountered Saayu and Wyzeman. Reaching the town cleared the “Summons” quest and triggered a major cutscene that Sword Art Online fans will instantly recognize: the appearance of the Game Master, Akihiko Kayaba.
That moment is where the preview truly started to feel like Sword Art Online. It captured the tension of Aincrad and reminded me of what made the original setup of SAO so compelling. The world is not just a playground. It is dangerous, and survival matters.
After leaving the Town of Beginnings, I headed toward Horunka, and this is where Echoes of Aincrad opened up more. The game features open-world areas with a Sword Art Online twist. You explore, battle enemies, gather resources, open chests, level up, and improve your equipment.
There are multiple weapon types available, and each one feels meaningfully different. Players can use sword and shield combinations, great swords, axes, hammers, and more. This variety gives the game a stronger sense of identity because your weapon choice affects how you approach encounters.
Defeated enemies drop resources that can be used to upgrade gear, creating a familiar but satisfying gameplay loop. Explore the world, gather materials, fight enemies, level up, improve your equipment, and prepare for tougher battles.
Companions also play an important role. You can choose who travels with you, and you have access to dual attacks by holding LT and pressing Y. During my preview, I chose Iori as my companion. She was especially useful because she could cast a healing area-of-effect ability, which came in handy during tougher encounters.
Visually, the open-world areas looked comparable to recent Sword Art Online games from the last few years. Fans of the franchise will likely feel comfortable with the art direction, but the world itself did feel somewhat barren at times. Outside of fighting enemies, collecting resources, opening chests, and grinding levels, there was not much interaction in the environment during the preview.
That does not ruin the experience, but I do hope the full game adds more meaningful world activities, environmental storytelling, and reasons to explore beyond combat and loot.
One surprising limitation is that your character cannot swim. Jumping into water causes you to drown and respawn near the area where you fell in. It is a small thing, but in an open-world game, limitations like that are noticeable.
Echoes of Aincrad also includes a familiar Souls-like recovery system. There are camping areas, similar to bonfires, where you can recover health. However, using them also respawns enemies, which reinforces the game’s risk-and-reward structure.
The biggest challenge I faced during the preview was the final boss of the first section: a massive boar that could summon minions during the fight. This was the first major difficulty spike I encountered, and I was not able to defeat it during my time with the demo.
That boss fight made it clear that Echoes of Aincrad expects players to pay attention. You need to manage stamina, understand your weapon, use your companion effectively, and avoid getting overwhelmed. It was not enough to simply attack until the enemy fell. The fight demanded patience and better decision-making.
That is also where the game started to win me over.
Sword Art Online: Echoes of Aincrad feels like it understands the stakes of its world. Every fight has weight. Every enemy encounter matters. The game captures the feeling that survival is not guaranteed, which is exactly the kind of tension Aincrad should have.
While I enjoyed my time with the preview, I do wish I had more time with the game. I was only able to play one of the two available preview sections during the time slot, so there is still a lot I did not get to experience.
Even so, what I played left a strong impression. The combat feels weighty, the companion system adds personality, and the Souls-like structure gives the game a stronger sense of danger than previous Sword Art Online titles.
There are areas I hope to see expanded in the full release, especially character customization and open-world interaction, but the foundation here is promising.
For Sword Art Online fans, Echoes of Aincrad could be something special. It captures the feeling of being inside the SAO world while giving combat more consequence and tension. If the full game builds on what this preview offered, this could become one of the most interesting SAO games yet.
Sword Art Online: Echoes of Aincrad feels like a more deliberate and challenging take on the franchise. It blends Souls-like combat with SAO’s party-based identity, creating a game where every fight feels important. While the open world felt somewhat empty during the preview, the combat, companion mechanics, and Aincrad atmosphere left me wanting more.