This interview has been edited for clarity.
When thinking of extraction shooters, gritty realism usually comes to mind. A sub-genre of competitive multiplayer titles mostly targeted at the more hardcore gamer demographic, these games typically involve players scavenging to survive, meeting other players along the way, both friend or foe, to reach an extraction point to secure their spoils, or dying along the way and losing everything.
While Bandai Namco’s SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada aims to capture that same core gameplay experience, developer Game Studio has taken steps to ensure that it stands out from the crowd, combining elements of anime and mecha to deliver a more approachable Player vs. Player. vs. Environment (PvPvE) extraction shooter experience to suit casual and hardcore gamers alike.
As the latest entry in the SYNDUALITY mixed-media franchise created by the Bandai Namco Group, SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada is based on the world created by the 2023 anime television series SYNDUALITY: Noir, which established the premise of a futuristic world ravaged by a catastrophic rain known as the “Tears of the New Moon” that drove mankind underground, and mutated wildlife to dangerous extents.
For game producer Yosuke Futami, who also worked on SYNDUALITY: Noir, SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada leveraged on his past experiences working on the science fiction genre in anime and games like Sword Art Online, thereby allowing him to imbue this title with a deep narrative not commonly seen in other games in the genre.

Much like the anime, the themes of loyalty and companionship remain at the forefront of the game, highlighting the bond between a Drifter, individuals who make a living by venturing out into the harsh surface in search of precious resources known as AO Crystals, and their AI Magus partners, humanoid support units each possessing unique personalities.
In an interesting revelation, the inspiration behind the concept of Magus partners actually came from an unexpected source – global virtual pop sensation Hatsune Miku.
“She was designed as a “vocaloid” character who could sing in a human-like manner, leading to people trying to mimic her style,” explains Futami-san. “But since vocaloid songs are designed without the need for breaths, this makes them impossible to be sung live.”

“Here we had a machine that wanted to be human inspiring humans to want to be machines. It is this strange disconnect which inspired the key dynamic at the heart of the title. This is why one of the secondary themes of the game is mankind’s final tragic love, and depicting this doomed yet emotional story was one of the main reasons we created this world.”
In the game, a Magus not only plays a crucial role in its story but is also an integral component in its core gameplay loop, which places players in the role of a Drifter fresh out of training, who must explore the surface with the help of both a Magus and Cradle Coffin, large bipedal mecha which protects them from both the acid rainfall and mutated beasts known as Enders. The game revolves around taking on sorties, timed trips to the surface in search of precious resources like materials to upgrade equipment and crystals to trade in for currency, which is done in between sorties at a personal base.

Once on the surface, players will have to keep on a constant lookout for threats such as the aforementioned Enders, aggressive animals mutated by the rain, as well as other players roaming the map. While everyone starts in the same faction – the peaceful resource-gathering Drifter Support Association – anyone who intentionally destroys another player’s mecha and steals their resources will eventually be marked as an Outlaw, setting a bounty on their head that steadily increases the more disruption they cause.
Along with stealing precious parts and resources from fallen players, an Outlaw will also get access to unique contracts that differ from those provided by the Drifter Support Association, enabling them to receive exclusive mech components and weapons upon completion. This incentivisation means that everyone that a player encounters while exploring could be a potential threat, leading to every sortie feeling tense and requiring players to constantly be on their toes.

For Futami-san, the inspiration for the game did not come from others of its type, such as Escape from Tarkov, but rather from the roguelike RPG Shiren the Wanderer, which featured a similar friend-or-foe component. “In that game, you could lose items and be either helped or attacked or sometimes other people would just come and say hello.” he describes, although pointing out that despite being an online title, the game doesn’t require players to engage with others at all.
“In this title, you are by yourself, but never alone, always accompanied by your loyal Magus, this is what we wanted to be the focus of the game. The game is not designed to require matching, or even other people to be played. Fundamentally, this is a game to be played on your own, which is a pertinent point considering this era of online games where players are concerned about securing enough people to play with.”

Because of this, balancing the game became an important part of development, ensuring that the story-driven aspects of the title were not overshadowed by its PvP elements. To this end, the game was made so that “60 to 70 per cent of gameplay centred around PvE interactions, with the remaining 30 to 40 per cent being PvP”, according to Futami-san.
All players will also receive glimpses into the game’s overarching lore regardless of which faction they fall under, ensuring its story is always in the limelight.
Its focus on PvE elements and story would undoubtedly be a major selling point for potential players looking to ease their way into the extraction shooter genre, a fact further cemented by the team’s commitment to accessibility, to which Futami-san explains that their long-term vision for the title was to gear it towards “gamers of all stripes”, presenting the title as a means to introduce “casual and mid-core users” to the genre.

The team’s implementation of this is two-fold. Firstly, they adopted a more grounded approach to traditional mecha gameplay, with Cradle Coffin’s feeling much weightier compared to other fast-paced, robot-centric games like Armored Core VI: Fires Of Rubicon. This means that possessing a lightning-quick trigger finger is not required to succeed, which not only prevents it from having a high skill ceiling but also removes instances where large skill gaps between opposing players can lead to unfair advantages.
Additionally, measures have also been put in place to prevent Outlaw faction players from intentionally performing actions that would negatively affect another’s game experience, such as griefing (the process of continuously killing players to disrupt their experience) with the implementation of the bounty system, or spawn-camping, to which Futami-san explained was “essentially impossible to do so”. This way, all players should have an equally enjoyable experience no matter which faction and playstyle they are more inclined towards.

With its foundations as an online live-service title, the team is well aware that longevity will be a key factor in its success over an extended period. To ensure a positive lasting game experience, Game Studios has been working to continuously improve the title using data gathered from its open network test, which it held in December before release. “Data such as item acquisition and currency level balance will be extremely helpful in maintaining the long-term operation of the game, making it our stepping stone to make any further improvements needed,” Futami-san explains.
The team is already looking towards the future too, hard at work building a brand new experience for its second season. With this in mind, SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada is in a unique position as one of the more accessible games of the genre, presenting fans of anime or mecha titles with their first stepping stone into the world of PvPvE extraction shooters.
SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada is out now for the PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.