When Myrkur Games launched Echoes of the End, it was an ambitious debut: a cinematic action adventure built on Unreal Engine 5 that blended Icelandic landscapes with rich fantasy storytelling. But while its world and visuals turned heads, feedback pointed to an uneven experience. Now, Echoes of the End: Enhanced Edition aims to change that, with a near-total redesign of its combat, pacing, and progression. It’s the kind of rebalancing indie game devs rarely have the time or money to do, making this Enhanced Edition unique.

“We realised we hadn’t quite stuck the landing,” says Halldór Snær Kristjánsson, CEO of Myrkur Games. “We decided to throw out our previous assumptions and focus on what players were telling us […] the motto within the team was that nothing was sacred.”

(Image credit: Myrkur Games)

Reforging combat from the ground up

The biggest player criticism? Responsiveness. The original combat was deliberately slower and weightier. This was a creative choice that Kristjánsson admits didn’t quite work at launch. “After trying the new changes out ourselves, the player feedback turned out to be completely right […] it was just way better. Playing the builds side by side, it’s tough to even try to justify our previous designs.”

To fix it, Myrkur reworked input handling, added animation cancelling, and allowed buffered actions to flow naturally from one move to another. “We re-timed and modified most attacks and abilities […] to make sure they felt super ‘snappy’ and responsive,” says Kristjánsson.

The changes extend to protagonist Ryn’s core abilities. Drain, her self-heal move, now works at any resource level and can be cancelled into dodges or defensive actions. Movement has been re-engineered for tighter turns and quicker pivots, making her feel more agile and grounded.

Lock-on targeting was also rebuilt. “We made sure that you could dodge and roll in any direction while locked on to a target […] You now also don’t drop lock-on unless you purposefully cancel it,” Kristjánsson explains. “You could say it’s more forgiving in some ways, but honestly, it just feels better.”

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(Image credit: Myrkur Games)

Customisation and progression

The Enhanced Edition also introduces new depth through player customisation. Thirteen outfits and 25 relics now allow players to modify stats and empower abilities. “By throwing out our assumptions, we managed to provide 13 outfit options and some 25 relics […] allowing players to shape their own playstyle,” Kristjánsson says.

These items are scattered across the world as drops, chest rewards, and crafted items using Glimmerweave, a new resource that encourages exploration. The expanded systems not only allow build experimentation but also add replayability to the world itself. “This turned out to be one of the best additions to the game,” he says.

Progression pacing has also been adjusted so that powerful abilities unlock sooner, tackling a common complaint that the game only became fun halfway through. “I did a full playthrough of the game prior to the Enhanced Edition launch, and honestly, I couldn’t believe how much fun I was having […] Combat felt so much more responsive and intuitive,” Kristjánsson recalls.

(Image credit: Myrkur Games)

Adding a new difficulty, New Game+

Myrkur didn’t stop at rebalancing. A new Journey difficulty now bridges the gap between Story and Adventure modes, offering a smoother challenge curve. There’s also a full New Game+ mode with “Elite units”, which adds tougher enemy variants that introduce fresh attacks and behaviours.

“Difficulty is always subjective,” says Kristjánsson, “but the benefit of having feedback from players is that we can listen to what the general sentiment is and interpret that into changes. We felt it was important for NG+ to not just deliver the same thing again […] each run gradually adds some difficulty to compensate for the growth in power.”

Elite enemies are intentionally more unpredictable. “We decided to be a little more ‘wacky’ […] lava snails now violently explode when near death and certain Durtar now can do a full ‘spin-to-win’ attack,” he says. “These are hopefully different enough to make you rethink your approach […] without becoming an impossible wall.”

(Image credit: Myrkur Games)

Rethinking environments and encounters

Environmental hazards now play a more dynamic role. “Being able to interact with the environment was always a core part of what we wanted out of Ryn’s skillset […] we learned very quickly that players had fun throwing enemies off ledges, so we thought to ourselves: ‘well, why can’t we introduce that fun into more combat encounters without having a ledge?’”

The team introduced the bear trap, a one-time-use instakill tool, and new crystal hazards that Abram, Ryn’s companion, can trigger to stun enemies. “Once we added these in, we observed testers using them in almost every scenario […] players now intuitively had a reminder to use that ability in most scenarios.”

On higher difficulties, smart use of these hazards can completely change how an encounter unfolds. “How you utilise them could dramatically alter the outcome,” Kristjánsson says.

(Image credit: Myrkur Games)

Rebuilding the opening

The first chapter, once criticised for being slow and overly tutorialised, has been visually and narratively redesigned. “Overall, I think we originally thought about this chapter as a tutorial, rather than the hook of the game,” Kristjánsson admits. “Players consistently didn’t like the tutorials and found them to be annoying.”

Now, tutorials are optional, pacing is streamlined, and the Icelandic-inspired environment has been visually overhauled, with new architecture, richer colour, and more atmosphere. The narrative has also shifted to focus more closely on Ryn and her brother Cor’s relationship after the death of their father. “We wanted to make sure that players were more easily able to relate to Ryn’s relationship with her family […] without losing that core of what makes it an interesting dynamic.”

“Players sometimes found Ryn to be standoffish,” he adds. “We wanted to show her humanity right from the start.”

(Image credit: Myrkur Games)

The animation overhaul

Behind the smoother combat lies painstaking animation work. “We went through nearly all of Ryn’s animations (armed and unarmed) and assessed what could be improved,” Kristjánsson explains. “This was mostly done within MotionBuilder […] and Unreal Engine (in terms of animation notifiers, adjusting IK, blending, playrates, etc).”

Some animations were re-recorded, but most were rebuilt from the original data. “We’ve lost count of hours looking at animations in slow motion, nudging things in one direction or the other until it felt just right […] you can really feel the payoff when you pick up the controller.”

Boss and enemy animations were also reworked to match Ryn’s new responsiveness. “We wanted to make sure not to make them ‘harder’ […] but rather focused on making sure that they felt right with how the game now played,” Kristjánsson says.

(Image credit: Myrkur Games)

A streamlined pipeline

How did such a small Icelandic studio achieve so much in such a short time? Kristjánsson credits both Unreal Engine and Myrkur’s internal tools. “When we started initial development of the game we immediately understood that we had to adapt AAA production to an AA team […] we’ve built a number of in-house tools both within Unreal Engine and in the third-party software used to develop the game.”

Flat hierarchies and versatile developers also helped. “Our main strength as a smaller team is that we’ve got flat hierarchies and a versatile team that has learned to wear many hats […] that allows everyone to be in the loop and for us to make fast decisions.”

He adds, “Even to me, it’s very surprising how much we managed to change and improve within the short period for the Enhanced Edition update. It’s a testament to the team and the wonderfully talented and passionate people behind the game.”

(Image credit: Myrkur Games)

Lessons in listening

Looking back, Kristjánsson says the Enhanced Edition is a reminder that games are made for their players. “You’ve gotta listen,” he says simply. “We learned a ton – about Unreal Engine 5, about our own pipeline, and about how to interpret feedback. It’s been a tough but invaluable journey.”

Myrkur has since gained deep experience with UE5 features like Nanite and Lumen, as well as platform-specific optimisations for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. “Above all,” he says, “game engines are a tool (a very powerful one) and they won’t hand you the results. Unreal Engine was crucial for us […] and the team at Epic has provided us with great support throughout the development process.”

Echoes of the End: Enhanced Edition is available now. Visit the game’s website for more info.

Ian Dean is Editor, Digital Arts & 3D at Creative Bloq, and the former editor of many leading magazines. These titles included ImagineFX, 3D World and video game titles Play and Official PlayStation Magazine. Ian launched Xbox magazine X360 and edited PlayStation World. For Creative Bloq, Ian combines his experiences to bring the latest news on digital art, VFX and video games and tech, and in his spare time he doodles in Procreate, ArtRage, and Rebelle while finding time to play Xbox and PS5.