Fallen London

aka: Echo Bazaar
Moby ID: 51864

Description

Echo Bazaar is a text-based game that takes place in Fallen London, a city full of crime and corrupt politics that lies deep beneath the sea. Here the player takes on the role of one of the citizens and he has to train his skills in order to advance to higher social ranks and discover the truth behind all the secrets that Fallen London has to offer. The player has to build connections with factions like the; Urchins, Hell or the criminals in order to unlock more paths for him to take. One may become a ruthless crime-lord or a gentle seductress in order to reach his or her goal, most missions allow for multiple approaches, so that the player can choose what his character would do in such a situation.

Fallen London is separated in districts, in each district the player will find different people and factions. Veilgarden for example is a place where the creative types are found and the player can train his persuasive skill while Ladybones Road is a good place for the player to train his shadowy skill and interact with spies. Getting in touch with some of the factions will yield interesting benefits and side-missions which the player can do for some extra cash, but doing so might decrease his or her popularity with opposing factions. Doing missions for Hell will no doubt antagonize religious factions and doing work for the criminals will not get you any new friends amongst the constables.

The player is given a candle which shows how much actions he can perform, when the player performs one the candle shrinks in size. The candle regenerates over time, but there are also action points which limit the amount of actions to a maximum per day. If the player wants to perform an action he has to select one from the story menu, the game will present the player with all the different approaches and tell him or her how likely it is the action will result in a positive ending (based on the player's skills). If the player succeeds he or she may receive experience points, items, currency or an increase in reputation with a faction. Another way the player can start a new adventure is by drawing a card, the player is given a maximum of six cards and after drawing two the timer starts to go down, when it is done new cards will be added to the deck. A card offers the player a story that can't be found in the story menu, these may lead to a bigger reward or prove to be harmful to the player.

There is also a bazaar where the player can sell or buy items. There are many different items like; clothes, alcohol and even secrets are considered to be items. One of the most useful items are clothes which give the player extra skills or bonuses. Aside from objects the player can simply sell there is also a home which the player can obtain. In the home there are more missions available and one can interact with friends from Facebook and Twitter. Together they can have adventures together or help each other with problems or training.

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Videos

See any errors or missing info for this game?

You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.

Credits (Browser version)

73 People · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 85% (based on 2 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 5 ratings with 1 reviews)

The best Facebook game out there

The Good
The game has a very good story and reminds me of Alter Ego in the sense that you are presented with situations and have to decide how to deal with them. The writing is pretty damn good and it creates a wonderful atmosphere that allows you to picture Fallen London without needing any visual aid besides the stained colors used on the pages and the light of the wax candle on the top left corner of the screen. There is also a huge variety of tasks you are asked to complete and story-lines you need to follow, plus there are also random events that can change your plans at any moment.

Objectives such as these couldn't possibly be carried out in a two-dimensional world that doesn't really have much back-story or life to it, but like I already said: Fallen London is wonderful. There is so much history to it and there are so many factions that are involved in everything ranging from politics to petty crimes on the streets. I like it how they have random pieces of lore on the right side of the screen that tell you a little bit about Fallen London, but you can find out a lot by just reading the text that comes with all the objectives and events as well.

It's also nice to see a game that doesn't center around killing everything and instead focuses more on been a gentleman and politics which doesn't mean it's all friendly and peaceful. Violence is an option, but I found myself trying to charm my way towards a goal more often then fighting my way towards it, optionally I could also try to sneak my way in or just be a wuss and write a strongly-worded letter to somebody. The game also doesn't fall for the trap of judging you and giving you a morality meter, instead you gain reputation with various factions if you do work for them or choose their side when there is trouble on the horizon.

After a rocky start I discovered that the game is actually very intuitive and finding the right information is very easy. If you want to do mission for example, you'll just have to click on the "story" tab and select which one you want to do. You buy things in the "Bazaar" tab, you go to the homepage using the "home" tab and you find all your items on the "inventory" tab, it couldn't be more straightforward. It's also nice that after completing a job you can select "try again" to do the same job again rather then going back to the menu to select what you want to do again.

The Bad
Like every Facebook game I have seen thus far it focuses almost entirely on friends which is dumb because nobody plays this game. I tried to ask some friends if they wanted to try it out, but it's clearly not a popular premise and asking around on game websites only yielded three other people. This time around it's even worse because you can't interact with other players AT ALL, unless they are you friends in which case you will have a few optional missions to score. Not only is it wasted potential, but it also leaves you with little to work towards.

I stopped playing this game on several times before after which I started again after a month or so, I did this because you don't work towards anything (partly due to the lack of other players). There isn't real a goal or a quest you are on, you just kinda go around town and do stuff you like. It's fun for a while and the writing can keep you hooked for a few days in a row, but it just doesn't have any point to it when taken as a whole. It reminded me a lot about Runescape, you just don't go around doing some quests for guy A or grinding your skills up, so you can make more money, there is no threat to the world of a villain to vanquish.

A lot of stuff is really unexplained and I often ran into problems when I had to find certain items. For example: some weird story-line has you receiving nightmares that just kinda sit around on your rap sheet and these are very easy to worsen, the game keeps nagging me to get rid off it, but doesn't tell me how and all objectives related to nightmares either make them worse or only help once out of ten times. It's really annoying to go through a whole adventure only to find yourself stuck having to find some bullshit item before you're allowed to undergo your next challenge.

The Bottom Line
I really like this game, but as you may have figured out it's mostly due to very good writing and the atmosphere, there are some serious gameplay and story issues that keep bothering me and taking me out off the experience. I am still very positive about this game and if you love a game that makes it's world feel so real and interesting then this is certainly your cup of tea. If you are like me an reviewing your games is your job, then you might want to look for something that actually has a story, preferably on consoles because I found it hard to justify having six systems and still playing a browser game.

Browser · by Asinine (957) · 2011

Trivia

Awards

  • The Escapist Awards 2009
    • Winner - Best Browser-Based Game

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

Echo Arena
Released 2017 on Windows, 2020 on Quest
Echo Night: Beyond
Released 2004 on PlayStation 2
London
Released 1993 on DOS
Fallen
Released 2016 on Windows
Hellgate: London
Released 2007 on Windows
RICO: London
Released 2021 on Windows, Xbox Series, Xbox One...
London Racer
Released 1999 on Windows, 2000 on PlayStation

Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 51864
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Asinine.

iPad added by Sciere. iPhone added by Pseudo_Intellectual. Android added by Havoc Crow.

Additional contributors: Jeanne, Pseudo_Intellectual, Havoc Crow.

Game added August 6, 2011. Last modified January 5, 2024.