Emerald Echoes (PostCurious) // Review

Emerald Echoes is a magical and immersive narrative puzzle tale from PostCurious. Take on the role of a researcher and piece together buried secrets from the fifteenth century, one letter at a time. Delve into a new chapter from the world of critically acclaimed The Emerald Flame. Hand-drawn and painted illustrations, a rich narrative and challenging puzzles await you inside this hefty box.

Players: 1+ // Age: 14+ // Playtime: 4-6 hours

Requirements: A pen/pencil and paper for notes. This game is entirely analogue (including hints) and requires no screens or internet-connected devices.

Please note: The copy of Emerald Echoes used for this review is a prototype. Artwork and components may differ slightly from the final product. The game is currently available to back on Kickstarter until 14 August 2025.

Synopsis

“Through the eyes of a historical researcher, embark on a fantastical journey to uncover the secrets of a legendary alchemist and her enigmatic companions. With beautifully illustrated puzzles, tactile artifacts, and immersive storytelling, each piece of the puzzle brings you closer to unraveling the mysteries of the past.”

First impressions

I classify The Emerald Flame as one of my all-time favourite narrative puzzle games. It’s a multi-award-winning experience that served as an introduction to how immersive and rich a puzzle game can be. The story was expansive, transporting me into a fully realised alternate reality. The box was full of lovingly crafted artefacts, rich world-building, diegetic puzzles and a splash of magic. When it ended, it was bittersweet. I felt a sense of accomplishment for having solved it, but also realised its captivating world was closed off. It’s a tough act to follow and certainly sets the bar very high for a follow-up. Fast forward to 2025…

After teasing it for a few months, Emerald Echoes was officially announced in March. Conceived as a follow-up to The Emerald Flame, it promises to expand on the original game’s story. Although technically a sequel, it works perfectly as a standalone experience for new players. For those who haven’t played TEF, you’ll find it to be the perfect introduction to the Emerald saga. If you have, then prepare to return to a familiar world and tie up some of those lingering plot threads!

Gameplay

Getting started

Emerald Echoes is a linear game, where each puzzle unlocks the next part of the story. Spanning four chapters, it offers a wealth of physical artefacts and narrative-focused content. From the moment you open the box, you’ll know exactly where to start. There is zero setup required; just open each chapter envelope sequentially and work through the contents.

I played solo, but it would work brilliantly as a shared coop experience with a partner or small group. There are plenty of items to share around, including a fair amount of the reading!

Offline Gameplay

Where The Emerald Flame relied on a web-based progression system, Emerald Echoes embraces an old-school analogue approach. You won’t require a laptop, phone or tablet to play; not even to access the hints. Instead, you’ll work through sets of physical folders. Each chapter envelope contains two blue story folders forming the start and end points of that chapter. Sandwiched between these are a selection of emerald green folders, housing the puzzles. All envelopes are numbered (1.0, 1.1, etc.) to indicate the order in which they should be opened, making progression clear and simple.

Inside each folder, you’ll find two pockets: the left contains a letter/s and the right holds an ‘Analysis’ card. The letters are fairly self-explanatory, glimpses into the past that further the narrative and signpost which items are required to solve the next puzzle. Analysis cards act both as an offline hint system and a mechanism for progressing the present-day narrative. To access the hints, you slowly pull the Analysis card out of its sleeve to reveal more of a hidden chain of text messages. Once you think you’ve solved a puzzle, you can read through the full analysis card to verify the answer. Make sure to read all of the Analysis cards to ensure that you experience the complete ‘present’ narrative. I forgot to on a couple of occasions as I didn’t need hints, and this impacted the flow a little.

If there was one criticism, it would be that the number of folders seemed a little excessive. Especially as they all look the same and hold only a couple of documents each. I do, however, applaud Rita and the team for taking an offline approach, as being able to digitally disconnect in this day and age is a blessing.

Presentation

Liga Klavina offers up yet another wonderful piece of box art. The haunting imagery depicts a mystical emerald aurora, with the main protagonists keeping warm by a fire. Liga’s distinctive illustration style and green colour palette feel reminiscent of The Emerald Flame. The two games side by side feel thematically linked, but also distinctly different. I was a tiny bit sad to discover that there is no puzzle hidden in the box art, but there were plenty inside the box to keep me busy.

The intricate illustrations found inside the box are the work of Rita Orlov and Jack Fallows. The duo, who previously worked together on The Light in the Mist, both tackle different components in the game. Jack designed a wonderful set of monochrome tiles that feature in the first puzzle. Rita’s artwork is most prevalent, ranging from hand-drawn and painted floral pieces to skeletons in glass display cases. The floral imagery is in the same style as artwork featured in the last game, acting as a visual bridge between the two.

Of the items included, the stand-outs for me are the cryptic coin, the skeleton puzzle drawings, and the ornate wooden box that holds the game’s final secrets. Wooden boxes are a mainstay for PostCurious, with several of their current catalogue featuring a box of some sort. Some more varied physical items would have been welcomed alongside the predominantly paper-based ones. I recall some particularly magical alchemical moments in The Emerald Flame, which were a little lacking here. I do appreciate that there is a delicate balance with packing these games full of expensive bespoke items and keeping them affordable.

Story

Emerald Echoes continues the PostCurious tradition of being heavily story-driven. One clever creative choice is the dual narrative structure. The story unfolds in two separate timelines, providing a fascinating window from the present into the past. The language used for the documents from each period may be distinctly different, but echoes of one story can be found in the other. I was captivated by the emotional throughline that unravelled through the beautifully written fifteenth-century letters. Kudos to writer Lauren Bello (The Morrison Game Factory, Threads of Fate), who masterfully weaves an intricate and compelling story of self-reflection and resilience. It was nice to find out what happened to Hannah and Marketa, even if some elements remain open to interpretation.

Puzzles

The puzzles provide an interesting mix of tasks as you progress through the game. One minute you’ll be sorting through objects, the next you’ll be cracking a cipher or deploying your logic skills. There is a fun and rewarding puzzle involving word filters, another will test your navigation skills, and there are some riddles too. I didn’t feel at any point that a puzzle felt out of place within the world of the game; they worked seamlessly with the narrative.

One of my favourite puzzles was the final one, which involved multiple parts and a fun revelation. Another standout was a Rube Goldberg-style word puzzle that was beautifully designed and enjoyable to solve. I didn’t come across I puzzle I didn’t like, but would have liked just a couple more towards the end.

The final box was a little tricky to open, but this was flagged up to me ahead of playing. It is already being remedied for the final version, so the mechanisms will be super slick by the time it ships next year.

Difficulty & Replayability

The difficulty level felt quite a bit lower than The Emerald Flame, which isn’t a criticism. I appreciated that the narrative flow wasn’t bogged down with puzzles that felt impossible. That isn’t to say the puzzles were easy, but they were set at a standard difficulty level, based on my experience.

If you do require hints, you won’t have to venture online this time. I touched on the analogue ‘Analysis’ hint system earlier in the review, and this works very effectively. I can’t fully express how joyful I was about not having to navigate websites throughout the game. In a world where screens occupy so much of our time, it is refreshing to just sit with a box of ephemera and dive in.

Can you replay it? Well, nothing needs to be destroyed during the playthrough, so provided components are kept in good condition – yes. Although, as with a lot of narrative puzzle games, once you experience the story, you will know how to solve the puzzles and how the story ends. So I’d suggest gifting it to a friend, or putting it away for a long enough period to forget everything!

Verdict