Echo: Ex-Hitman devs bring machine learning to stealth games

The reference books that line the shelves of developer Ultra Ultra's modest Copenhagen office offers insight into the aesthetic of its first game, Echo. Prometheus: The Art of the Film and Star Wars provide sci-fi reference points, while Metal Gear Solid, Blame! and Neon Genesis Evangelion--all three of which are represented in some form on the shelf--provide the inspiration for character design. Echo is made up of many familiar parts, but parts that are remixed in a way that makes them feel new. This is fundamental to Echo not just aesthetically, but also mechanically. Unsurprisingly, given Ultra Ultra's staff of ex-IO Interactive Hitman developers, Echo is a stealth game.