ZeptoLab has released the first internal project in three years — Bullet Echo

Bullet Echo

What kind of game is this?

It resembles Hotline Miami. The novelty is also a fast—paced top-down shooter, where success depends on the player’s reaction. But, of course, in other respects they are significantly different: after all, Bullet Echo is a multiplayer project. On the other hand, if we talk about core gameplay, then Bullet Echo has enough unique features.

Bullet Echo

For example, getting on the map, the player sees only those opponents who are in the field of view of his character. He doesn’t see any enemies behind his back. Such a feature is rarely found in top-down games. Specifically, Bullet Echo gives it extra tension. The only clues for the player are the sounds of footsteps and shots. Guided by them, the gamer finds rivals on the map.

As for meta, it is standard in the game for online entertainment. There is a set of characters with different abilities and weapons. They are pumped with “soft currency”, and their abilities are “batteries”. Participation in matches awards the player with currencies. There is also a store where you can buy a container with new heroes and currencies.

Now the game supports three game modes. The basic one is a royal battle, two additional ones open when a player reaches a certain rank in the league. Matches are usually very fast. They rarely drag on for more than a couple of minutes.

What else?

The game visually resembles not only Hotline Miami. In 2015, ZeptoLab led the development of the team top-down shooter Survivor Squad. It is very similar to the novelty elements. After a long softlonch, Survivor Squad was closed, but, apparently, they did not say goodbye to the idea of making a shooter. However, as a company representative stated in an interview with us, Bullet Echo is “a completely different game that was made from scratch.”

Survivor Squad

By the way, despite the art style recognizable by all ZeptoLab midcore games, when creating a new game, the developer moved away from positive and bright worlds. The action of Bullet Echo takes place in the cyberpunk setting, which has been rapidly gaining popularity in recent years. Recall that until the end of the tenth it was considered exclusively niche. Taking it for games designed for a wide audience was considered a risky decision.

Why is this release an event?

ZeptoLab has not released games developed by internal teams to the market for three years. The last own release of the Moscow studio took place in April 2017. Then came CATS: Crash Arena Turbo Stars, a PvP game about cats and the creation of killer cars from spare parts. The project earned about $5-6 million only at the start of the IAP. Today, its box office, excluding advertising revenue, according to AppMagic, is $45 million.

Revenue and downloads of CATS: Crash Arena Turbo Stars since release (AppMagic)

After such a successful release, the company seemed to take a break. If she launched games, it was only in the role of publisher and franchise holder. The released Om Nom: Merge and Om Nom: Run (in Russia — “Am Yum: Evolution” and “Am Yum: Chase“) were created by external partners — British Amuzo and FinnishKoukoi accordingly.

In fairness, ZeptoLab has not previously been famous for the frequency of internal developments. Before the “seals”, the company did not release new games for two years — from the moment of its appearanceKing of Thieves. Both then and now, this can be explained by the high requirements that the company imposes on its products: it regularly closes games that do not meet its softlonch indicators.