History VisualNovel / Echo

* DoWrongRight: During a confrontation at the diner, [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Clint]] calls Leo a "beaner" (a derogatory slur for Mexicans). Leo (who's Salvadoran), tells him she should be calling him a "spic" (a general slur for Hispanics) stating that he should use the correct words if he's trying to offend him.

* DoWrongRight: During a confrontation at the diner, [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Clint]] calls Leo a "beaner" (a derogatory slur for Mexicans). Leo (who's Salvadoran), tells him she should be calling him a "spic" (a general slur for Hispanics) stating that if he should use the correct words if he's trying to offend him.

* HomoeroticDream: A humorous aside from when Daxton talks about a dream he had, where he mentions at one point being told by the Chase in his dream that another Daxton, Carl & Flynn were "jerking eachother off" outside, to the real-life Chase's amusement.

The resulting plot events and relevant side characters will [[ForWantOfANail vary widely]] depending on which of the friends you choose, with the only real constant being that things will inevitably reach a breaking point.

''Echo'' is a 2015 PsychologicalHorror {{UsefulNotes/Furry|Fandom}} VisualNovel developed in UsefulNotes/RenPy by the [[https://itch.io/profile/echoproject Echo Project]] group. The story follows Chase, a river otter and a journalism student, on a reunion with his friends in the down-on-its-luck southwestern desert town Echo (based off the real life town of Echo, UsefulNotes/{{Utah}}). He is there to document the town's turbulent history for his college project over the spring break of 2015. At first, the otter is all too happy to reconnect with his old friends, but soon tensions rise as an incident from the past resurfaces and threatens to tear the group apart for good. Chase also comes to realize that [[TownWithADarkSecret Echo may not be all it seems]], as unsettling phenomena reveal a more sinister side to the small town he's called home for most of his life.

* FictionalCounterpart: When Chase and TJ are looking through Carl's browser history, you can see he has visited a site called [[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom [="FleshAffinity"=]]] and buying games from [[UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} [="CrankPowered"=]]].

* GrowlingGut: After Flynn storms off during the prologue, if Chase chooses to follow him, Flynn's stomach winds up interrupting their discussion rather loudly, leading to the two heading off to the diner on their own.

* DaylightHorror: While the hysteria incidents themselves appear to mostly take place at nighttime, just as much of the story's horror occurs during daylight hours.

* TheRez: Mentioned a few times as a place Flynn used to go to buy cigarettes and in the present day buys a fancy lighter for Carl; much to the annoyance of Jenna, being an analogue to Native American herself.

* ShoutOut: At one point during ''Route 65'' Carl quotes the lyrics to Benny Benassi's "Satisfaction", and the ''Metaphor'' side-story has Flynn putting a cigarette between his teeth but not smoking it as a reference to a [[MemeticMutation memetic]] scene in Film/TheFaultInOurStars, citing an in-universe film with a similar scene as his inspiration for quitting to begin with.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Routes where some of the main cast are OutOfFocus in the end can result in little information given on what happened to them or where they are in the end. For example: the good ending of Carl's route has [[spoiler: everything turn out fine for [[OnlyTheLeadsGetAHappyEnding Chase, Carl, Jenna, and Raven]] with them still maintaining a close and healthy friendship by the route's end. However it's stated that Leo, Flynn, and especially TJ had such traumatic experiences during the hysteria which changed their lives for the worse and are no longer speaking to their old friends. What happened to them specifically and where they ended up is not elaborated.]] Similarly TJ's route ends with [[spoiler: Chase killing Flynn and running away with TJ, making a pact to keep their secret safe. With Jenna leaving the trip early, Carl being in the hospital for a broken ankle, and Leo being absent for most of the ending; we never find out how they react to or cope with Flynn's death.]]

* IstanbulNotConstantinople: ''Echo'' (and it's related visual novels ''VisualNovel/TheSmokeRoom'' and ''VisualNovel/{{Arches}}'') thrives on this. It is essentially our world with anthropomorphic animals, but the place names have alternate names for some reason. A fully comprehensive list can be found [[https://echoproject.fandom.com/wiki/Place_names_in_the_Echo_Universe here]], with notable examples including Pueblo for Arizona (or Utah?), Huxia for China and Southlands for Australia.

-->--'''Excerpt from the novel's [[EstablishingSeriesMoment opening lines]].'''

->''"I knew you'd be back... [...] Even though you're here you're going to try and run again... Just stop... Because just like this town... [[ArcWords You're only moving in circles...]]"''

The visual novel finally reached completion in April of 2021, [[https://echoproject.itch.io/echo/devlog/364598/echos-1-year-anniversary-art-and-polish-update with a full anniversary update an year after]], with both a prequel and sequel for the story currently in development as full-length visual novels of their own; the prequel, titled ''VisualNovel/TheSmokeRoom'', ([[https://echoproject.itch.io/the-smoke-room itch.io page here]]) follows the events of the initial hysteria incident in 1915[[note]]The prequel's original WorkingTitle.[[/note]] that inspired Chase's project to begin with, while the sequel ''VisualNovel/{{Arches}}'' follows a pair of entirely new characters visiting Echo 5 years after the events of the game. See also ''VisualNovel/Adastra2018'', a full-length visual novel by the same creators that shares its name with a ShowWithinAShow (which InUniverse is closer to a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' pastiche than a political thriller about falling in love with a wolf man). Another project, ''VisualNovel/GloryHounds'', was also created by the same team, but is about super-heroes. Yet another project, ''[[https://echoproject.fandom.com/wiki/A_Role_to_Play A Role To Play]]'', will mark the team's departure from furry stuff altogether into the world of tabletop gaming.

The visual novel finally reached completion in April of 2021, [[https://echoproject.itch.io/echo/devlog/364598/echos-1-year-anniversary-art-and-polish-update with a full anniversary update an year after]], with both a prequel and sequel for the story currently in development as full-length visual novels of their own; the prequel, titled ''VisualNovel/TheSmokeRoom'', ([[https://echoproject.itch.io/the-smoke-room itch.io page here]]) follows the events of the initial hysteria incident in 1915[[note]]The prequel's original WorkingTitle.[[/note]] that inspired Chase's project to begin with, while the sequel ''VisualNovel/{{Arches}}'' follows a pair of entirely new characters visiting Echo 5 years after the events of the game. See also ''VisualNovel/Adastra2018'', a full-length visual novel by the same creators that shares its name with a ShowWithinAShow (which InUniverse is closer to a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' pastiche than a political thriller about falling in love with a wolf man). Another project, ''VisualNovel/GloryHounds'', was also created by the same team, but is about super-heroes.

The visual novel finally reached completion in April of 2021, [[https://echoproject.itch.io/echo/devlog/364598/echos-1-year-anniversary-art-and-polish-update with a full anniversary update an year after]], with both a prequel and sequel for the story currently in development as full-length visual novels of their own; the prequel, titled ''VisualNovel/TheSmokeRoom'', ([[https://echoproject.itch.io/the-smoke-room itch.io page here]]) follows the events of the initial hysteria incident in 1915[[note]]The prequel's original WorkingTitle.[[/note]] that inspired Chase's project to begin with, while the sequel ''VisualNovel/{{Arches}}'' follows a pair of entirely new characters visiting Echo 5 years after the events of the game. See also ''VisualNovel/Adastra2018'', a full-length visual novel by the same creators that shares its name with a ShowWithinAShow (which InUniverse is closer to a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' pastiche than a political thriller about falling in love with a wolf man).

* [[OldFlame Leo Alvarez]], Chase's maned wolf ex-boyfriend who suggested the idea of a reunion after hearing that Chase would be returning to film the town for his school project,

* IstanbulNotConstantinople: ''Echo'' setting is essentially our world with anthropomorphic animals, but the place names have alternate names for reason. For example the titular town is located in the Arizona Utah region, here called Pueblo, Britian is "The Isles", China is Huaxia, et cetera.

* RantInducingSlight: Flynn's ReasonYouSuckSpeech towards the others at the end of the prologue comes about as a result of the others deciding it'd be a great idea to have a picnic right next to [[spoiler: the lake that Sydney drowned in years ago]] just so Chase could get some footage of it for his project.

** [[TheCutie "TJ" Hess]], a religious [[TheIngenue and somewhat naïve]] Canadian lynx who would rather go on a hike than get into arguments with friends,
** [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Flynn Moore]], a belligerent [[ReallyGetsAround down-for-anything]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gila_monster Gila lizard]] with a [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech razor-sharp tongue]],
** [[GoGetterGirl Jenna Begay]], a playful but studious fennec fox attempting to work her way into a psychology degree from a background of poverty and [[DysfunctionalFamily dysfunction]],
** [[OldFlame Leo Alvarez]], Chase's maned wolf ex-boyfriend who suggested the idea of a reunion after hearing that Chase would be returning to film the town for his school project,
** and [[TheSlacker Carl Hendricks]], an anxious [[TheStoner stoner]] ram currently mooching off of his wealthy parents in their BigFancyHouse.