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Comment by bitbasher | Hacker News Reader

Can we just take a moment to appreciate how incredibly odd the Ecco series is? For anyone that beat the games. You go from swimming in an ocean to flying with aliens. It's bizarre. Some people classify it as a horror game.

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The name of the game probably comes from dolphins echolocation ability. Another explanation I like to entertain is that the name is a reference to John C Lilly. He was a scientist who believed in an alien organization called the Earth Coincidence Control Office or E.C.C.O. He also studied dolphin intelligence and communication. He gave dolphins LSD in an effort to communicate with them. John C Lilly is an interesting rabbit hole to go down.

Probably both

My favorite aspect is the music, I regularly listen to the OST while working: https://youtu.be/tqMuvFEKCOk

I've played a decent amount (never finished it), but I never understood why people say it's a horror game?

A friend of mine explained that there are overlapping phobias of water and deep dark spaces that this game triggers; he said it's unbearable to play the later levels.

I just checked what the final boss looks like, combined with the phobias... glad I didn't finish the game as a kid.

Thanks for the article, great read!

I'd imagine anyone with claustrophobia would struggle with the last couple levels as well since they're essentially a battle against the screen crushing you.

It really is a game with a strange mix of aesthetics. Blue skies and bright colors in the early levels; suspense and dread and supernatural stuff in the later levels.

Another Ed Annunziata game called Three Dirty Dwarves is also stylistically unique.

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