Pale Echoes follows the journey of Schorl and Spinel, who aim to purify their world by defeating the Dark Echoes inhabiting it. In simple video game terms, this means that you, the player, must locate these "boss" enemies at the end of each area and win a fight against them. Doing this will allow Spinel to purify the area, revealing more of the game's story and sending you onward to the next area. So, your goal is really quite simple: Keep finding and defeating Dark Echoes until you finish the game!

Along the way, you'll also encounter lesser echoes, which will need to be defeated simply because they block your path to the Dark Echo. When you meet them, it's a sure sign that you're heading in the right direction. Echoes will always be found in the real world, as opposed to the world of memories that you can travel to. However, Dark Echoes will require you to speak to certain people in the world of memories, after which they will transform into the area's Dark Echo and appear in the real world ready for a fight.

In the world of memories, you'll encounter various memories of humans who died in the past. By speaking to certain ones, you can collect them as powerful assets to use when fighting echoes. This is absolutely crucial - since you don't grow stronger through the course of the game, gathering more and more memories is the only way to succeed against the echoes you'll face.

The world is pretty torn up, so in order to get to the Dark Echo's location you're going to have to use windows - portals created by Spinel - to move between the real world and the more vibrant world of memories. One world may offer a path where the other presents a roadblock, so switching back and forth will be necessary to progress.

When entering a window, you'll always appear on the opposite side in the world you're traveling to. This can often be the premise of puzzles in the game, tasking you with reaching a certain point by entering nearby windows from specific directions.

When battling against an echo of any kind, you will need to summon memories every turn, or else immediately fail the purification. Because of this, your memories not only represent your offensive options against echoes, but also your time limit. For example, an echo might be impossible to defeat with only 6 memories in your collection, but quite easy to manage with 7 or 8. You will also need to sacrifice many memories throughout the game in order to open new windows to travel through, so a steady supply of replacements is very important. In other words, you should collect every single memory you can!

Memories are almost always plainly visible in the world of memories. They are regular people in every respect, and simply talking to them is enough to claim them for your own. Of course, not everyone you see is a memory you can collect - talk to them to find out! You may encounter windows that don't seem to lead anywhere important, but if you explore the section of the world of memories that they lead to, you'll surely find more memories to add to your collection.

After reaching a certain point in the game, you'll unlock Spinel Search in the menu. You can use this at any time to see exactly how many memories you're still missing in the current area, making it easy to tell whether you still need to look for more. It's important to note that defeating an area's Dark Echo will most often grant you a new memory as well - however, this memory isn't counted in Spinel Search, so be sure to collect them all before fighting the Dark Echo.

The exceptions to the above rules are resonance points, which are special spots in the real world that, once touched, will transport you to the world of memories. This will result in a hidden scene where a hard-to-find memory will join up with you. Resonance points are invisible, but all you have to do is step on them to find them. They are also always placed in such a way that you can't help but find them if you simply walk toward every point of interest in the real world. Give a little effort to exploring, and you'll surely find them all!

Lexicon entries are little pieces of lore about the world or characters of Pale Echoes. They don't provide any immediate benefits, but collecting enough of them does unlock special features after you finish the game. You'll also need to collect them all if you want to find a certain secret enemy...

Most lexicon entries are found by examining points of interest - such as a conspicuous statue or a local landmark - in the world of memories. The exception to this is a series of odd notes carried by mysterious cats that like to hang out in the real world. You can find one of these in each major area of the game, each hiding in a remote corner of the real world.

After reaching a certain point in the game, you'll unlock Spinel Search in the menu. You can use this at any time to see exactly how many lexicon entries you're still missing in the current area, making it easy to tell whether you still need to look for more.

After finishing the game's first area, you'll be taken to an Overworld Map where you can pick where to go next. You'll find that there are two types of areas to choose from: Main Story Areas and Optional Side Areas. What sets Optional Side Areas apart is that, plainly enough, they are optional and do not need to be played through in order to beat the game!

These areas are also much shorter and simpler than Main Story Areas are. There are no memories to recruit, no lexicon entries to find, and the local windows don't require the infusion of memories to open up. In fact, all that you'll find in an Optional Side Area is a short navigational puzzle and a single Dark Echo to purify.

By completing Optional Side Areas, you can unlock new Weapon Lore attacks for Schorl to use. While Schorl's default attacks will all carry Neutral traits, the ones she earns from these optional areas will allow her to use Balanced, Bold, and Bewildering traits. The details of how traits work will be covered later, but basically this means that you'll have more versatility in a fight, especially if you don't have quite the right memories for dealing with a certain echo.

Yes, you can! Optional Side Areas can be revisited at any time, and are actually a bit easier if you come back to them later. You can only access one Main Story Area at a time, but Optional Side Areas will stick around on the Overworld Map until you either clear them or finish the game. To return to the Overworld Map, you can use the clouds of smoke that appear when you arrive at the start of a new area.

In order to purify the echoes you encounter throughout the game, you must engage them in battle. Your goal, as in most RPGs, is to deal enough damage to your opponents to defeat them, while they try to do the same to you. Echoes' remaining stamina is shown in the form of white bars that appear beneath them when you target them, while your own, called "Focus", is shown next to Schorl's face at the bottom of the screen. If your Focus runs out, you immediately lose the battle; don't worry though, as it just means that you'll have to try again.

The other bar you'll see next to Schorl's Focus is your Turns count. This represents how many turns' worth of memories you still have available, not counting those currently being used. Since you have to summon new memories each turn to continue a purification, this bar is just as important as your Focus - running out means failure. You won't lose from running out of memories until the end of your turn, so you can still win a fight by making one final attack with your very last memories.

The general goal is always to attack echoes with Schorl's Weaponry abilities and with the various offensive abilities - such as Combat or Magic - of your collected memories. Battles are determined in a handful of turns at most, and you'll need to keep on the offensive as much as possible to finish them up before running out of memories to use. Always try to use your memories' attacks in the way that will deal damage as efficiently as possible to the echoes you're facing, as time is always your most valuable resource.

Of course, attacking isn't all that there is to a battle. Schorl's Geomancy abilities, as well as your memories' Link abilities, provide healing and utility that can be crucial to victory. Try to use healing abilities like Ambient Energy or Serenity to keep up your Focus if you're in danger of running out, or use power-enhancing abilities like Resonance to give your other memories - preferably those in a position to use an advantageous attack - a little boost to their damage. Figuring out when to heal and how to use enhancement abilities to deal more damage in the long run are the keys to winning some of the closer battles you'll face.

Every attack in the game uses one of three different attack patterns, which you'll see listed in those attacks' descriptions.

Fixed attacks deal 100 damage to a single target.

Group attacks deal 50 damage to every echo on the screen.

Multi attacks deal 50 damage three times for a total of 150 damage, but targets are chosen at random.

Every attack in the game deals the same basic amount of damage to start with, as listed here. A sword, a spell, or a broomstick... the name of the attack doesn't make a difference, only the pattern listed in its description! Because of this, you can quickly browse your collecting of memories to easily tell what your options are in battle.

Since each memory can only attack once, proper use of attack patterns is a big part of efficiently using your time. In the end, the most important question is which pattern will deal the most damage, or to the right targets.

Fixed attacks deal middling damage, but are highly controllable. If many echoes are around, they'll quickly wear down your Focus and force you to waste time on healing abilities as a result. Fixed attacks, therefore, are great for picking an easy target and eliminating it as soon as you possibly can. Combining these with enhancement abilities can often see weaker echoes wiped out on the very first turn. Fixed attacks are also fairly reliable for dealing damage in general, and will be the backbone of your offensive tactics for much of the game.

Groups attacks deal half the damage of Fixed attacks, but to all of your opponents at once. Because of this, they are equal to Fixed attacks in efficiency if you're fighting two echoes, and are better than Fixed attacks when dealing with three or more. Against many foes at once, Group attacks can save precious time by dealing large amounts of total damage. They can also be used to finish off echoes with very little stamina remaining in such a way that also damages other targets at the same time. Against single, powerful opponents however, like many Dark Echoes, Group attacks tend to be outclassed.

Multi attacks are the trickiest to use, but have the most potential for damage. Simply using a Multi attack on a large group and hoping to randomly hit a specific target is incredibly risky, and is seldom ever necessary to succeed. However, since the three targets chosen by a Multi attack can all be the same target, they quickly become your most powerful option against lone echoes. If you have a memory that specializes in Multi attacks, it's usually best to hold on to them until only one echo remains, then let loose for massive damage!

In a number of echo encounters, you'll find echoes that enter into special stances, called Provoked, Composed, and Erratic. Some echoes enter these stances automatically after a certain number of turns, or can be influenced to enter different stances based on choices you make in special scenes during a fight.

Meanwhile, every attack you can use comes with a special trait, listed next to its pattern - these can be Balanced, Bold, Bewildering, or Neutral. Depending on what stance a target is in, your attack can do 50% more or 50% less damage than usual. For example, if your target is in a Provoked stance, then a Balanced attack will do bonus damage, a Bewildering attack will do less damage, and a Bold attack will do the same damage as usual. Neutral attacks are unaffected by stances, making them reliable standbys against all opponents.

The names here are pure fluff and can be confusing to remember, which is why in-game they are all conveniently colored in Red, Blue, and Green, making their relationships much easier to remember with this handy chart that appears in the top-right corner of your memory selection screen:

Red beats Green!

Green beats Blue!

Blue beats Red!


Very simple, and easily referenced at any time from your memory selection screen. Stances usually only last for about a turn, so it's important to know what kinds of attacks your memories can use, and to try to have them ready to take advantage of echoes who begin to use stances that they're strong against. The difference in damage made by stances and traits can easily make the difference between victory and defeat.

Encounters with echoes are entirely staged - meaning that, if you see one automatically enter a Balanced stance on a particular turn, then it will always do the same thing if you fail and re-attempt the purification. By learning what causes a given echo to enter a given stance, you can begin to plan ahead which memories to keep on hand for when that happens. It's a good idea to keep a rounded-out mixture of different traits to deal with different stances. If you see an opening though, don't be shy about taking advantage of it with every beneficially traited attack that you can manage!

In most RPGs, battle is about staying alive long enough to eventually whittle away at your opponent's endurance. Not so in Pale Echoes! With your limited supply of memories, you can't afford to waste a single moment. Learning to heal only when you need to in order to survive is an important skill to develop right from the start of the game. Don't worry, your Focus is completely restored at the end of each encounter, even when you lose - so you can be as reckless as you want to.

Efficiently using your memories is, without exaggeration, the very core of the challenge for any battle in this game. Don't just use memories with a good attack pattern or trait, but try to use ones that have both! Use the ones that don't have useful attacks to perform other tasks, like healing or boosting the power of the ones who have the right attacks for the situation. Think about all of the different things that a given memory is capable of doing, and figure out the one that most helps you win. It may not be the same thing for every encounter!

Consider the boosting skill, Resonance. It's used by certain memories, and raises your other memories' damage by 50% for that turn. Now, let's assume you have three memories, each with a Fixed attack that deals 100 damage, and the first of the three uses Resonance. The other two use their Fixed attacks, now boosted to 150 each, dealing 300 total damage... exactly the same as if you had simply attacked with all three! Clearly, there must be a better way to use this ability.

So, instead, what if those other two memories had Multi attacks, and the first still just had a Fixed? If all three attack, then it would total 100 + 150 + 150 = 400 damage. However, if the first used Resonance, the Multi attacks get boosted to 225. Even with the first memory not getting to make an attack, that's still 450 damage in total. A little better, right?

Now, just think of what you can do with beneficial traits stacked on top of that? Or what if it was Schorl herself casting the boosting ability, with all three of your summoned memories using boosted attacks? Try to think of the different ways you can use all of your different resources, and which combinations add up to the best results. You can do it... Don't let the Math beat you!