It’s no surprise that Sword Art Online fans think that the first arc, Aincrad, is the best. After all, if you ask fans of any show or game what their favorite season or entry is, it’s most likely the first one. 13 years after the release of the first Sword Art Online video game, Sword Art Online: Infinity Moment, the developers over at Bandai Namco are creating an action RPG that focuses on the Aincrad arc, aptly called Echoes of Aincrad.
“Throughout the games of Sword Art Online, we’ve never really had one where you could really start by playing from the first level of Aincrad, and that’s sort of like our starting point,” producer Yosuke Futami told Kotaku.
In the first episode of Sword Art Online, series protagonist Kirito and thousands of other players became stuck in the virtual reality MMORPG. During the iconic moment, game master Kayaba Akihiko announced that anyone who died in the game would die in real life, instilling a feeling of panic in the players. Oh, and the “log out” button disappeared, forcing players to participate.
“We really wanted players to experience that one scene in episode one of Sword Art Online, where they all get trapped in that death game,” Futami explained. “We also wanted to create a game so that people who are maybe not as familiar with Sword Art Online could enjoy the best parts of SAO.”
Nostalgia and custom characters
Echoes of Aincrad’s opening song is “Live to Survive” by Japanese pop singer Aimer. Aside from the obvious way in which the song title references the main objective of those trapped in the deadly MMO, it was also chosen to invoke nostalgia among fans, as it has similar vibes as the anime’s first opening song, “Crossing Field” by LiSA.
“We definitely wanted [Aimer] to sing about that, about what it truly means to live and move forward, like the path that Kirito and all these characters walked,” said Futami. “We also wanted to have her make a song that felt very similar to the openings of the first anime series.”
In Echoes of Aincrad, you don’t play as Kirito, but as a custom character. You’re stuck in this death game alongside him, but you have your own party to form with a fresh set of characters in a brand new story. In past SAO games, you’d mainly play as Kirito in alternate timelines that are separate from the anime’s canon. The inclusion of a custom character is the reason why the game’s name shifted the SAO branding from the beginning to the end of the title, resulting in Echoes of Aincrad: Sword Art Online.
“The existing Sword Art Online games are more stories about Kirito, and since we’re moving away from that paradigm, we wanted this game’s title to really reflect the fact that this game is about the player enjoying Sword Art Online’s world,” Futami said. “So we wanted [the name] to come after the title.”
The one exception is 2018’s Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet. You play as a custom character here as well, but Kirito still has a heavy presence in the game. Plus, there’s a section literally called “Kirito Mode.”
Futami also hinted, but clarified that he’s not confirming, that future SAO games could use the same naming format to explore new stories in other SAO anime arcs that don’t center on Kirito. “This is a big if,” he said, “so this is not me saying anything because I don’t know. But let’s say if we were to continue to make more of these titles, maybe we can title them, like, ‘Echoes of Fairy Dance.’”
The main heroine of SAO is Asuna, who also serves as Kirito’s love interest in the series. In Echoes of Aincrad, there’s a similar character named Iori, a kind-hearted woman who accompanies your custom protagonist and acts as their supportive backbone. Of course, Iori’s design and role was inspired by Asuna.
English dubs and voice actor inspirations
“We wanted a heroine that could beat Asana. Unfortunately, while we were doing this, we realized we couldn’t beat Asuna,” Futami joked. “We wanted a potential partner for the main character that could be in that ‘Asuna’ position, and we think we created a very appealing character in Iori. And while Asuna is always going to be the character by Kirito’s side, we want Iori to be the character that stands next to the main character of this game.”
Echoes of Aincrad is also the first SAO game to receive a full English dub, and Kirito voice actor Bryce Papenbrook has reprised his role from the anime for the game. He’s also known for voicing Attack on Titan protagonist Eren Yeager, as well as Inosuke Hashibira in Demon Slayer. But Papenbrook has been Kirito’s English voice from the start, all the way back beginning in 2012.
Speaking of Kirito’s connection with Asuna, Papenbrook said that as an actor, he taps into his real-life relationship with his wife to find it. “All of my lines from Kirito to Asuna are like I’m talking to my wife. I’ve been with my wife since high school. I feel like the love that [Kirito] has for [Asuna] that he developed in this virtual world is very real,” Papenbrook explains. “I can relate to Kirito and how he feels about her, so that’s really my connection to Kirito, and I’ve lived a lot of life in those 14 years.”
When Papenbrook started working on the SAO anime, he didn’t have any kids, but now he has three. He views them as like his “own Yui’s,” referencing the AI character who fills in a daughter role between Kirito and Asuna.
“Whereas at the beginning I was trying to figure out that almost father-daughter relationship, now I can really speak about it truthfully,” he continued. “So I have a lot more life experience I can pull from as we see Kirito and Echoes of Aincrad from these other perspectives.”
Echoes of Aincrad launches on July 10 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.