Cococucumber Talks '80s Inspirations and Turn-Based Cosmic Horror as Echo Generation 2 Is Finally Revealed

Indie developer Cococucumber is, for the archetypal clip ever, trying its manus astatine a sequel with Echo Generation 2.

Where the archetypal turn-based romp channeled ‘80s and ‘90s vibes to make a nostalgic escapade that looked similar Stranger Things was tossed into a blender with voxel graphics and classical RPG gameplay, the sequel is going a wholly caller direction. The sideways prequel skips the cozy small-town consciousness to driblet players consecutive into a B-movie, cosmic fearfulness communicative wherever they play arsenic the missing begetter from the archetypal game.

Its archetypal trailer, which debuted arsenic portion of today’s November 2025 Xbox Partner Preview, teases a overmuch much horrific acquisition for Cococucumber. We sat down with crippled manager Martin Gavreau and workplace shaper and manager Vanessa Chia to larn much astir Echo Generation 2’s inspirations, however instrumentality feedback helped usher development, and wherefore the squad decided to revisit 1 of its existing universes from a caller perspective. You tin spot everything they had to accidental successful the interrogation below.

IGN: Tell maine astir what radical are going to spot connected Thursday. Tell maine astir this trailer and what precisely Echo Generation 2 is.

Martin Gavreau: It's precise antithetic than the archetypal game. We were not definite however acold we could spell with it, due to the fact that erstwhile you bash a sequel, you person galore options. You could say, 'Let's conscionable bash much of the same,' oregon you bash thing wholly different, oregon anyplace successful between. There was a spot of an existential situation of 'What bash we bash with this?' We felt that we wanted to spot however acold we could grow connected this world-building. The archetypal game, but for a precise abbreviated moment, everything is wrong possibly a 5-10-mile radius of a tiny town, you know? The sequel, it's overmuch much than that (laughs). It's overmuch more. It's crossed the galaxy. We sojourn a antithetic planet, we sojourn a antithetic dimension, a antithetic clip era, and also, what's astatine involvement is overmuch bigger than, 'OK, I privation to fig retired what happened to my dad.'

You deliberation astir the archetypal game, you commencement conscionable playing with your sister successful the thoroughfare with a raccoon, and past astatine 1 point, you combat a mech with the cannon and lasers. You're expected to beryllium conscionable a kid infiltrating a subject base. There's a ramp going up to there, and we wanted to person this ramp up connected different scale. Sometimes, successful immoderate classical RPGs, you commencement successful your municipality and you extremity up warring gods. So it's like, 'Let's spell each the mode there.'

So, the trailer, what we're going to spot is portion of the story. We're not revealing everything. There's large communicative moments that are not successful the trailer that we privation to keep. I don't deliberation we're going to uncover them adjacent later, earlier launch, we privation to support a batch of surprise. We're not playing arsenic a kid anymore. We're playing arsenic the begetter who disappeared, and it's earlier the archetypal game. I mean, erstwhile you you play with clip travel, is it a prequel? So it's a portion of a prequel/sequel successful immoderate ways. There's immoderate transportation with the archetypal crippled that, I think, radical who played the archetypal game, volition decidedly spot a batch of connection, but successful an expanded beingness that happened crossed a antithetic time.

We're going to leap backmost and distant betwixt the aboriginal and the past. Really, truly bigger scope and much analyzable crippled to...I don't privation to spoil it, but there's a overmuch bigger contented happening crossed the galaxy. We, of course, privation to spell backmost location due to the fact that we're getting trapped. To spell backmost volition go eventually, of course, inactive a goal, but what's the constituent of going backmost if you're going backmost to ruins? You don't privation to travel backmost to your Hobbit municipality and the Shire, and past it's each burned and destroyed. So you privation to marque definite that you spell connected a travel of adventure, but besides you're going to travel backmost to a satellite that is still, you know, intact and exists.

Echo Generation 2 evidently has immoderate connections to the archetypal game, but it besides seems truthful different. I americium wondering, wherefore a sequel? Why a sequel to Echo Generation alternatively of thing similar Ravenlok oregon Riverbond?

Gavreau: I mean, I would emotion to bash a sequel for Riverbond and Ravenlok. Revisiting those games and expanding connected them would beryllium a fantastic opportunity. But wherefore bash Echo Generation? There's ever a spot of a concern decision, due to the fact that there's ever a hazard associated with making immoderate game, but we're tiny successful the studio, truthful it's what we consciousness similar doing. We beryllium down and we speech each the team, stock a spot there, you know, their ideas and what we similar to enactment on, due to the fact that there's ever a anticipation besides to make a caller game, no? And it's the aforesaid happening with making a sequel, and everybody loved making the archetypal one. I deliberation it's conscionable the tendency to spell backmost to this satellite and grow connected it.

We started the accumulation close erstwhile the pandemic started, 5 years ago, already. So it conscionable coincided, wherever we entered accumulation for it, and astatine archetypal determination was a batch much chartless about, 'Is the full satellite gonna collapse? Is everybody gonna die?' We utilized the crippled arsenic a tiny harmless haven structure. When I'm astatine work, we don't speech astir politics, we don't speech astir the vaccine oregon the virus. We just...we are surviving Echo Generation, and we unrecorded successful that world, to our small bubble of imaginativeness with these cute characters and talking raccoon, you know? It benignant of helped america support our sanity passim the events of the pandemic, I think.

Maybe there's a peculiar benignant of relation with it emotionally, and we felt similar the communicative was not finished, that we had truthful galore ideas that we couldn't enactment successful the archetypal game, that were near connected the cutting room, truthful to speak, that we were truly excited to spell and enactment much connected it. I deliberation that was astir apt the crushed aft Ravenlok to spell backmost to Echo Generation. Now, I don't deliberation it's going to beryllium an Echo Generation 3 aft that. We person different plans, and there's been a antithetic happening that we've been moving on. Between each the games you tin do, you person to perpetrate to one, and everybody felt inspired. It's specified a agelong magnitude of clip not to marque a game.

It's not going to walk a week oregon a month, it could beryllium years, and it's what you unrecorded with each day. You inquire yourself, 'Do I privation to unrecorded with that satellite each day? Do I privation to explore?' It's a semipermanent relationship, successful a way, due to the fact that adjacent aft you launch, you request to spot it. It's many, galore years. I privation to marque definite that not lone maine is connected board, and I emotion to bash it, but everybody who has to enactment connected it volition find thing interesting. It was not casual not to marque a sequel. We realized it was harder than we thought, but we truly wanted to marque that game.

Echo Generation truly wears its inspirations connected its sleeves. Because Echo Generation 2 is truthful antithetic from the get-go, what are immoderate of the different inspirations for this crippled specifically? The movies, games, books, and shows that helped power its development?

Gavreau: That's large that this could beryllium seen, that you could observe those things successful playing the archetypal game. We're not hiding it, and we wanted to usage antithetic ones for the sequel and spell places we didn't spell before, similar cosmic horror, for example. So if you deliberation about, you know, the Call of Cthulhu and things that are much benignant of like, 'What's retired determination successful space? Is determination forces beyond what are truly there, and we're conscionable not connected with them, and what if they observe humanity? So there's portion of it is cosmic horror, but portion of it besides is Star Wars (laughs). We wanted to support the aforesaid feeling of the archetypal game. We wanted to usage a batch of antithetic inspiration that doesn't look similar they're going to enactment unneurotic astatine first.

We person besides portion of Cyberpunk. We person Blade Runner. We went for much of the sci-fi inspiration. We person 2001: A Space Odyssey successful there. There's besides X Files, due to the fact that it's truthful amusive to have. There's this benignant of elephantine biomass that we teleport experimentation again, similar The Fly from Cronenberg. So, we went to inspiration that is much successful the fearfulness and sci-fi side, adjacent if there's a spot of amusive successful there. I got fascinated, too, with this thought of the Backrooms. So possibly we person a small spot of that successful there. That there's this different world adjacent to us, wherever there's this benignant of caput maze, wherever you tin get lost.

It's going to beryllium a overmuch much convulsive and scary crippled than the archetypal one. Maybe not for kids wholly truthful overmuch anymore. I deliberation our standing is going to beryllium astir apt 16 oregon 18 plus. We don't truly deliberation astir it, but conscionable erstwhile we capable retired the questionnaire, immoderate happened happened. But determination is much blood, much gore, and it is pixel and voxel (laughs). So it's not arsenic scary, maybe, but it's benignant of amusive successful a way, similar erstwhile you spot the idiosyncratic getting smashed up with the blood. There's this playfulness with it, similar B-movie playfulness that you person successful movies similar Tremors, and we wanted to seizure that cool.

Why is launching time 1 connected Xbox Game Pass the close move, specifically, for Echo Generation 2?

Gavreau: Well, the archetypal 1 was connected Game Pass. A batch of fans and radical who discovered the crippled are connected Xbox already, truthful it conscionable feels similar a logical mode to bash thing akin with the sequel. Other than that, for us, I deliberation it's our 4th crippled that's going to motorboat connected Game Pass. We've we had this astonishing narration with Xbox that we had a accidental to person their support. When you are connected Game Pass, it comes with a batch of selling support, similar being portion of a amusement oregon societal media. Independent video games don't ever person a publisher.

We don't person a publisher, truthful this benignant of enactment truly helped the crippled to get discovered. There's truthful galore radical connected Game Pass that if you spot a rubric that you're not acquainted with, springiness it a chance, effort it out, and spot if you similar it. It truly helped unfastened a batch of opportunities for the crippled to beryllium played, and the extremity of the day, arsenic a crippled developer, that's what you want. You privation to beryllium capable to stock your instauration with arsenic overmuch radical arsenic possible. I deliberation with Game Pass, definitely, it's been unthinkable to person each this enactment and this connection with the assemblage connected Xbox.

Were determination immoderate large points of instrumentality feedback aft the archetypal crippled that you specifically privation to code with Echo Generation 2?

Gavreau: Oh, yeah, definitely. Some of them, we code successful the Midnight Edition. When we started the sequel aft Ravenlok, we were thinking, 'Why don't we code immoderate of those issues that immoderate radical had playing the crippled and marque a peculiar variation of the archetypal game?' That was going to assistance america get backmost successful that beingness and spot if it's imaginable to amended it successful immoderate ways, for prime of life. We truly listened to subordinate feedback. Also, thing narratively, the archetypal game, it was amusive for being episodic, and besides astatine the aforesaid time, there's a cost, and the outgo is possibly the overarching main communicative suffered a spot from it. We inactive support this episodic format successful immoderate ways, but there's a overmuch stronger transportation astir the main story.

This is 1 of the things we tried to improve. Hopefully, we'll spot if that works. Another 1 is to marque the combat faster. The combat is truthful overmuch faster now, the mode we designed it. It was 1 of the plan guidelines from the start. We request to beryllium capable to combat and resoluteness things overmuch faster. If you privation to halt and deliberation you can, but if you privation to spell fast, it is imaginable to spell precise accelerated done the animation oregon the options fixed to you.

Going into a deck-building mechanic, now, besides keeps the combat absorbing throughout. What we saw is, sometimes, people, they find a companion, they emotion 1 move, and they conscionable support playing with that companion and that 1 move. Well, hey, determination are a batch of antithetic absorbing moves that we designed, truthful if we adhd the deck-building mechanic, present you tin set depending connected the enemies you encounter. Maybe your platform volition enactment against a definite environment, definite types of enemies, but you request to set it successful different situations.

You request to support adjusting your combat style, depending connected enemies and depending connected the benignant of cards. You person to person much assortment connected that side. Those were immoderate of the feedback we tried to amended and instrumentality connected that side, for the combat and the story.

I don't deliberation I saw a merchandise date. I'm assuming, obviously, that's not thing you tin springiness me, but is this a crippled we spot successful 2026, oregon is determination immoderate benignant of model you are targeting?

Gavreau: I was conscionable talking this greeting with a squad subordinate and what they were moving connected next, and they're like, 'I'm done.' (laughs) How tin you beryllium done? How tin you beryllium done with the game? Let's person a look.

But we're beauteous advanced. I deliberation we privation to marque definite we person capable clip to polish everything. We privation to marque definite that we person clip to equilibrium each the combat and the journey, but the crippled is beauteous advanced. How aboriginal depends connected however accelerated we tin spell done the past signifier of making definite the crippled is decently balanced, and everything runs smoothly.

(Editor’s Note: Cococucumber clarified aft the interrogation that Echo Generation 2 is targeting a 2026 merchandise window.)

Is determination thing other you'd similar to adhd astir Echo Generation 2, the process of getting here, starring up to this reveal, and what it's similar to yet propulsion backmost the curtain?

Gavreau: It feels strange, due to the fact that we started moving connected it truthful agelong ago. We started moving connected it close aft the archetypal 1 was launched, and past it's been successful and out. We were exploring antithetic types of gameplay and prototyping. It mightiness be, maybe, 4 years? I don't know, 3 oregon 4 years that this crippled has been, successful immoderate ways, successful development? It feels a spot unusual that, finally, we're going to beryllium capable to speech astir it. We're precise excited to spot if radical are going to retrieve it oregon beryllium excited for it.

I deliberation it's 4 years since (Echo Generation) launched. So you request to travel with thing new. You request to instrumentality immoderate risk. This is what we decided to bash with the game. Maybe immoderate radical wanted to person thing precise similar. But this is not precisely the determination we took. We decided to instrumentality much originative hazard for the communicative and the crippled mechanic. Hopefully it inactive feels similar an Echo Generation game, and the instrumentality volition embark connected this travel and find it interesting, but it's, successful galore ways, going to beryllium precise different.

We were talking astir the references, but the code and the journey, the adventure, the combat, the velocity of it, and the unit of it, and the excitement to to question crossed the postulation into to extremity up uncovering each those ace almighty entities, I think, for us, it's ace breathtaking to beryllium capable to yet stock immoderate of it, and soon, erstwhile it's ready, the game. I would similar to speech much astir definite things - I cannot astatine the moment.

Michael Cripe is simply a freelance writer with IGN. He's champion known for his enactment astatine sites similar The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be definite to springiness him a travel connected Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).