Ecco the Dolphin - The Scariest Game Ever (Retrospective Review)

At this time of year, there's always talk of scary games - for me, one of the scariest ever is Ecco the Dolphin on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. It looks like some flippy fun, but under the surface, Ecco is a surprisingly dark, unsettling sci-fi tale of alien invasion and time travel, and its apparent inspiration - the Dolphin House of John C Lilly - is just as weird. Swallow your thalassophobia and let's dip a toe into the terrifying, misunderstood masterpiece that is Ecco the Dolphin.

#eccothedolphin
#horrorgaming
#scarygaming
#thedolphinhouse
#JohnCLilly
#EdAnnunziata
#eccothedolphinreview
#eccothedolphinretrospective
#eccothedolphinscary
#thalassophobia

Additional gameplay footage courtesy of World of Longplays (RickyC, Waldimart, MadMatty), hirudov2d and dosdaysareover:

All featured games, music, films and television programmes are the property of their creators, used under transformative fair use for the purpose of review. Additional stock footage courtesy of Pexels, Stock Footage Collective, Videvo and Video Library.

Based on an article originally for Vice

[slayerofthebuzz]

Ecco lives underwater but can't breath underwater. Then he has to venture into claustrophobic underwater caves.
That's where a lot of the fear came from for me.

[treesurgeon]

This game was so strange it's like trying to explain a nightmare to someone who has never played it.

[kenyatalongmanifestingesse]

I think what creeped me out about this game was the fact that not only did the creators make a game about the ocean, which is home to god knows what, they were also able to capture the "feel" of the unknown.

[Triggernyar]

Imagine never being able to get through the ice stages, and then one day playing with the password screen, typing i n and getting "Welcome to the Machine" without any context or lead up. That was me as a kid.

[jimmybates]

the sound of Ecco getting damaged is what my mind plays on repeat whenever I have a fever and try to fall asleep. It’s dark.

[HeavyMetalSonicRM]

I'll never forget that jump scare at the beginning. This was back when we played on big CRT TVs and sat on the floor right in front of them.

[Chris-jgkm]

A pretty torturous game to get through but man the aesthetic of Ecco is so unique, from the eery music to the isolating oceans you swim through and well of course the final section I mean wtf

[chalrie]

The sound effects and music really dialed in the tension. The sound of ecco scream in pain, the sound of the machine moving around ecco, the echolocation sounds.

[Sensorium]

I was one of the kids who didn't get through the early levels. Just got stuck somewhere. Despite that a remember the game very well. Thank you for allowing me to enjoy it vicariously.

[Exile_Sky]

5:25 That's called a closed time loop. Dolphins exist, Ecco exists, Ecco goes back into the past before Dolphins exist, inspires their ancestors to take to the water, Dolphins exist. The thing to remember is the start "Dolphins exist" this is a constant and regardless of any changes will always happen in some form.

[stevesan]

fun fact: i was on the original subnautica team, and we did a podcast with EdA about underwater games! as a HUGE ecco fan, i was a bit star struck. i like to think i brought just a bit of that ecco spirit to subnautica :)

[wjb]

I played Ecco at a Blockbuster back when they had "test before renting" stations. Never did rent the game but decades later I watched a full Let's Play. I think about how strange this game is now and again, Ecco's family getting sucked up as alien food. Because this game involves time travel, they've already drowned and/or been devoured for most of the game.

[IronD]

The Dreamcast version of Ecco was so terrifying that neither my sister nor I were able to play past the first 20 minutes or so.

[thiagodiascosta]

Came for the cute dolphin... stayed for the thalassophobia-inducing lovecraftian nihilistic story where the future of all existence lies on the fins of such cute dolphin.

[dangerousdays]

The Asterite is a complete multidimensional being. Just like how humans freely move in 3 Dimensions, it freely moves in 4, with the 4th being the time dimension. All experiences for it are memories of the future.

[FelisRin]

I can confirm that the Dreamcast Ecco and its PS2 port were terrifying. It was truly beautiful much of the time, but that didn’t stop the intense fear from rising up every time the bright, sunny levels gave way to darker waters.

[kvol]

That violent red hurricane made me think I had broken my Sega for a few seconds. I didn't know what I had done, but I knew my mother would murder me for it. 😂

[TheRealBrit]

I had no idea, I played ecco as a kid but my child mind was entirely stumped with those early levels so never managed to get into the weirder stuff

[olivergilmartin]

You also forgot to mention the ever present reality of being trapped underwater and suffocating at every point if you wish to progress.

[JohnnyFromVirginia]

I LOVE Ecco the Dolphin. Yes it’s hard and unfair. Yes the controls and mechanics are fucked. Yes it’s a buggy mess that makes you repeat stuff over and over again. But let’s get real. The story is insane. The music is atmospheric and beautiful. The graphics were incredible for its time. The feeling of being alone, lost, tense and fearful were all very real.

Now imagine it today with todays graphics, sound, evolved story telling and in the hands of someone who could put together incredibly tight fluid controls and offer up a balanced AI and game mechanics and add a ton of new fun elements, abilities, features and customizations to the game….

I am willing to argue it could rival even the best of the best platforming / Metroidvania / cinematic adventure games out there.

How do we will this into existence?