At the Summer Game Fest 2025 in June, Icelandic developer Myrkur Games unveiled Echoes of the End, their debut game that had been in the works for several years. The title, a fantasy story-driven action/adventure game powered by Unreal Engine 5, is being published by Plaion (Deep Silver) and launches tomorrow on PC (Steam), PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X.
In a fantasy world called Aema, the main character, Ryn, a swordfighter who can also wield powerful magic, embarks on a mission to save her brother from a totalitarian empire. Along the way, she partners up with Abram Finlay, an older scholar haunted by his past.
Ahead of this new release, we had a nice, long chat with two of Myrkur Games' founders, CEO and Game Director Halldór Snær Kristjánsson and Senior Writer Magnús Fr. Guðrúnarson, to learn more about their team and the project itself.
First, please talk about how you met and established Mirkur Games as a studio.
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: The three founders, myself and two others, actually met during our studies at university. We were all studying game development at the time. This was like 2016, somewhere around that time. We were in our final year and we actually met by chance: we were assigned to be a group in a game development project where we developed a small game in three weeks. During that time, we really clicked. We were working around the clock on this game; we were super passionate, it was palpable.
Through that period, we learned that we really liked working together. We decided to do our final project together, and eventually, we decided to form the studio together as well. At this time, the context is that Unreal Engine is still subscription-based and not yet mainstream. Everybody is still using Unity, and photogrammetry and motion capture are much less available to smaller developers, but this is changing.
We knew we were all headed towards this industry and wanted to work in it, but we realized at the time that the pivot happening with Unreal Engine, with availability and accessibility to hardware and software in the industry, was just a complete transformation. We had nothing to lose at that point. We were still living with her parents and could effectively take a big, long risk to pursue this dream of ours.
Soon after that, we started out as just the three of us, but quickly, the word started spreading to close friends and others, and we invited some people to generate ideas for the game and think about what we could be doing. Magnus joined one of those evenings, where we just sat around and talked about what kind of world we want to make, and he's kept showing up since. That was in 2017.
Did you begin immediately working on the project that would become Echoes of the End?
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: We formed the studio during our time at university. We did actually work on a few different, smaller projects. We even did a VR project and stuff like that, but once we'd formed the studio, we sat down and took this long vision for this game. It's metamorphosized since, but really, we've been working through the years on different versions of this game, starting with just laying down the tech fundamentals, because making a game like this just takes so much infrastructure. There are so many building blocks that you need to put together and everything needs to click, so we started by first developing the very, very early prototypes of what we have today. We went out with a camera and scanned rocks around the city, trying to do smaller-scale motion capture, trying to build up those things, and then the basic systems of the game that take a long time to build.
We did that for a few years, and a couple of people joined on. Then, I believe in 2019, we had the fundamental building blocks in place, and we started building a full vertical slice for the game, which was around 20 to 30 minutes. That's probably when the game started to take shape. From there, we signed with Plaion and have been working on the game since about 2020 or 2021.
How did you connect with Plaion and why did you choose them as the publisher of Echoes of the End?
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: We've been working with them for about five years now, and it's been a really good relationship. I believe we met around Gamescom, but I don't remember if we met at Gamescom. We met up with a few people there, and we had a few calls. We were talking to a lot of people back then. To us, Plaion seemed like the exact other half of what we were looking for.
They handled the publishing part of it because we're a new team. We're pretty green. A lot of us are pretty junior, but we're making something pretty cool. They really came in with lots of experience, both on how to get the game production down and, of course, funding for the project, which is absolutely critical, but also we got connected with a lot of good folks. It was just really obvious from the start that they were a really good match and exactly what we needed.
You said that Plaion provided some funding. I guess that helped you expand the team, right?
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: Exactly.
How many do you have right now?
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: We're about 40 people right now. When we signed with Plaion, we were about 16.
I read on the website that some team members work in the office while others are remote, right?
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: That's correct.
How do you find this working for you? Some developers have gone nearly full remote, while most bigger ones are asking developers to return to the office. What's your take on this? Work from home, or work from the office?
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: I would definitely say like for a project like this, because we were crafting a new IP, there was a lot of creative talking back and forth where we had to figure things out. When we started out, we didn't really have the world fully molded; we didn't have the level design of the metrics. All that stuff was just new, and then the team was also new, so it was quite pivotal for us during the period to have the majority of the team on location, just for that quick communication between the teams and idea generation.
They often talk about the kind of water-cooler chats where the best ideas don't come from sitting at a meeting and thinking about them, but once you stand up and go do something. I may be chatting with Magnus just on a walk, and we have this brilliant idea, and then we test that, so that's extremely valuable.
But we still have some remote employees in the company. We've tried to cultivate that quite a bit. They hang out in calls during most of the day, just with their team, instead of being offline the entire time. So, as they're working, it's kind of like having a coworker sitting next to you. It's optional, but most of them tend to do it.
Magnús Fr. Guðrúnarson: They've also all been here. There's nobody who has never met the team, never spent some time here in the office, plus part of it is just a false choice for us because we live on a tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic, so we kind of have to.
I guess that was my next question. Even the remote workers are still in Iceland, right?
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: We brought on quite a bit of talent from around the world. I don't know how many nationalities the studio currently has, like it's 11 or something like that. The problem is that, like Magnus was saying, not only being on an island in the middle of the Atlantic, but also the fact that there wasn't a studio similar to what we were trying to build in Iceland before. I mean, there's CCP and there's a lot of good talent there, but the expertise that we very specifically needed for this game was just kind of impossible to find here, so we had to go abroad when we were trying to recruit people and try to reach people all around the world and that's why we ended up with this highly multinational team, which is just fantastic in our eyes. They're coming from different studios, AA, AAA studios around the world, and brought some excellent experience for the team, especially early on in the meat of the production, that I think guided us in the right way.
Magnús Fr. Guðrúnarson: To clarify what you're asking, everyone working remotely is working from outside the country. Nobody is working remotely in our studio in Iceland.
Got it. Talking about Echoes of the End, I understand that its world is heavily inspired by Iceland, albeit through a fantasy lens, right? What inspired that, and what did you want to portray about your country in this game?
Magnús Fr. Guðrúnarson: We tend to say that Iceland plays the same role in our game that New Zealand played in The Lord of the Rings movies. The game isn't set in Iceland; it just draws visual inspiration and basis from Iceland. It's the thing we're most qualified to showcase because we know it very well and we think it's beautiful and we know the things about it that inspire us to share what is beautiful about it.
And also, it is popular, it's got appeal. People come to visit here, people come to see it, and I think the idea of basing a fantasy world on a place like that, a place that is a little different from most other places you'll go, has appeal.
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: It also helps a grounded consistency, but there's definitely more than visual inspirations. For example, the Icelandic language does appear in Echoes of the End in a number of unique ways. We have different inspirations that we pulled from while still keeping in mind that this isn't real life, this is a fantasy world, and we got to set ourselves apart from the real bits as well.
Magnús Fr. Guðrúnarson: The Icelandic language is really mostly there as an Easter egg for the Icelanders.
We talked about similarities and inspirations, but how does Aema differ from real-life Iceland, and what are the things that make it unique from other fantasy worlds that we see in other games?
Magnús Fr. Guðrúnarson: It's always a fun question to deal with because fantasy is so varied, right? But I would say it is fundamentally a low magic world. Not to say that magic doesn't exist, but to say that magic is the defining thing about it, right? The existence of magic is the fundamental point of its history and it's the reason for most of the historical events that have taken place. Thus, it is kind of the root of the story and Ryn's story as well. She's a vestige with this born connection to magic as a force.
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: Also, magic has just shaped the cultures in our game. I think we made magic pretty integral to how they employ the magic and how they build tools and weapons and stuff out of magic, so it's really built differently into the world and the backstory of the world as well.
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: And then that also leads into the moment-to-moment experience and the visuals as well, because it trickles down throughout the entire production. But I would say the most unique things from my end are how we mix the fantasy and Icelandic elements. and the backdrop that Ma was talking about, I think that's really the main meat of EMA and what makes it appealing, to us at least.
Magnús Fr. Guðrúnarson: As we're talking about this Icelandic inspiration, sometimes I stumble upon little things that I didn't realize were inspired by being Icelandic, but there's this certain obsession with history. It's a story about characters, but the world is still defined by its past. The name Echoes of the End is chosen for a reason: it is a story defined by things that have already happened.
Can you say anything about the story, or rather, its background? For example, what motivates the main character? What's going on at the beginning or shortly before that?
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: The main story is about two people, Ryn and Abram, the companion Abram and the main character Ren, who we see on the cover of the game. Really, the meat of the game is their relationship as it develops throughout the game and their mission. In terms of the plot and the setup, we play the game with Ren, and she initially doesn't quite know this strange companion. She meets him throughout the game and is kind of forced to align with him and work with him, but the premise of the game is that Ren is on a mission that she has to go and save her brother, who gets removed from her or separated from her by this invading force, which is also looking to invade the country. So she has a two-fold mission to save her brother and stop this invasion.
Ryn has her own struggles to deal with regarding the powers we described before. Those are a double-edged sword in the story and not as obvious as you might think. It's a struggle for her to deal with that magic and with the connection that she has, but she's also got to learn to trust this new companion. They've got to learn to work together and build this relationship. Earlier, we mentioned The Lord of the Rings. If you think about Sam and Frodo's journey and their development and how we root for them and think about them, I think Ryn and Abram definitely can have their highs, the lows, the good moments, the bad moments, and that's really the heart of the game.
Magnús Fr. Guðrúnarson: Echoes of the End is fundamentally a story about identity. It's a lot about Ryn struggling with identity and about Abram as well and how those struggles both mirror each other and complement each other and how, through their journey, they discover new things about who they are. The story kicks off with Ryn's father's death. And so to her, rescuing her brother is, again, part of her identity. It's: I have to be there because our father is dead, I have to save him.
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: There's no one else and she's become responsible for him.
Magnús Fr. Guðrúnarson: I think exploring that identity of caretaker versus sibling versus friend is the personal drive of at least what kicks off the story.
Speaking about the gameplay, you've described it as a cinematic third-person action adventure game. Would you compare it to something like the God of War reboots in terms of how it plays moment to moment?
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: I would say it is definitely an action/adventure story-driven game. First off the bat, it's not a Soulslike, we get that question a lot. In terms of combat, it will definitely be familiar if you play games like God of War or Star Wars: Jedi. Ryn has a sword and that's her main weapon, but where the game sets itself apart is with Ryn's abilities. She has two key abilities that really set her apart from others. One is an ability called shift, which is a kind of an analog ability that lets you relocate objects in any direction and aim. So you could throw an enemy into an enemy, you could throw an enemy of latch objects into enemies, and it's really fun to play around with and changes every fight and makes them feel different.
The other hallmark ability that she has is the ability called drain, which deeply connects to the lore of the character. It is her ability to siphon health from other enemies to her. It's a channeled ability, so it's also quite tactical because if you just stand around and use it, you might get attacked by other enemies.
So you really have to combine those abilities together to manipulate the enemies on the battlefield to create the opportunity to strike and to use your health recovery ability, but those are really only her main kit. On top of that, there are 40 different upgrades, and many of them are actually new abilities that she will uncover on the way, allowing her to tackle fights differently. And then Abram (we have two main companions in the game, but Abraham is definitely the main one) has his own set of abilities as well that you can upgrade as their journey goes along. They get better and better at fighting with each other, comboing with each other, using Abram's abilities and your abilities to get that critical hit or combo that you're looking to do.
In terms of the pacing of the combat, it's definitely fast, but it's not a hack-and-slash. It is more deliberate than many other games. You have to think of every step. Do I wanna attack, or do I want to use this ability or that ability?
Magnús Fr. Guðrúnarson: Battlefield control is a really big part of it, controlling where you are in relation to your enemies and putting your enemies where you need them to be.
It's always interesting with games that feature companions because some of those games have the NPCs acting on their own through AI, but in others, you can tell them what to do. How does Echoes of the End work in this regard? Can you ask Abram to activate a specific ability?
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: Yeah, it's a hybrid between the two for sure. We really wanted the companion to be quite able in the game, and it was really tricky because the gameplay has of course combat, but we also have puzzles and we have platforming in the game. The companion has to be able to do all these different actions, like sliding and jumping and using ropes and whichever action is in the game. The same goes for puzzles. We wanted to integrate them into puzzles both autonomously but also in a way that you can work together and build into their story to solve puzzles in the game. But in terms of combat, Abram is quite active. He will create opportunities for the player. He will trip enemies, grab enemies, set up opportunities, and you can upgrade some very, very cool abilities that will open up more of those opportunities automatically.
In terms of activated abilities, you do have a number of activated abilities that you can ask him to trigger at the moment that you want, so it really is kind of a healthy combination of you being able to get the most powerful abilities out of him when you think they're gonna matter versus him also being quite dynamic and creating those opportunities for the player.
Magnús Fr. Guðrúnarson: The thing that keeps surprising me when I play is the fact that all of Abram's abilities are totally divorced from everything you're doing. So you can be in the middle of a drain. You can be in the middle of any animation and you can still use Abram's abilities because he's a different guy. That sounds like such a simple thing, but that's the thing I always have to think the most about.
I also wanted to know if Echoes of the End has any RPG elements, like looting or upgrading gear.
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: We're definitely a very small team. We're 40 people with the ambition of the game that we have. We definitely have some inklings of those elements, but the gear, for example, is something that kind of stays consistent. When you're playing Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, there's not really a gear upgrade. The upgrades primarily come through the abilities and the upgrades that the characters get. But in terms of RPG systems, I think probably one of them is the fact that you can have different conversations in the game with a companion and you can opt for different conversations and answer in different ways.
But you can definitely also find permanent upgrades throughout the game that will enhance different things in your kit, so there is an element of that, but it's not a strong focus in terms of like armor stats or something like that.
Magnús Fr. Guðrúnarson: There are four character progression skill trees.
As you just said, Myrkur Games is not a large studio. According to your playtesting, how long can players expect Echoes of the End to be?
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: The game length is generally, I would say, 14 to 15 hours during our playtests when we get people in to try the game out. It's longer than we set out to do. One of the reasons we offer for that as well is that we have 10 main chapters in the game, and each chapter in the game actually has a distinct not only environment and visuals, but we really wanted this game to feel like an adventure, like you're traveling throughout the different biomes and seeing different parts of the world, and that's exciting on a visual level, but also on top of that, each level will have their own kind of key mechanic in the game.
So as Ryn and Abram are going throughout the game, once you get into a new level, we're gonna throw a kind of new mechanics at you to interface with, and that's a promise that we give out to players. Once they play the first two chapters, they'll start to realize, okay, they're switching it up every so often. The way that we talk about this internally is that Ryn is a hammer and Abram is a screw, and they're solving problems together or dealing with different things. We always throw completely different problems, and those are usually tied to the biome that you're in and the story of the biome that you step into.
If you see in the announcement trailer, there's quite a few of those mechanics that we kind of tease. When you step into a new chapter, you get introduced to a mechanic and then we tend to expand them and make them more complex. And also, the enemies in each chapter will differ. We have about 20 unique enemies in Echoes of the End, and then of course, the bosses on top, and those are also quite tied to the themes of the chapters. So you might see an enemy in one chapter and not in any other.
As a quick follow-up, is there any missable or optional side content in the game, or is it just linear?
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: Going back to the small team analysis, we definitely wanted to make sure that our main content was the thing that we focused on, really pack everything into the main punch. We often talk about games like Uncharted in that aspect internally, kind of wanting to do an action adventure, melee fantasy, but in the kind of same setup. Uncharted also has chapters in different environments, so that's a good comparison there. But still there's stuff to explore. Some of our levels are more open, and you can miss optional puzzles, things you can find, collectibles and upgrades, and definitely optional conversations you can get with a companion. But we don't have secondary missions in the game.
Fair enough. Echoes of the End is about to launch now; I assume it's all-hands on deck time?
Halldór Snær Kristjánsson: Yeah, we are making sure that every minute goes into final polish and we get everything on board that we want to. It's looking really good and we're pretty excited to get it out to players and show them what we've been doing for all these years.
Good luck, and thank you for your time.
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