Echoes of Aincrad's Death Game Mode will actually delete your save file when you die

Bandai Namco has revealed Echoes of Aincrad as a new action RPG themed after the eponymous MMORPG in the Sword Art Online franchise, coming worldwide to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam on July 10 (with Japan getting the console releases a day earlier on July 9). But while the company had also simultaneously shared a press release in English, the Japanese official website contains a lot more details not covered in the former.

The English press release includes brief mentions of how the Deluxe and Ultimate Editions of this game include an early unlock of the Death Game Mode. The Japanese reveal confirms that this mode will have an actual permadeath consequence as a reference to the MMORPG depicted in the original light novels, in which it will actually delete the save file the moment your avatar gets "exhausted" from running out of health and dies right there.

There are a couple of notes to this mode, however. Death Game Mode is originally intended to be only unlockable after you have cleared the main story for the first time, if you have purchased the game in a regular way. And while Echoes of Aincrad supports up to 3 save slots, the player will only be allowed to activate the Death Game Mode on the 2nd and 3rd slots.

The Japanese website also contains a more detailed spec table for the game. It confirms that this MMORPG-themed game will only be available as a single-player offline game, and it will not support HDR either. The table also provides the following resolution and frame rate for each platform:

• PlayStation 5: 3840x2160 resolution, 60fps maximum frame rate
• Xbox Series X: 3840x2160 resolution, 60fps maximum frame rate
• Xbox Series S: 2560x1440 resolution, 60fps maximum frame rate
• Steam (PC): Resolution ranging from 1280x720 to 3840x2160, unlimited maximum frame rate

In addition to full language support with voiceovers for English and Japanese, Echoes of Aincrad will also support more subtitle languages in French, Italian, German, Spanish (European & Latin American), Russian, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Indonesian, Thai, and Chinese (Traditional & Simplified). Iori, the new heroine who will mostly interact with your avatar in this game, will particularly have Kana Ichinose as her Japanese voice actress.

The Japanese reveal trailer for Echoes of Aincrad is also far more elaborate than the English one, as it tries to portray the Sword Art Online MMORPG as actually existing in our actual world. You can find it right below.