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Looking at it retrospectively only serves to add to the wonder of what now-defunct developers Novotrade achieved. Fitting so much atmosphere and so many disparate elements into a cartridge game in 1992 is, in a way, a much more impressive feat than giving a Hollywood shine and deliberate scares to the horror games of today. The anachronistic, subtle discomfort plays on the mind more and has undoubtedly led to a demographic of 90s kids who never learned to swim. A 1994 sequel, The Tides of Time, didn't so much take the sci-fi baton as bludgeon the original to death with it and run off with its wallet, but it's the pseudo-realism of the first that keeps the crown on its head.I feel that I might be coming down with an acute case of Stockholm Syndrome as, even after all of this, I can't begrudge Ecco the title of something of a masterpiece. Atmosphere is woven into every pixel of its being, and it rarely lets up. It's a completely immersive game and, in its own way, unlike any other I've ever played. Despite a fair portion of the memories it holds being unpleasant (to the extent that I still do a semi-conscious psych-up every time I see the glistening SEGA logo upon starting), that's pretty special.Or perhaps mom knew all along, and it was a ploy to scare me into getting some fresh air.Follow Andy on Twitter.Related on Munchies: Sharks Could Be the Future of the Seafood Industry