Echo Bat

What is Echo Bat?

Echo Bat is a one touch cave flying game with a twist: it's pitch black. You only see the cave when your sonar finds it. Chirp, and a ring spreads out from the bat, lighting every wall, stalactite and root it touches. Then the glow fades, and you fly on from memory.

It's free, it runs in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer, and there's no download. Sound helps a lot here, so turn it on if you can.

How to play

The bat flies forward on its own. Hold to flap and climb. Let go and it sinks. Touch a wall, a rock spike, a root or the water, and it's a bonk. At the start the bat hovers in place for a couple of seconds, or until you touch the screen, so take a breath first.

Controls

• Phone or tablet: hold anywhere to fly. To chirp, tap the Chirp button, tap with a second finger while holding, or double tap quickly.
• Mouse: hold the left button to fly. Right click to chirp, or double click.
• Keyboard: Space, Up or W to fly. C, X, E, Shift or Right to chirp. P or Esc pauses.

Chirp charges

You have three chirps. A spent chirp comes back every 2 seconds, and eating a glow-moth gives one back right away. If you chirp with none left, nothing happens, so keep an eye on the little pips.

What lights up the cave

• Your chirp: the main light. Walls stay bright for a split second, then fade out over a second or two.
• Glow-moths: they give off a soft light of their own, so you can see a little around them.
• Crystals: when your sonar reaches a crystal, it rings and sends out a second ring of light. Free sonar.
• Drips: water dripping from stalactites makes small ripples that light up the spot where they land.

Scoring

Your score is the meters you fly, plus points from moths, plus 5 for every close call (the game says Close! when you skim past rock by a whisker).

A moth is worth 10, but eat the next one within 4 seconds and the streak multiplies it: 20, then 30, up to 50 a moth at a five moth streak.

Cave sections

The cave is built from different kinds of section. For the first 260 meters or so you'll only see open caverns and drip halls. After that, lakes, root tunnels and crystal caves join in, and past about 650 meters you'll meet the narrow tunnels. Your speed also keeps creeping up in the endless cave.

Modes

• Play: the endless cave. Fly as far as you can.
• Daily Cave: the same cave for everyone that day, with a day streak.
• Night Flights: eight short set routes, each with up to 3 stars. Finishing one opens the next.

Signed in players can post endless and daily scores to the leaderboards.

Night Flights stars

Each flight has three stars: one for reaching the moonlight at the end, one for eating every moth, and one for using no more than the chirp limit. You have to finish the flight to earn any of them, but you don't need all three on the same run. Stars from different runs add up.

The Roost

The Roost is where you dress your bat. Everything unlocks by playing, nothing is bought.

Tips for flying farther

Chirp on a rhythm

A chirp comes back every 2 seconds, so one chirp about every 2 seconds can go on forever. Get into that habit and you'll always have a picture of the cave ahead without running dry.

Bank chirps before the hard parts

Tunnels and root sections need more light. When the cave opens up and you can see a long way, skip a chirp or two so you go into the next tight bit with all three ready.

Moths are light and ammo

Each moth glows, gives back a chirp and builds your score streak. In a dark stretch, flying toward a moth is often safer than flying blind, because you can see the cave around it.

Chirp near crystals

In crystal caves, a chirp that reaches a crystal sets off a second ring of light from it. You get two flashes for the price of one. Use that to save charges.

Fly the middle

The bat falls a little faster than it climbs. Ride slightly above the middle of the gap so a slip doesn't drop you into the floor, and in lake sections give the water extra room.

Short taps, not long holds

Holding sends you up fast. In tight spots, a series of short taps keeps the bat bobbing in a narrow band. Long holds are for climbing out of a dip.

Remember what you saw

The walls fade, but they don't move. Roots sway a little, everything else stays put. After a chirp, take a mental snapshot of where the gap goes and fly that line even after it's dark.

Split your Night Flights stars

Trying for every moth and the chirp limit on the same run is hard. Do one finished run where you chase every moth, and a separate calm run where you chirp only when you must. The stars combine.

Questions