RAC7 Games just put out a curious new title that is designed around using sound to help navigate your way through dangerous rooms and tunnels, called Dark Echo ($1.99). How it works is that you tap and hold in a direction to walk that way, with each step creating sound waves which are visualized in the game world. As such, it’s not really sound-exclusive, but positional audio does play a role in pointing out to you where walls and threats are located. And yes, there are threats. Enemies will chase you down, and there are sections that can kill you, indicated by their red color-coding. Items like keys are colored gold, and other elements get involved over time.

The game is based on RAC7’s You Must Escape, which was originally made for Ludum Dare 26, but this is a bigger and more expanded version of that. The concept is really cool, and the game is surprisingly gorgeous for a sound-centric game, with the geometric lines being created by the sound waves each step and generated noise creates. This is a fascinating little game, and our forum thread is already a-buzz about it.