Indie Game Sensation: The Tiny Icelandic Studio's Journey to Produce a Year's Top Pick in the Indie Scene
In the heart of Reykjavík, Iceland, a small independent studio named Myrkur Games began its journey in 2016. Founded by three friends—Halldor Snaer Kristjansson, Fridrik Adalsteinn Fridriksson, and Daniel Arnar Sigurdsson—the studio started in an attic with no game or name, but a core idea that would eventually become Echoes of the End.
Over the next nine years, the team grew from nine to around 40 developers, transforming their attic into a full-fledged office space. During this period, they created demos periodically to keep momentum, shaping the DNA of the final game with an emphasis on deep combat, puzzles, platforming, companions, large enemies, and bosses.
Key team members like performance director and senior cinematographer Dadi Einarsson joined in 2018, contributing to the project’s cinematic aspects. Myrkur Games invested significant effort into creating custom systems for motion capture, photogrammetry, and performance animation to make Echoes of the End feel authentic and emotionally compelling.
The game leverages Iceland’s natural beauty heavily, reflected in its environments ranging from molten lava to glacial ruins. The storyline centers on Ryn, a vestige with chaotic magical powers, on a quest to rescue her brother and uncover a world-threatening conspiracy.
After nearly a decade of development, Echoes of the End was released on August 12, 2025, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, marking Myrkur Games’ debut in the industry and fulfilling their passion for genre storytelling.
Echoes of the End is a linear third-person action game with some elements of exploration, consisting of 10 chapters and boasting an average playtime of 14-15 hours. The vast majority of the cast for the game is based in Iceland. The team aimed to show areas of Iceland that haven't been shown before in the game. Trailers for the game have received comparisons to God of War.
This journey highlights the challenges and persistence of a small, passionate team transforming from humble beginnings to releasing a polished, narrative-driven game on major platforms. The team's emotional reactions while playtesting the game were a significant moment for them, as was the alpha release, which was the first time they could see the full game.
Myrkur Games grew from an attic into its own office space, with its workforce more than quadrupling from nine to around 40 to develop Echoes of the End. The studio started with 40 developers and has delivered a game that looks and plays at a higher standard than one would expect from a studio of that size. The team's aim was to celebrate Iceland in their game, and they achieved this by incorporating a volcano in the game after a volcano erupted near them during development.
[1] Myrkur Games. (2025). About Us. Retrieved from https://www.myrkurgames.com/about [2] Myrkur Games. (2025). Echoes of the End. Retrieved from https://www.myrkurgames.com/games/echoes-of-the-end [3] Myrkur Games. (2025). Press Kit. Retrieved from https://www.myrkurgames.com/presskit [4] Myrkur Games. (2025). Behind the Scenes. Retrieved from https://www.myrkurgames.com/behindthescenes
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