Eternal Strands

Eternal Strands is billed as an action RPG, a genre that I am always wary of. One of the main reasons is the long run times that RPG’s in general usually hold, knowing that if I were to start one, it’d be consuming my precious gaming time for some while. So when we were offered a key and its promise of a 25-35 hour campaign, I felt brave enough to give it a go. 

My biggest experience in this field comes from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Both hold a special place in my heart for many reasons, and it was easy for me to slip into its world thanks to the nostalgia and love I have for the series. So I was hesitant upon starting up Eternal Strands as to whether or not I was going to gel with it. Thanks to the many similarities with the modern Zelda games, I did slip into the game with ease, and it wasn’t long before I felt comfortable with what the game was asking and having plenty of fun to boot. It was an interesting experience exploring this world and learning its lore, and it’s one that’ll be missed now the game is over.

For their debut game, Yellow Brick Games has put an extraordinary amount of effort into the world-building. Many times I was left awestruck by the minute details that were included throughout. Everything has a story, from how people used magic to traditional cooking methods, and it all felt real and believable. As a novice to the genre, I’m sure there are many other, and maybe better examples, that I am not aware of, but for me it was a strong highlight. 

This detailed lore and world-building obviously stretched into the main story beats of the game, and apart from a few unique moments, it ultimately ended up very similar to many other games’ plot lines in general. As Brynn, you are a new member of a group of weavers who have somehow managed to find themselves trapped in the Enclave, where many years ago a catastrophic event had occurred and the area needed to be sealed away to keep the rest of the world safe. Over decades, the Enclave had built up stories of what occurred and how life was, so with our group finding themselves inside this seal, they not only needed a way to escape but also to take this golden opportunity to explore this untouched land. Of course there is also a big bad that needs dealing with; otherwise, it will take over the land and install an evil rule, which understandably nobody wants. 

Story progression is achieved by completing quests that are set to you by the other members of your group. These are mainly fetch quests; go here and get this, go there and find that, and I did feel a little disappointed in this. It was fine for the first few hours, but after a while, I did find myself letting out a little sigh when I was being sent to find more items that were needed to fulfil a need to craft something or grab information for. I found myself yearning for more varied tasks, and the potential was there, but sadly they never arrived. 

Exploring the Enclave made me aware of, yet again, how much work had gone into creating the world. So much effort and imagination has been used to create a forgotten land with many different biomes, each with their own distinct landscape and materials. From lush green forestry areas to a crumbling city, it was a pleasure to discover and explore them all. Each biome is not as naturally connected as in the Zelda games though, with a small loading time between each one, but with the scope of what was in front of me, I really didn’t mind this.

While exploring, I found Brynn’s climbing ability very handy, as she is able to scale every wall or building that can be seen, offering a route to escape certain situations or just to evade enemies on my way to a location. Brynn climbs at a good pace, and I never felt frustrated with the time taken to climb or descend. There does come a point where you hit a barrier that clearly defines the end of the playable area, which is cleverly weaved into the narrative, but it still took me out of the game slightly. This also happens on land, as you’ll find a wavy barrier at the borders of the map, once more making me wish they had found a more subtle way to hide these through maybe uncrossable canyons or a patch of sea, which I feel could have helped with the immersion immensely. 

One other aspect of the biome’s were the different enemies that were roaming, ready to attack you when they caught sight of you. Some you’ll find in every biome, some will have different variations depending where you are, and some will be exclusive to a certain area. As time wore on and with my exploring hat on, they did start to get annoying, especially when I was trying to search out items and I was suddenly involved in a mass attack, and near the end part of the game, I was just running past them to get to my destination, as I really didn’t want to be sidetracked by their need for blood anymore. 

Speaking of the enemies, the biggest you’ll find in Eternal Strands are the ones you’ve probably seen in various screenshots and videos by now, which are the huge creatures that you will have to face. These are formidable, gigantic foes that at first felt very intimidating to me; I really didn’t want to fight one, but when the need came, I found they were not as scary as they first seemed. You can defeat these monstrous beings by just hacking away at parts of their bodies, and once defeated, they will gain you a magic thread that can be weaved into your scarf, giving you certain powers. These powers can be upgraded by harvesting these creatures again and again to gain more threads to weave. It’s one of the game’s biggest highlights, not only from the gleeful emotions that I felt every time I defeated one, but also in how you gain Bynn’s powers.

There are multiple powers to gain, all grouped within kinetic, frost, and flame themes. My favourites were the Weavers Grasp, which let you grasp objects at a distance and let you hurl them. Many times I picked up guards with this, held them in my grasp, and flung them over an edge for them to meet their doom. Another favourite was Embers Servant, which created a short fire ally that would distract enemies and let you concentrate on the task at hand. All these powers were effective at certain points, and each was easily selectable thanks to the well-implemented wheel. 

Another element of the game that I appreciated was getting to know the others in the group. Through detailed conversations, I not only learnt of their pasts and found out their failures but also helped them with problems and health issues. The writing lifted these conversations to higher heights, and the excellent voice acting only aided this feeling. I really felt I got to know each of them personally, and when the time came to end the game, I was a little sad to say goodbye. 

With all this said, you’d think I would have covered everything that’s on offer here, but you’d be wrong, as there’s still so much more to this game, which I just can’t fit into a reasonable-length review. But some of the other mechanics to be found include farming for materials, crafting weapons and armour, upgrading your home base, a day/night cycle, a basic weather system, codex filings, hidden schematics, salvaging, elemental-based dangers, and a plethora of side quests. It’s a meaty and impressive package that will last you way longer than 35 hours, and you could spend double that if you really wanted to explore every nook, find all the weapons and armour, and defeat every beast.