Another RPG Classic In The Making? - Eternal Strands Review
A cataclysmic event pushes a scouting party through a mysterious Veil on a hunt to figure out what happened to one of the region’s greatest populace after a similar event years previously. As Brynn, players will lead the expedition further into a location seemingly devoid of life. Is this new IP worth keeping an eye on?
A new IP is always a challenge, especially compared to well-seasoned franchises or flat-out gaming juggernauts. A new IP that just so happens to be from a new development studio has even bigger boots to fill if it wants to find an audience. While it’s no easy feat to come out swinging, the team behind this newest RPG, Yellow Brick Games, comprises veteran developers from other RPG franchises.
Headed up by Mike Laidlaw, the creative director behind the Dragon Age series, and lead designer and director on the first three titles in that series, Eternal Strands has a strong chance of hitting it off with many fans of the RPG genre. Laidlaw is joined by a number of Ubisoft veterans, the majority of which coming from the Ubisoft Quebec studio.
So what exactly is Eternal Strands, and what can be expected from a playthrough of it? Well, it’s an action-adventure RPG that has drawn inspiration from such heavy hitters as the more recent Legend of Zelda titles, Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom, alongside the gargantuan-toppling gameplay of Shadow of the Colossus.
The artwork is quite stellar, showcasing highly detailed character models. Traversing a rich and vibrant world in pursuit of a lost civilization, you play as Brynn, a Weaver that gets transported through a mysterious Veil where the Enclave resided before a cataclysmic event left those outside the Veil wondering what happened.
It’s not long before Brynn takes the lead as the point for her band of Weavers, and that’s when the game truly opens up and I got the chance to explore the mysteries of a land lost to time and left behind by the rest of the civilized world.
If you’re looking for a brand new RPG to dive into, Eternal Strands may be exactly what you’re looking for. Read on to see my thoughts on the game. Minor spoilers, if any, to follow. Reader beware!
Eternal Strands features a bright and vibrant world with a bit of a dark undertone
Story & Quests
From the start, the aspects of the story and how it unfolds were a refreshing change of pace compared to other recent RPG releases. Featuring a beautifully animated opening cutscene laying the foundations of the game’s narrative and lore, the opening scenes showed the camaraderie of the band of Weavers I’d be spending time with as main character, Brynn. But it’s not just the art choice that stands out. The voice acting from the cast of characters is some of the best I’ve personally experienced in gaming in some time. Each actor brings emotion, urgency, and gravitas to the scene, depending on which story beat or character arc is being explored.
But the more I played through the story, the more lacking it felt overall. While I didn’t expect to find the lost civilization straight away when entering the game’s world, it didn’t feel as well-paced as I had hoped. There were clues to discover, and the quests I had to do to find those clues didn’t keep me engaged. The more the story went on, the less interested I felt in reaching the conclusion. The story does pick up in a noticeable way about a third of the way through the game - depending on how many side quests you are doing, it might take longer - and it did pique my interest some more, even if I did already have an inkling of what was going to happen in the lead up to that point.
Though I didn’t enjoy the story as much as I would have liked, I thoroughly enjoyed the band of Weavers that you spend the majority of your time with, doing quests for them and listening to their banter in the main hub area. The voice acting and how the cast of characters bounce off each other in their scenes was one of the main highlights of the overall experience for me. I just kinda wish their side quests were anything to write home about. And as there was no levelling, there was no experience to earn from side (or Main) quests, nor was I ever actually rewarded for doing them. After about two-thirds of the game, I just ended up ignoring the quests offered from my band of allies, instead just focusing on whatever quests would progress the story. More than a few of the quests involved were glorified fetch quests. Usually, this didn’t faze me in the past. But maybe I was expecting a little more from a new studio with so much talent behind it or maybe years of experiencing them in games left me feeling jaded. Or maybe I wouldn’t have minded them as much if the story and combat picked up the slack (more on that later).
There was a certain story beat that involved a character as a major plot point and when it resolved, I just felt nothing. This character meant nothing to me and how their particular story beat unfolded just rang hollow, despite the game making it appear to be a big deal. The game felt like it was grandstanding, but it didn’t do much to build up this character to feel worthy of such an event.
Entering a new map gives a beautiful sizzle reel of what to expect
World & Exploration
Paired with the art style and the visual effects, the world of Eternal Strands is a wonder to behold. Journeying through the Veil in pursuit of answers about a long-lost civilization known as the Enclave, my band of Weavers and I end up on the other side of the mysterious magical barrier and in our core hub known as the Southwall Waystation. While it offers some lovely scenic views of gargantuan statues and a world far larger than it could possibly take to walk across, it’s not until I got to enter the first open area known as Glintwood Hollow. Once I entered the first main map of Eternal Strands, I felt the game open up and I could truly explore. Running through and fighting lesser creatures, I was torn on what direction to go. I chose one direction and went along on my explorations, until I hit the edge and got to experience one of the game’s many vistas. The art and world is a testament to just how important the artists are to a game. There’s just a lot of attention to detail on display that permeates through the game’s world. But although the world was beautiful to look at, I didn’t find it fun to explore.
There were plenty of times I would be running along and expect to find something interesting, whether it be good loot or some world-building bits to catch my eye, but most areas I checked out felt pretty devoid of anything worth nothing. Sometimes it would feel like I’ve found an interesting path, but it ends up leading to nothing. Not even random enemies would be waiting for me. And while the mantling aspect is interesting and can lead to the odd chest or lore piece, it doesn’t really feel as fleshed out as it should have been. But it was mainly for climbing the gigantic bosses, so I was ultimately fine with that.
One particular highlight I enjoyed was the weather system that would show up on every map. The first two locations I explored were naturally sunny. But when I returned to base camp to upgrade my gear and backtracked to the second map I had only just recently explored, it was almost completely covered in a flash freeze. This was the first time I experienced a world that wasn’t just sunny day or night time and it really added to the experience. The freezing cold temperatures would slow me down and cause damage to my health if I stayed in it too, long. And while it was a little frustrating in the heat of battle, it just gave me the drive to finish the fight as quickly as I could. There were also extrememly dry periods where a single spark would cause a raging wildfire. Usually during combat with fire-spewing enemies. Speaking of combat…
What happens if you bring a Fire Bow to an Ice fight? You run and fight from a distance
Combat & Bosses
I’m torn between two view points on Eternal Strands’ combat. For the most part, I love the combat against the bosses (more on that later). The combat against the other enemies? Not so much. Parrying an enemy’s attack is fun and gives a satisfying thunk, giving ample time to attack as they usually end up stunned. Other than the mechanical Arks littered throughout, there’s a wide variety of enemies to tackle, and they all must be dealt with differently. This helps keeps things fresh as not every encounter plays the same as with other games. Using magic, even though it feels finicky, is key to defeating certain enemies as standard attacks do little to no damage. And while there’s plenty of resources to keep upgrading your weapons and gear, I felt the combat became grating about halfway through. I would either run past enemies and hope for the best, or chuck them off high places with kinesis as it stopped being enjoyable. And when a game’s combat starts to become a chore, something definitely has gone wrong.
The core loop felt interesting at first, but the more I played, the less I enjoyed overall. There’s no levelling in Eternal Strands, but you can upgrade gear. So when I first got purple-coloured resources and returned to camp, I was pleased to see my new gear almost double in power level and damage. I was disappointed when I returned to fight enemies in an area I had previously vacated and found almost no real difference in combat with the same style of enemies. I couldn’t tell for certain, but it felt like there was power-scaling, which made combat feel more like a slog. So the story is a wash and the main combat was no longer enjoyable. I wasn’t sure how well I would enjoy the overall experience at this stage. That’s where the combat against the game’s bosses comes in.
Felling a titan is one of the game’s most appealing factors
Each area to explore features one of the game’s ten Great Foes, massive enemies that must be scaled to be toppled, akin to the Colossi in Shadow of the Colossus. And this, to me, is where the game truly shined the most. Being able to scale massive behemoths from the ground is always fun, in my opinion. Trying to find out where the enemy’s weak points are (they aren’t always immediately obvious, like so many video game boss weaknesses) and climb to that point, while avoiding getting grabbed and tossed aside always made each encounter feel fresh. While the mantling was always a little iffy, particularly around armour pieces, getting to the right point and hacking away while the giant did everything it could to throw you off was what I enjoyed most. And each of the beasts felt unique, even if the Giant Arks did not.
Each time I returned to a map, there would be a new Great Foe to topple, if I wanted to. And depending on the weather in the map, and the particular enemy I would encounter, it occasionally wound up being more challenging than usual. Fighting a fire-breathing Drake or Ark of the Great Flame is all fun and games until you’re doing it during a drought and everything goes up in flames. Using physics-based combat, the fire spreads really well in Eternal Strands, which ends up being a blessing and a curse. The most satisfying encounters were the winged enemies, as I would have to swap between my bow and sword depending on how close they got. When an Ashpeak Drake landed and was about to shoot flames at me, a quick mouthful of my ice magic was enough to stun it long enough for me to climb onto its back and hack away at its wings. Injuring both wings from flying enemies leads to a very quick crash into the ground as I quickly found out the first time I managed to do so, which resulted in a little damage to both of us.
But my love for fighting the Great Foes hit a wall when I faced a new, story-based Foe named The Herald. And this is where my enjoyment of the game really petered out. The Herald is one of those boss fights that is completely different from everything that came before it, but you don’t get any new moves or weapons to take on this new challenge. So I was trying to use my traditional magic and combat methods to drop this giant beastie, but it felt like nothing I was doing was making much of an impact. My teammates were giving advice to try different magic and methods, but nothing seemed to work. “It’s gaseous, use your fire magic on it!” the head Weaver would scream. Okay, but nothing happened. It felt odd that the game was giving me advice that wasn’t working. Another suggestion was to use my ice magic. At first, nothing seemed to have changed when I used ice, but eventually I was able to freeze part of it’s gas body parts and eventually climb it to try and do damage.
But unlike other enemies, the Herald was much faster and more aggressive. It took an age to get close enough to mount the thing while getting smacked around the arena, and even when I was successful, slowly shimmying along to find a weak point resulted in the boss trying to shake me off two or three times before I could do anything myself. It was after this boss fight that I took a mental step back and began to evaluate just how much fun I was really having with this game. And the answer was “not a lot.” Not anywhere near as much as I had hoped when I heard about Eternal Strands and when I first booted it up. And that leads me to my conclusion.
I tried to extract as much fun as I could from Eternal Strands, but sadly fell short
Final Review
I started off really enjoying Eternal Strands and my notes I was taking as I was playing through were initially quite positive. I had over a dozen little details I had liked in the first hour of playing. But the more I played, the more I realized Eternal Strands just isn’t for me. A bland and forgettable story combined with jarring and unenjoyable combat are what really turned my opinion away from being fully able to recommend this game. Its overall world and design are exceptional, as are its cast of characters and how well they play off each other, but the overall experience falls short for me.
Story is always the most important part of a game for me. If that doesn’t work, I usually enjoy the core gameplay loop. But I wasn’t able to resonate with either of those things. There are some games that have a bad reception that I love, and there are fan-favourites I just can’t get into. It’s too early to tell if Eternal Strands falls into the fan-favourites category, but one thing I am sure of is that I just don’t enjoy it.
I do hope Yellow Brick Games get to make a sequel and pour more time and care into this world they have built and iron out some of the kinks in this game. If they do, I will be happy to give it a shot.
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