REVIEW / Eternal Strands (PS5)

The last few years have seen huge changes in the way games are released and most definitely the way that they are made. With the advent of A.I. being used in the creation of video games as well as all of the layoffs that have seemed to plague the industry, its a wonder that the level of new games hitting the market hasn’t seemed to slow in the least bit. Coming from one of those game developers who came face-to-face with the recent changes that have happened in the game industry, game director Mike Laidlaw, known for his work on the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series, has dipped his toes in game development from the side of a studio owner and has launched the studio’s first game, Eternal Strands. Yellow Brick Games is the new independent studio founded by industry veterans, home to this new game, and a host of other game developers who are determined to bring great games at an affordable price to gamers all over the world.

Like many of the other games in the action-adventure fantasy RPG genre, the main emphasis in on your abilities, magic and combat: close quarters and ranged, and making sure that you keep them properly scaled for the tasks at hand. In Eternal Strands, you take on the role of Brynn, a young Weaver that is on a mission to reclaim her ancestral lands. In addition, she has the help of her cohorts that make camp at the Enclave. These friends come in clutch as they all possess differing abilities like a blacksmith and an apothecary and offer Brynn their services as long as she brings back resources from her travels outside of the Enclave. Keeping them fully stocked will allow them to improve their techniques, and in turn, offer you better weapons and armor as well as improving your magic abilities. Venturing out with improved weapons, armor and magic abilities, you will be set to give the bad guys a run for their money.

While things in the gaming industry have been tumultuous over the last few years, you would think that games of this magnitude would be few and far between, what with all of the cancellations that have happened recently. Fortunately, YBG was able to deliver on their promise to create a game that brings the action and fantasy that you would expect for a project like this one. And just like the gaming industry, life for the games protagonist, Brynn, have been even more so. Before she can venture forth and find out what is causing the worldwide calamity, she needs to make sure that she has all of the tools that she will need to be victorious. Brynn is packing powerful magical abilities and an arsenal of magical weapons that will even the playing field against beasts that are so large they block out the sun as well as formidable foes like fire breathing dragons.

Of the many gameplay systems at work in Eternal Strands, such as the magic system and the combat system, the climbing system is one that steals the show. While gamers at this point in time are pretty familiar with games that offer the ability to climb on objects in the environment, the fact that ES offers this ability takes the gameplay to a whole new level. The closest games that I can think of to compare it to are Shadow of the Colossus or The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, minus the stamina meter. You can climb on just about everything in the game; trees, large rocks, houses, statutes, and of course, many of the larger than life enemies that you will cross paths with. Of the variety of obstacles that are alive, they will try to shake you off, like a dog after it jumps out of a lake, swipe at you with their hands or kick you off with their feet. I have to admit that the process of jumping up and grabbing onto something with ease was very fun and took exploration in the game to an unexpected but very welcome place.

Getting into the meat of this game is where the magic takes place. Once Brynn ventures out into the landscape, she will have a number of weapons at her disposal that she can use to defend herself against the enemies that she may encounter. In addition, she will have a number of magic attacks that she can use to even the playing field and place hands on those enemies that may initially be somewhat stronger than her at the start. You will be given your first sword and shield but you will also find weapons out in the world of which you can tap one of your cohorts back at camp to upgrade your current load out or get a completely new and more powerful one. In the realm of your magic abilities, you will have a mix between fire magic and ice magic which you can use to negate the abilities of the enemies that you encounter, use to hold them in place, or burn them to a crisp. It’s all up to you how you want to approach combat and what abilities you choose to power up and make your mark.

The visuals in Eternal Strands are stylish, cool and really sets the tone of the game from the very first moment you boot into the adventure. Colors are vivid, bright and complements the art style perfectly. The design of the world gives a strong Kingdoms of Amalur vibe as well as The Legend of Zelda. This is a vast and wondrous world with various different environments like mountainous regions, forests and seaside villages. Visually it is very impressive and really shines in the high definition era that we are currently living in these days. The work that YBG put in to make this one of the best looking games of the year really shows and helps to take this title to the next level visually.

In order to really engross the player in the action and adventure that is taking place on screen, game designers also need to craft an audio experience that ties everything together. The sound designers at YBG definitely understood the assignment. Ambient sounds as well as the roar of a fire breathing dragon or the snarl of the wild wolf-type creatures that you encounter in many areas of the game are very well crafted and help to make the world feel alive. In addition, the soundtrack is composed of some real bangers especially during boss fights. The voiceovers are also top notch as the voice actors seemed to have gotten a deep understanding of their characters motivations which makes the characters seem very believable.

While all of the good things in this game help to make it what I’m sure YBG hopes will entice players to jump in to their fantastical world, there are some issues in the design of the adventure that I feel holds this game back and prevents it from hitting a home run. What initially made me scratch my head at its design was the opening hour or so of the game. Events unfold pretty slowly as you and your group attempt to get to the Enclave. Once there, you spend a lot of time just conversing with your group in order to figure out what you need to do to get everyone settled and ready to take on the adventure that is to come. Interaction consists solely of still images of the characters being highlighted when they are speaking with tons of dialogue to read. Most of the dialogue is spoken, which helps to suck you in to the story, but a good amount of it must be read in order to understand what is going on.

Be warned that the first eight hours or so of the game consisted of nothing but fetch quests. In one instance, one of your cohorts asks you to go out into the world and bring him some items that he will need to get his shop up and running so that he can upgrade your equipment. Once you go out and collect these items, you must take them back and give him what you were able to find. He then commences to tell you that he now needs a number of other items that you must go out and find for him in another part of the world. Rinse and repeat. My question is, why not just tell me everything that you need all at once and let me find those items all at the same time? Just running here and there fetching items for the denizens of the Enclave was repetitive and got boring pretty quickly.

There are undoubtedly more enticing games to try out if you are in the market for something new to play. Now that we are headed into the late summer and early fall months, blockbuster games are lining up to tax the shit out of our wallets this year. Go figure. However, if you are just looking for something to veg-out on after a stressful day at work, you could do way worse than Eternal Strands. While the myriad fetch quests can get monotonous at times, there are sparks of brilliance that peppers this games immersive landscape. This game isn’t perfect by a long shot, but I have to admit it’s a really good first outing for a brand new game studio that is looking to make their mark on the industry.

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.