Eternal Strands – Review

Eternal Strands is a fantasy action-adventure developed and published by Yellow Brick Games for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

You play as Brynn, a weaver (sorcerer), who sets forth to explore a legendary place called the Enclave, which mysteriously isolated itself from the rest of the world and enclosed in a magical Veil. With the help of an experienced weaver, Oria; the teamster Casmyn; the blacksmith Sola and her apprentice, Sevastyan; the scholar Dahm; and the scribe Laen; the band went on an expedition to weave through the Veil and uncover what lies within the Enclave.

The gameplay is inspired by popular action-adventure/RPG franchises from the past and present decades such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Shadow of the Colossus, and Torchlight. As Brynn, you can use a sword, two-handed blades, and a bow to fight enemies within the Enclave. These weapons may have fire or ice attributes that could deal more damage to certain enemies. Aside from weapons, the mantle in Brynn’s armor is imbued with magic which allows her to utilize a variety of powers to manipulate ice, fire, and even kinetic energy to push and/or pull enemies and objects. Unlike Breath of the Wild, the in-game physics is quite a pain and is hard to figure out. The arrows can go way off target even with careful aiming and objects thrown using telekinesis fall faster like a heavy ball of metal.

Adversaries include your typical wolves and lizards, magical creatures such as wyverns and dragons, living armors, and huge machinations – with the latter requiring both wits and agility to scale their towering statures and remove pieces of their armor, reminiscent of Shadow of the Colossus. The game also allows players to craft, upgrade, or reforge weapons from materials salvaged from enemies and objects in the field. These weapons may have fire or ice attributes that could deal more damage to certain enemies.

These scalable sentinels, unlike in Shadow of the Colossus, are of smaller proportion and less complicated to climb and dismantle. I also noticed most of the higher-level enemies look identical to the lower ones and are given alternative color palettes to give them a ‘tougher-than-ever’ look. The game also allows players to craft, upgrade, or reforge weapons from materials salvaged from enemies and objects in the field which is perfect for players who are into item farming. For me, gathering specific materials is very time-consuming, especially the rarer ones, as it means traveling between maps to find them.

The in-game graphics are cel-shaded and created with Unreal Engine 5. The Enclave and its surrounding areas are spectacular with different terrains to traverse such as grasslands, rivers, hills, concrete, and snow. The uses a full daytime nighttime cycle to add more appeal to the landscape. You can re-visit previously explored maps using loomgates scattered in different areas within the Enclave.

The map system doesn’t allow marking and I got lost several times while completing some of the quests. Certain objects such as rocks, wood, and metal are interactable and can be used as platforms to reach higher ground. Somehow, graphical glitches can be experienced like delayed texture rendering and object clipping which is common in open-world or sandbox games. The cutscenes are in the form of Japanese-style animation, which may remind you of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.

Worldbuilding plays an important part in Eternal Strands. Various key items, in-game literature, and places of interest are found within the Enclave, allowing players to learn more about game’s the lore. Character interaction also plays a key role in progressing through the story, with NPCs providing you with quests as well as discovering their motives in joining the expedition. The storyline for me was quite intriguing early on, which got me invested to keep playing for hours. Although interactions between certain characters, like Dahm, are too cheesy or comedic for my taste.

Yellow Brick Studios isn’t new to video game development. It was founded in 2020 by Canadian developer Mike Laidlaw – known for his work with BioWare and the Dragon Age series. Together with former Ubisoft Quebec developers, they teamed up and created a new IP that would appeal to action-adventure, open-world, RPG fans, both old and new.

To conclude, Eternal Strands is a good game. It’s not as massive nor flashy as Breath of the Wild but its unique story made it stand out. Albeit the glitches and bizarre in-game physics, every video gamer (me included) knows that we should be the ones who need to adjust to the game, not the game itself. If you’re into fast-paced, fantasy action-adventure/RPG, I highly recommend Eternal Strands. The story, gameplay, and exploration will keep you invested in this game for hours.

This review is based on a PC review copy provided to us by the developers/publisher.