Increasingly, we are witnessing ex-AAA developers take creative risks, often forming their own studios to craft indie and AA experiences. We've seen some colossal failures, such as the ill-fated Boss Key Studios, helmed by the legendary Cliffy B of Gears of War fame. Unfortunately, his game Lawbreakers was far from groundbreaking. On the flip side, there are success stories as well, like Ninja Theory. Previously known for big-budget releases such as a reimagining of Devil May Cry (remember that one?), they ditched publishers entirely and miraculously released the sensational Hellblade on their own—a near-AAA experience delivered on a much smaller scale and budget.
The latest example of AAA talent turned indie entrepreneur is Yellow Brick Games, with their first ambitious effort being the topic of today’s video, Eternal Strands. This indie dream team is led by Mike Laidlaw, perhaps best known for his previous work at BioWare on some "small" titles you might have heard of: Dragon Age and Mass Effect. It takes boldness and courage to not only start your own studio but also to launch an entirely new IP. But is this action-adventure game destined to be praised in the halls of indie greatness for all eternity? Or does it leave players feeling stranded? Let’s find out in our full review!
Eternal Strands is a fantasy action-adventure title that prides itself on an innovative combat engine. Players will mix together various spells, referred to as magical strands, which grant them powers such as gravitational pulls, ice, and fire—to name a few. Prepare to traverse magical worlds, completing both mandatory quests to progress the story and optional side quests for completionists who must check off every item on the list. You will need to defeat massive bosses to unlock new strands and collect loot from defeated enemies. Loot can also be obtained through treasure chests scattered across the game’s diverse landscapes. In total, there are around 25-30 hours of gameplay to experience if you want to squeeze every last drop out of the game.
At the center of our narrative are the mystical lands known as The Enclave, where magic once flowed like wine. The inhabitants of these lands, known as Weavers, harnessed the land's energy to build a wondrous home. This idyllic existence was shattered by an event known as The Surge—an attack that led to the Enclave being sealed away behind a magical wall called The Veil. Naturally, such a cataclysmic event caused great destruction and ultimately ignited a war between nations. Although the war eventually ended, the damage was done. However, a small underground movement of Weavers still exists, dreaming of the era that existed before the great Surge.
Brynn, our level-headed titular heroine, never knew a life before the events that led up to the Surge and thus dreams of a more peaceful existence. She travels alongside her Weaverband, who set up a base outside the Enclave in hopes of discovering its secrets and restoring it to its former glory. Without giving away the entire setup for the game, Brynn inevitably becomes the leader of this band of misfits and sets out on her adventure to explore the Enclave and bring peace and prosperity to the Weavers once more.
While the premise behind Eternal Strands shows promise, the story ultimately fails to find its footing despite some excellent voice performances that try their best to breathe life into the Enclave’s dying world. The voice actor for Brynn delivers each line with passion, while supporting characters such as the bird-like creature Oria also contribute impressive performances. The problem, however, lies more within the script itself. The characters in Eternal Strands, despite the actors' best efforts, are not particularly engaging, nor is the Enclave itself. Throughout my adventures, I couldn’t escape an overwhelming sense of genericness in nearly every aspect of the game world, which gives it a "copy and paste" feel reminiscent of your typical AAA fantasy release. While the narrative does explain the Enclave's vast emptiness, it unfortunately results in a world that feels void of originality and doesn’t translate to a compelling domain. Ultimately, Eternal Strands feels hollow; despite its efforts to develop characters and offer dialogue choices, I just couldn’t bring myself to care. Coupled with boring enemy and boss designs, nothing really stands out from a narrative perspective outside of some absolutely stunning animated cutscenes that are all too infrequent.
So the story is a bit of a missed opportunity, but what about the gameplay? Well, it's honestly a bit all over the place. When running through the different areas of the Enclave, Brynn's movement controls as you would expect, utilizing a combination of the left stick for traversal and the right stick for camera controls. Brynn moves along at a decent pace, but areas can be vast, making her ability to sprint quite handy. Impressively, she can also climb just about any surface she sees, albeit with the caveat of a stamina bar that will send her haplessly plummeting to the ground should it run out.
And yes, there is fall damage that can only be avoided by rolling before impact. Side note, I hate fall damage.
Where things start to get interesting is in the game’s combat engine, which strongly encourages players to rely on spells rather than traditional options like a bow or sword and shield. While those options are available, they are not what the game pushes you to use. Brynn begins with a gravitational spell that allows her to telekinetically pick up objects and even enemies. From there, she can slam said enemies into the ground or toss massive rocks at them to deal damage. Telekinesis is the first spell you receive in the game, and by far the most interesting to use.
As you topple bosses, you’ll unlock more shards. Each spell is unique and has a specific use, but they can also be combined however you wish. This can theoretically lead to some exciting results, but unfortunately, the overly aggressive enemy AI ruins much of the fun. Enemies in Eternal Strands pursue you endlessly, hurl projectiles from seemingly out of nowhere, and gang up on you at an alarming rate. So while the concept of using different spells on enemies and to help you navigate environments should be exhilarating, it never feels as satisfying as you would hope. In many cases, it was easier to stab away at foes or snipe them from a distance with arrows rather than take the time to line up and cycle through spells, never mind successfully aim them while being pelted by projectiles. Despite promise, I never ended up having very much fun fighting enemies or bosses. Similarly, when having to cast spells to traverse certain sections of a map, they didn’t work as well as I would have hoped.
But on the topic of bosses—if you want to call them that—they are unusual, to say the least. Some of the game’s massive foes will temporarily transform the combat engine into something reminiscent of the classic release, Shadow of the Colossus. You will need to scale these gigantic enemies, hang on as they swing about wildly, and target their weak points until they eventually succumb. Look, I love Shadow of the Colossus as much as the next guy, but in Eternal Strands this just feels odd, and the battles aren’t all that thrilling or exciting. Rather, they are clunky and obnoxious. Other massive foes, such as a flying dragon that I battled about 6 hours in, didn’t offer much excitement either. I think I’ve made my point: the combat in this game just never clicked with me. It features an odd hodgepodge of well-intended but poorly executed ideas and fails to deliver thrills.
Exploration doesn't fare much better, unfortunately. The game does have a decent quest log for tracking goals, but the writing often misleads you about which direction to head, and the tracking feature might as well not exist. My waypoint only seemed to appear when I had randomly stumbled upon the correct location. In fairness, some of the quest writing does at least give you an idea of where to go, but far too often it doesn't, leading to a great deal of boring, tedious traversal and a lot of wasted time.
After you’ve completed quests, gathered loot, and hopefully managed to stay awake, you'll find yourself in a hub world that acts as the main base of operations throughout Eternal Strands. This is where Brynn will consult with her Weaverband, upgrade her arsenal of weapons and armor, gather side quests, and travel between different locations. This base can eventually be upgraded using excess loot that you don’t wish to spend on weapons and armor. Upgrading the base will lead to more unlockables in the future.
Eternal Strands forgoes a traditional leveling system in favor of a heavy dose of tedious crafting. I’m not inherently against crafting, but here it feels exceptionally boring and slow. I almost never seemed to have enough materials for the next upgrade, and when I did, it really didn’t feel all that satisfying. I spent hours stuck with the same crummy equipment, with the only way to remedy the situation being to backtrack through previously explored areas and participate in more of the poor exploration and combat. In short, becoming more powerful in Eternal Strands is a complete slog, and I would have greatly preferred a more traditional leveling system.
It’s a shame because Eternal Strands has so many neat ideas that will likely go unnoticed by the average player. This feels like a classic example of tossing lots of concepts into a pot and seeing what cooks. The physics are extremely impressive but wasted on a combat engine that isn’t as fun as it should be. The characters are as bland as porridge, despite the writers offering a few narrative choices. The world itself, although beautifully rendered and colorful, feels empty and generic and hosts painfully drab enemy and character designs. Eternal Strands just loves to self-sabotage and feels completely unfocused.
This is a shame because, on a technical level, Eternal Strands runs well and offers plenty of visual options. I achieved 4K 60fps without much effort on a 4070, but players can tweak settings as needed. It's clear that Yellow Brick Games has a knack for optimization, and that’s commendable considering how many games today inexplicably run poorly. I’ve already applauded the voice actors, but the symphonic soundtrack of the game is quite good too, and the overall sound design is certainly satisfying enough.
In the end, Eternal Strands feels like a game that is full of content, but none of its parts amount to a fundamentally fun experience. I suspect most players won’t make it very far past the five-hour mark, which is a shame, as it's clear a good deal of effort went into creating it. The best way I can describe Eternal Strands is as a shell of a AAA game. Considering most indie gamers are looking to escape the constraints of modern AAA game design philosophy, one has to ask: why would they spend time on a game that attempts to emulate that formula and fails to do so? I commend the ambition, but the biggest flaw here is simply that this isn’t a fun game to play.
MEDIOCRE
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