'Eternal Strands' is the debut title for Yellow Brick Games, and it's an incredible adventure, but wonky movement does dampen the fun.
It's been a while since I've played a game that has me feeling as conflicted as I do about Eternal Strands. The combination of new-age Zelda games, with a bit of Monster Hunter and Shadow of the Colossus, hits far more often than it misses. Combined with a beautiful world to explore and plenty of unique ideas, it's currently unlike anything else on the market. But fundamental flaws with momentum make it more of a challenge to play than it needs to be, at least in its current state.
From the moment I started Eternal Strands, I was in absolute awe of its world. It's a gorgeous place, with plenty of room for exploration. It's a physics playground in every sense of the word. Things are meant to be broken, grabbed with my magical abilities, and used to my advantage. I could find shortcuts into buildings by causing unwarranted levels of destruction. The destruction isn't on the same level as games like Red Faction. However, there is still enough stuff to break to make a Limp Bizkit fan feel satisfied.
Every character I ran across throughout my journey was also a welcome addition to the team. Fully fleshed out with a backstory to match, it's heaven for Lore Nerds like myself. Set within the realms of fantasy, a plethora of unique characters and archetypes slowly unraveled before me, and I wanted to learn everything I could about the members of my team. While Yellow Brick Games may be an independent studio, I could feel where their AAA roots begin to show, especially when it comes to the design of the world and its inhabitants.
Every time I had a complaint, it was quickly answered. If I was running out of storage space too quickly? I could upgrade my inventory. Don't want to run back to the camp every time I need to take on a new mission? Just keep progressing through the story. It takes a while to get cooking, but once it does, the flames of Eternal Strands never die down. I was engaged from the start, and it helped me overlook some of the frustrations I had learning the different systems in the early game.
Where Eternal Strands truly stands on the shoulders of giants, both literally and figuratively, is in its combat systems. Using physics as its baseline, Eternal Strands feels incredibly dynamic and spontaneous. No two fights are ever going to feel the same, even if I employ dirty tactics to ensure I take home a win. Fights against Dragons and Arks, for example, can go south quickly. But if I used the power of the Mantle to my advantage, I could turn the tide of the fight in my favor.
For example, facing off against a massive Dragon in any other game is going to be an exercise of smacking it around until it's dead. In Eternal Strands, on the other hand, I could use Elemental Magic to manipulate the battlefield. Freezing a Dragon's muzzle to the ground so it can't spit flames at me never got old, and freezing its wings in mid-flight to bring the fight back to the ground was always exhilarating. Climbing on the backs of these massive creatures and targeting weak points was also just a pure rush of adrenaline. It's been a while since a game made me feel this cool while fighting bosses.
Combat against standard grunts, on the other side of the coin, does feel a little lackluster in comparison. I could always tell I was doing damage to these creatures. But, sometimes, it felt like I was hitting them with a wet noodle. The two-handed blade felt better as I upgraded it, but the standard sword and shield felt like they were made of cardboard more often than not.
Upgrading Brynn's arsenal became a major point of Eternal Strands. As I progressed through the world, I could find new materials to reforge my old gear and create new gear on top of it. Exploration is encouraged, as new Armor and Weapon plans are sometimes hidden in the last place I would expect. While upgrading my Base Camp, I could unlock new levels for my existing gear, and craft new gear to change my looks.
Mixing and matching materials will also affect how the weapons and armor look. Which was a very neat feature. I could find armor that I loved the look of, and if I had the right materials, make it exactly the color I wanted. No dyes are needed here. After finding Codex pieces, the Loomgates would be updated to show what types of materials could be found in the many different areas, so I could search to create that perfect outfit. It seems like every fantasy game lately has a passion for fashion, and I'm down to clown with it. But upgrade Magic is where I saw the biggest improvement in my general gameplay experience.
As I battled massive creatures, I could harvest parts of them to upgrade my Mantle. This means that my magic would take on new forms. Ice is suddenly more effective, or the fires I could cast would be stronger. It made every combat encounter even more fun, especially against the Great Beings that roam throughout the lands. It's just a shame that the basic movement systems can feel rather sloppy at times.
Now, for the bad news. Every step Brynn takes in Eternal Strands feels as if she's skating on a bed of ice. At first, this wasn't extremely noticeable. But the longer I spent time in the world, fighting massive monsters and using elemental magic, the more this stood out like a sore thumb. As a fundamental part of the game, movement does not feel extremely satisfying in Eternal Strands and is one of the biggest knocks against the game in its current state.
I wasn't sure if it was just me, and I'm glad Yellow Brick Games released a demo before the game's launch. And sure enough, thoughts on the movement system were echoed within Steam forum discussions. Yellow Brick Games seems to be taking this feedback to heart and is planning on looking into ways to move and feel better, which would be a major turning point in my thoughts. Honestly? I'd happily jump back in and play the game from the start again. The rest of the game is just that good. But trying to control Brynn, a supposed Point and master of her surroundings, and having it feel like she's always running on ice just doesn't feel great. The development team mentioned that armor weight can affect it, but I didn't notice anything major to offset the slipperiness.
Putting that point of contention off to the side, if I saw somewhere I wanted to go, I could somehow get there. I could climb nearly everything in the game, and if I couldn't climb it, I could figure out a way to get there. Using Ice and Fire to counteract their respective environmental hazards was also such a unique way to traverse the world.
While the core movement does feel incredibly floaty, I didn't let that hamper my fun too much. All in all, Eternal Strands has so much potential and does so many things right. The way it approaches typical boss fights is something I could see becoming mainstream in the coming years.
Under its flaws, a truly technically sound game is under the surface. There are so many fresh ideas here that it makes its flaws stand out further than most games. But even with them, I still enjoyed every moment of my time in Eternal Strands. It isn't every day that I can freeze an enemy to the ground and pummel the life out of it, and then toss a few other cronies with psychic powers.
It's such a beautiful world to explore, and its characters all feel so alive. As long as Yellow Brick Games can follow through with updates to fix the core complaints? Eternal Strands has everything required to be a winner. It just needs that extra coat of polish to really bring out its true potential.