Beebom Score
I particularly enjoy RPGs that lean heavily into action-adventure, like Assassin’s Creed or God of War. So, it was only natural that I gravitated towards Eternal Strands, eager to submerge myself in a world of magic and elemental combat. However, I wasn’t expecting much, as action-adventure games can sometimes fall into predictable patterns.
Thankfully, my initial skepticism quickly vanished when I played the game. Thanks to a copy provided by Yellow Brick Games, I got the chance to play Eternal Strands. And truth be told, the game has exceeded my expectations, delivering an adventure that genuinely charmed me. Read on as I pen down whether this game is worth your time and investment in my Eternal Strands review.
Simple yet Interesting Action-Adventure Story
Eternal Strands takes you on a journey like any other simple RPG. Whether it is the exploration in Rome for Ezio (Assassins Creed: Brotherhood) or Tsushima Island for Jin Sakai (Ghost of Tsushima), you see the same pattern here. You take on the role of Brynn, the bounty hunter for the Weaverband.
Semi-Open World Exploration
As you and the other Weaverband members are stuck within the Enclave, explore the world of mystery to find what lies beyond human knowledge. Just like any RPG, finding something new is your goal. In the initial stages, I felt a little constrained, but the more you quest, the more areas will be unlocked for you to explore.
Eternal Strands is not just an open-world game. Yes, you can climb any mountain or break items to find resources. But the map opens up more as you unveil beyond. This makes Eternal Strands more of an open-zone adventure.
Although it feels a little stuck in the initial phase, you will enjoy the ride later. You can track quests by looking at the marker on your map. Do not forget to check your journal for unique loot nearby. It will help you progress in the game.
Choices Don’t Matter; Almost
While the story is simple yet engaging, the choices you make don’t matter much. Most of the time in the game, you will know which option to pick to continue the story. This slightly tingles my Until Dawn-loving brain which wants a little bit of butterfly effect in every story.
While I appreciate the nuanced portrayal of Brynn’s personality through dialogue choices, I wish these choices had a more significant impact on the overall story progression. I will still let that part slide, but one thing that bugs me is the lack of personality of the other members of Weaverband.
Weaverband Companions Need More Personality
Don’t get me wrong. Each character will help you in different jobs in the game. Oria helps you track quests, giving you a lot of valuable information about the adventures you take head-on. Dahm helps you weave new magic into your mantle and upgrade your spells. Similarly, Sola and Sevastyan, Laen, and Casmyn help you with other stuff like crafting, upgrading weapons and armor, managing equipment, or collecting lores.
The voice acting also feels fantastic, and each story’s narration feels different and intriguing. However, the characters lack proper emotions in the visuals. As the game uses static pictures for dialogue scenes, you will find a lack of emotion in certain scenes. I only wish the game had conveyed its characters’ emotions through cinematic cutscenes or found another way to breathe life into them. After all, you can only look at paintings for so long, right?
Gameplay: Shadow of the Colossus Meets Zelda
However, the story is not the key focus of Eternal Strands; it is the gameplay loop and everything new in the already solid action-adventure aspect. If you can perform dodge roll properly, you can deny fall damage, which is one of the fresh parts of an action-adventure game I have encountered in a while.
In Eternal Strands, you get to experience a journey against different creatures and epic monsters. Each enemy unit in the game comes with its individual elemental abilities or powers. To handle them, you must also use your elemental powers.
Physics-Based Elemental System
Unlike any action-adventure game, here, your elemental powers affect physics inside the game. You take damage from the fire or extreme winter. The elements do not stop there. It also affects the enemy armor and the path you take.
You can use Ice Path to make your way between the burning forest or wait until a colder day to take on the enemies. Besides your magic, the weather elements also affect the situation. This touch of Thermophysics is fun to strategize around to make things unique.
Magic Spells Are More than Damaging Tools
On top of being helpful in environments, Brynn can also use elemental magic to fight enemies or make advancements on her journey. You can imbue magic to your weapons to create trick shots and create your preferred playstyle.
Molten Barrage, Flame Sword and Shield, Frost Bow, or any other weapon can be built using your magic. Moreover, you can also cast spells to do a lot of things. Create an ice path to walk or block enemies and defy gravity by using the grasp magic to throw enemies off the cliff; the choice is yours.
You start the journey with two base kit magic spells and find more as you progress. Harvesting the magic strands from epic foes is the only way to gather different magic. If you’re confused, epic foes are the big bosses you find in the game. And they are one of the most exciting discoveries in this journey.
Colossus Boss Fights Make Things Fun
While you venture into the wilds of Enclave, you will find nine different bosses. These are called epic foes and resemble the size of Colossus from Shadow of the Colossus fights. You can beat these giant enemies however you want. Throw your ice magic to shackle their legs and shoot the arrows to target their weak points. It’s your call.
While you are involved in a fight with the bosses, performing specific tasks will reveal their ‘locus point.’ Merging your magic with the pattern of the epic foe’s ability will give you the magic strand for that creature. Collect all of them to harvest more magic. But that is not the only upgrade you need to be stronger in Eternal Strands.
Upgrades and Crafting System
The game also allows you to collect loot and many crafting recipes. To collect the resources you require, you must change up your way of destroying objects or defeating enemies. This will influence what kind of loot you will get from them.
You will also find crafting recipes along the way with codex entries. I like how the crafting works. Instead of keeping it straightforward, the developers use the companions for crafting. You must take the recipe to Sola, one of the Weaverband companions, to get a new weapon or armor design for Brynn. This makes the upgrade part more interactive and similar to the blacksmith from Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood.
Codex entries, on the other hand, are lore items. You can collect them to learn more about Brynn and all the other Weaverband members. The more you know, the more you can unfold. While unveiling the secrets is a tough job, exploring is easier if you keep an eye on your stats.
Brynn’s Stats Impact Exploration
You can change Brynn’s stats to make things easier as the game progresses. For instance, the Health stat lets you carry more health potions, while Weapon Power increases the damage you deal with through swords or arrows. You can combine different pieces from different sets to create unique armor looks and get different bonuses. Just make sure it matches your playstyle.
The Enclave is full of extreme heat and cold, so don’t be me and die by walking in the ice-cold areas. Instead, get Heat and Cold resistance through less protective armor which can help in better temperature protection. And last but not least are Weight stats. Improving this stat will help Brynn’s movement speed and other agility moves, including traversal magic. While the game offers extensive exploration and adventure, how much power does your device require to run cast it?
Performance: Doesn’t Require Much Casting
My Setup:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 @4.20 GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1650 Super
RAM: 16 GB (2×8) DDR4 @3200MHz
SSD: Adata XPG GAMMIX D30
Monitor: 1080p @165Hz
Well, I played Eternal Strands in a slightly under-the-recommended device spec. But it did not matter. The game constantly gives you a solid 60 FPS+ experience, which is more than enough for a single-player action-adventure. Apart from a slight hiccup error in between, the game let me unveil beyond the Enclave smoothly.
When I played the game on a 1080p high setting, I was getting 50-55 FPS. However, tweaking the settings just a bit got Eternal Strands outputting a constant 70+ FPS, which is the sweet spot. Thankfully, even with the adjustments, the game looked amazing.
Verdict: Is it Worth Weaving The Magic?
Eternal Strands is undoubtedly a fresh experience for someone who loves the action-adventure genre. Coming from an independent studio as their debut game, it is remarkable. While the game mixes and mashes many of my favorite games, I never felt it was going in a generic direction. Do note that the primary stage might feel bland until you start fighting the epic foes.
For me, collecting the Magical Strands became my favorite thing for at least 25+ hours. I recommend you play the game on medium settings unless you speedrun RPGs. Yes, even on the easy difficulty, I had to use all my health potions every time I fought the epic foes.
For only $39.99, Eternal Strands is beyond a simple action-adventure. Despite the companions not feeling like much of a company, I loved unfolding the story. The exploration feels limited, yet it grasps you in a thrilling excitement of glancing at something new. And the icing on the cake is the boss fights. If you like a fun getaway from the repetitive grind of RPG games, Eternal Strands is for you.
Sagnik Das Gupta
