Even in its early alpha state, my extensive hands-on time with Eternal Strands gave me a lot to be excited about. Whether it’s the Monster Hunter-esque boss fights against giant creatures, the interesting and flexible physics-manipulating magical powers, or the obvious dedication to telling a wholesome story filled with lovable characters, this upcoming indie repeatedly surprised me by being very different from its action-adventure peers. By combining a hodgepodge of some of my favorite elements from different genres into one action-packed package, developer Yellow Brick Games hopes to pull off something wholly unique with its inaugural title. After numerous hours climbing atop fiery dragons and freezing pesky knights in a block of ice, I think Eternal Strands stands a good chance of delivering something really special, and I’ll definitely be keeping a close eye on it.
The first major draw in this cross-genre cocktail’s repertoire is its boss fights against enormous foes that seems to draw clear inspiration from the likes of Shadow of the Colossus then adds a dash of Mega Man by giving you a new magical ability for each behemoth you defeat. Though I was only able to do battle with a handful of these formidable foes, which ranged from bipedal fire benders to four-legged snow salamanders, I was quite impressed by just how crafty these massive monstrosities were. While climbing atop them, they’d do everything from lighting themselves on fire, to picking me up and squishing me in their hands, to taking flight when endangered to attack me from afar, often surprising me when I thought I’d developed a plan of attack against them. Admittedly I also encountered times where a boss would seemingly not know what to do with me, letting me get away with laying the beat down for far longer than I should have been able to, but I have to imagine that will get ironed out in the months to come, and I’m hopeful that each of these titans will be every bit as intimidating as they appear. You can read my thoughts about one such boss fight here.
Those epic bosses are enhanced by the tools you bring into battle in the form of your physics-manipulating magical abilities, which allow you to light things on fire, freeze enemies in their tracks, use telekinesis to toss things at high speed, and more. I wrote an entire separate article about just how cool these abilities are, but in short they follow in the footsteps of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom by offering an open-ended toolbox of powers, then letting you experiment with them to pull off crazy stunts. The big difference is that instead of using those abilities to solve puzzles, you mostly apply them to combat to pull off goofy stunts like summoning some fiery minions to assist you, then using a telekinetic wormhole to launch them into the air at a hovering baddie. I only had enough time to just barely scratch the surface on how these abilities worked and interacted with one another, but I could already see some serious potential in players discovering creative and surprising applications for these powers and how they might interact with one another – and I can’t wait to see the bizarre shenanigans the community gets up to.
Beyond using those powers in a fight, you’ll also be able to increasingly have an impact on the world around you as your abilities evolve, surprisingly incorporating mechanics that would feel right at home in a simulation game. By making unexpected use of Unreal Engine 5, Eternal Strands lets your use of fire and ice have a thermodynamic impact on the world around you, making the biome hotter or colder passively as you make use of your stolen gifts. For example, in one fight where I repeatedly relied on fire spells, I suddenly found the entire surrounding area arid, with dried out vegetation turning a sickly brown, then later glowing orange and red to indicate they’d burst into flames at a moment's notice. I didn’t take the hint and accidentally started a fire that spread throughout the level…just before running into a flaming boss who took advantage of my error to add literal fuel to the fire and burned me alive. In addition to being able to alter the world with your own magic, freak flash freezes, droughts, and other weather events will augment the world around you, causing different groups of enemies to appear, blocking off certain paths through the level and forcing you to take detours, and making the effectiveness of your spells vary greatly depending on those conditions.
Eternal Strands also puts a lot of focus on its story, incorporating yet another surprising mechanic with its visual novel-style dialogue sections seen in the likes of Hades. You’re put in the boots of a warrior named Brynn, who belongs to a ragtag group of renegade magic users set on uncovering the mysteries of the ruined land of the Enclave, and in between slaying giant automatons you’ll develop bonds with these loveable misfits. Between the avian biped Oria, who serves as your mentor, and the anime glasses guy thirst trap Dahm, who you’ll turn to for enchanting, I get the sense this will be one of those feelgood tales of a found family overcoming the odds through the power of friendship. And although it won’t have you making gut-wrenching moral decisions like you’d expect from an RPG or build overt social links typically associated with story-focused adventures, I’m inclined to think we’re in for a pretty memorable tale full of heart.
With a potpourri of elements cherry-picked from a handful of genres I love, Eternal Strands has sold me so far on its potential to create something really unique. With plenty of time left on the clock to refine it further, I find myself overwhelmingly optimistic that Yellow Brick Games might have a hit on their hands with their debut game, and I’ll certainly be following its development closely.
