Finding a great game is always better when you weren't expecting it: even better when the release is just around the corner. After seeing a short trailer for Eternal Strands, the magical abilities really caught my attention. I jumped onto Steam and what is this? A demo you say?! After running through the quick tutorial I was already adding this game to my review schedule but then something happened, the demo just kept going. In the end, the segment of the game the developers allowed me to try was two whole areas including two boss fights. This kind of confidence in your product is rare and a good sign for things to come.

Elementary

As a Weaver, you wear the Mantle, a magical cloak that allows you to channel your inherent magic into powerful abilities. There are nine in total but you start off with just one: telekinetic grasp. This allows you to levitate almost anything of modest size into a floating bubble and then hurl it in any direction. You can rip boulders and trees from the earth, then smash them into your enemies. You can even pick up the enemies themselves and pitch them off a cliff, into a raging fire or even into each other. 

The developers at Yellow Brick Studios have made fire and ice very authentic, as they actually make things hot and cold (including you). In the first area I found an ice cave that was just too cold to enter because once it exceeds your cold resistance, damage over time occurs. I used my telekinetic grasp to throw some trees and barrels into a pile and then threw an explosive seed pod to spark my inferno. The fire took hold and propagated realistically, burning the wood and melting the ice around it. This temporary blaze gave me a snug little island of normal ground to get further into the cave. I then quaffed a cold resistance potion to make it the rest of the way to a nice fat treasure chest.

Fire also acts in a very realistic manner, spreading when there is enough fuel at hand and if unchecked will have a whole forest glade ablaze. In one scrap with a fire drake, there were so many instances where I was almost killed just looking in awe at how fire engulfed an entire village. Finally finding a large rock, I used this as a shield but even then I had flames licking at my feet as the inferno was pushed around my granite bulwark. I can't be sure but it does feel like fire would spread much faster in the demo. I do also find that ice crystals are very stubborn to melt, even with your fire-breathing mantle fully powered up. 

I Wonder If… 

Breath of the Wild is one of the most impressive open-world playgrounds ever created because it lets you play with the world itself. Even the puzzles would present themselves as physics-based problems that made you feel like a kid again. This playful approach to gameplay has clearly been an inspiration to the developers of this game as the world is scattered with implicit problem-solving. In one early area, you come across a frozen village which contains a quest objective. After a quick look using a cold-resistant potion even this only gave me a small amount of time. You then learn about a nearby fire drake and by defeating it you can then create your own fire-based strand. 

Creatures that have an elemental bias are also subject to the laws of thermodynamics. Attacking fireflies with fire will do nothing, but getting them to chase me into the frozen village mentioned above or just encasing them in an ice wall spells instant death. My only minor criticism is that I wish the developers had made a few more use cases for this pallet of elemental playthings. For example, setting a large wooden support on fire causes a landslide and opens up a new area. Or maybe saving a village from a forest fire with your ice wall.

I also think, if a sequel ever comes our way, I would love the devs to make a bigger deal out of water. Given how well they have fashioned the rest of the physical world, I assumed there would be dynamic water simulation. Alas, there isn't even any swimming, which is always my favourite thing to do in any adventure game. Obviously these are my own personal ideas on how this game world could evolve an even greater sense of play with the tools they already gave us. 

Crafty Friends

As you rummage and break the various containers you come across you will pick up a whole range of tiered materials. Creatures will also erupt into useful bits once expired and these can all be taken back to your camp for processing. In fact, much of the world is breakable in the name of stuff to make your gear better. Your inventory space is limited at first which leaves you making decisions about which materials you need the most, but very soon camp upgrades will allow these constraints to be alleviated. 

Once you have made good progress with the main quest new camp options will unlock, the most important being the forge. Weapons and items have slots in which you can replace the base materials, each one changing the core stats of the item. Obviously better tier materials give better stats but also some offer a greater bonus in specific areas such as weight, cold or heat resistance. The best part is that when you swap out a material you are refunded the ones you are taking out, promoting a system that allows you to try different builds. There are also blueprints out in the zones to find and these can give you some very cool items such as a two-handed sword with a gravity leap. 

When your mana levels get low you will have to start swinging your weapons or plucking that bow. You have a slot for a sword and shield combo, a two-handed weapon and a bow. Melee combat is simple in design and can feel a little floaty. Yet I also found it to be good enough to have some fun with. There is a block and parry system, headshots will do more damage and there is also a roll for when getting overwhelmed. The team has made sure both melee and magic work well together. 

Colossal Legacy

There is just something really awesome about climbing on gigantic creatures while feebly sticking your sword in the back of their head. Shadow of the Colossus was such a groundbreaking game and it has inspired many developers to look at boss fights differently. This game also takes a leaf out of Link's repertoire and lets you climb pretty much any surface in the game with stamina being the measure of how high. There are some nice touches like how Brynn handles the underside of cliffs and how she can suspend herself using magical strands while she fires her bow from up high. I am just amazed that some kind of gliding mechanic wasn't added but maybe the developers wanted players to feel fear when climbing to dizzy heights?

So of course, this means clambering onto the backs of boss creatures is not only possible but actually a legitimate tactic to bring them down. When hanging on the ruff of the fire drake it was exhilarating to see it take off with me on its back. This got even cooler (I'm not even sorry) when I realised you could freeze its wings to force it back to terra firma. Once you have bested one of these epic fights your codex will get updated with instructions on how to reveal the lotus. Exposing and then yanking this out of the creature will not only kill it instantly but also shower you with high-level loot and gift you an elemental strand. This can then in turn be taken back to your camp and woven into your mantle for new or improved powers. It's fair to say that these boss encounters are incredibly well-made and are the stand-out aspect of the game.

In the Zone

So this is described as an ‘open zone’ game which means each new area feels a bit more snug. This might sound a bit off-putting to those who like neverending horizons but trust me, for this game's central loop it works perfectly. Each time you leave the camp this counts as an expedition and once you return home time forward. There are two-day expeditions and one night: so if you have a quest that needs the moonlight you need to time it well. Zones can change quite a lot between visits, from adverse weather to boss creatures being different. 

Finding an entire zone encased in ice can really scupper your plans if you don't have enough cold resistance as soon you will start to take damage. You do have a one-per-expedition potion that will give you a few minutes of cold or hot protection, but more long term, you need to start making specific armour for these climates. You can also encounter a drought which makes everything in the zone bone dry and one blast of fire can lead to an inferno. If you happen to get the Miasma weather condition then expect to be picking through a sea of deadly Tangle.

Is it PC? 

Eternal Strands is a very good-looking game in most regards and powering this is the mighty Unreal Engine 5. Each time you start a new area the game will entice you with some of the interesting locations ahead. Moss-covered machines of war, teetering towers and vast forest glades whet your appetite for exploration. Even though the range of activities is fairly limited, it is legitimately fun to explore these zones.

As for the music, Austin Wintory is at the helm and does a great job. I wouldn't say any particular piece stood out to me but the score lifts and falls in all the right places. I have already mentioned the judicial application of resources is important for an indie studio and so this seems to have led to a mishmash of storytelling methods. The game opens with a nice cell-shaded animation and at first, I was assuming we would see more of these. Then you arrive at the camp and there is an in-engine cutscene that does a nice job of showing all the band getting settled. Then we flip to another style, where we see an illustration of the characters talking with a voiceover. 

This works but also makes me wonder if the developers started off with bigger ambitions but then ended up cutting back. The voice actors do a great job and pack plenty of personality into their lines, even if the writing is very run-of-the-mill. There are some dialogue choices but these don't change anything and the main quest just serves to take you from one zone to the next. In regards to the game's performance, it runs beautifully on my 3080ti at 1440p, with everything on the highest settings getting 90-120fps. 

Conclusion

re are some aspects of the game that do feel very light, the questing for example doesn’t offer any real kind of rewards and there is no progression system other than the acquisition of powers and materials. While the zones have been lovingly handcrafted, there isn't all that much to do in them other than the boss encounter and fighting smaller enemies. Variation on enemy types does get thin on the ground after the first two zones and this is definitely something I would improve in a sequel. 

One of the things I love about this game is that the developers clearly knew what they wanted to make. Yes, there are some aspects of the game that feel tepid such as the character dialogue and very light RPG elements. Lip sync and facial animations were obviously skimped on and the main character feels very phoned in. However, this is a new game from a brand new studio and so decisions have to be made about where to focus your efforts. As it stands, I think this game puts its strengths front and centre with an admirable effort on the remaining components. The bottom line, this is a lovely title that doesn’t take itself too seriously and makes me very excited about what they work on next.