Platform(s): PS5, Xbox Series X | S, PC
Genre: Action Adventure, Action RPG

The beginning of a new year is usually a slow start for games but sometimes, there are one or two big releases that take advantage of the fairly empty month of January. Yellow Brick Games’ Eternal Strands is one of those, featuring ambitious game mechanics to stand out. Does it success it being the next great action-adventure? Read on to find out.

Jank Central

In Eternal Strands, you play as Brynn, who is a Weaver, an individual armed with powerful magical abilities and weapons. There’s nothing t shout out about the story, but it’s great to see that all dialogue and interactions in the game are fully voiced. That always adds more personality to the characters, making it easier to like and connect to them. There are dialogue choices, and while they don’t impact or alter the story in any way, you can build relationships by interacting with your companions. Your companions are always at the hub level of the game. Similar to the Monster Hunter games, Eternal Strands has a hub level where you accept quests from your companions, as well as upgrade weapons/abilities and whatnot.

From this hub level, you go out into semi-open world levels where you complete quests. Most quests involve either retrieving or obtaining an item or beating a monster. That’s the main appeal of Eternal Strands, which boasts gameplay that combines physics-based magical combat and climbing on top of monsters à la Shadow Of The Colossus. That sounds awesome and all, but the game doesn’t execute it well. General movement and actions in Eternal Strands feel heavy, clunky and janky to control, which makes combat feel like a chore.

For instance, the first magical ability you get is a Force-like power similar to Remedy Entertainment’s Control. However, the one in Eternal Strands feels like the complete opposite of the smooth and powerful ability in Control. When using this ability to pick up random items and throw them, you’ll be grappling with an annoying camera and picking up the items will have a weird lag that makes it feel unintuitive. Casting magic in general feels slow and cumbersome.

Another frustrating mechanic is that Eternal Strands features a very limited inventory. Since the game features crafting as one of its main mechanics, you’re forced to find and scavenge for materials. It’s extremely annoying when you die while out in the outside areas and lose most of what you’ve obtained. Both of these (limited inventory and losing your materials when you die) are outdated mechanics that just make the game more of a hassle to play, they don’t add any gameplay value or make the game any more fun. Oh, and you also can’t grab items or materials when you’re “in combat”. Enemies will also sometimes pursue you to the ends of the earth, so I learnt to avoid enemies and combat altogether. Worst of all, there is no fast travel, so you’ll have to travel back and forth across the levels each and every time, which is a tiresome activity.

The best thing I can say about Eternal Strands is that the game has its moments of epicness when you finally take down a boss battle. However, actually accomplishing that feat just feels too much like an annoying chore, especially when you have to wrestle and grapple with the janky and clunky mechanics of the game. Last but not least, exploration in the game can be a fun The Legend Of Zelda-like experience but unfortunately, that’s all bogged down by the combat.

Mess

Eternal Strands juggles too much but fails it making its fundamental mechanics and combat feel polished and fun.

Pros

• The game has its moments of epicness.
• Exploration can be fun.

Cons

• Janky and clunky movement and combat (climbing monsters don’t feel good, casting magic feels slow)
• The gameplay mechanics don’t mix well with each other.
• Annoying mechanics such as the lack of fast travel, very limited inventory, losing your items when you die and not being able to grab items when “in combat”.

Final Score: 40/100

Review copy provided by the publisher. Eternal Strands is now available for PS5, Xbox Series X | S and PC.