Release Date: January 28, 2025
Platform: PC
Developer: Yellow Brick Games
Price: $40 / £33.50
In a world filled with sprawling open-world action RPGs that often sacrifice depth for size, Eternal Strands takes a different approach, offering a tightly packed, meticulously crafted experience that’s both thrilling and immersive. Developed by Yellow Brick Games, this title delivers dynamic combat, an engaging world of discovery, and a captivating story all tied together by elemental magic, environmental storytelling, and a focus on player creativity. After spending several hours with the game, I can confidently say that Eternal Strands is a standout in the genre, offering a refreshing break from the usual formula.
A Beautiful and Engaging World to Explore
One of the most striking aspects of Eternal Strands is its world design. The game’s environments are lush, varied, and filled with purpose. While many modern RPGs opt for sprawling open-world environments that often lead to a sense of emptiness or repetition, Eternal Strands takes a more focused approach. The world is divided into distinct zones that are all connected to a central hub, each offering a unique set of challenges, enemies, and environmental conditions. This structure allows the developers to carefully craft each area, filling it with details, lore, and moments of discovery that make every zone feel meaningful.
Exploration in Eternal Strands is rewarding, and there’s always something new to find around every corner. Whether it’s a hidden chest on a rocky outcrop, a strange magical artifact, or a long-abandoned ruin that holds the secrets of a forgotten civilization, there’s always something beckoning you to dive deeper into the world. The game cleverly integrates exploration with its core gameplay mechanics, encouraging you to experiment with your environment as you uncover these secrets.
The game’s visual design is stunning. From towering ivy-covered ruins to vast landscapes, each area has a distinct feel that contributes to the sense of wonder. There’s an impressive amount of attention to detail in the environments, from the textures of the rocks to the shimmering light that pours through the trees. The weather plays a huge role in the game’s atmosphere, and it’s not just a cosmetic effect—climatic conditions dramatically affect how you navigate the world and tackle combat encounters.
Elemental Magic and Combat: Dynamic and Creative
At the heart of Eternal Strands lies its combat system, which revolves around elemental magic. Players have access can use in clever and creative ways to both defeat enemies and manipulate the environment. It’s a system that encourages experimentation and rewards you for thinking outside the box. Rather than merely having abilities that are used for damage or utility, these elemental powers have a sense of flexibility that allows you to approach encounters from multiple angles.
The most straightforward of the powers is fire, which can be used to deal damage over time or ignite enemies and environmental hazards. It’s a tool that can be used both offensively and tactically, whether you’re setting traps for enemies to walk into or just lighting up a pathway to make your way through a dark cavern. Ice, on the other hand, offers the ability to freeze enemies in place or even create bridges to cross large chasms or escape from danger. The cleverness of using ice to bridge gaps or to slow down enemies, creating a strategic advantage, feels rewarding every time it works. But what really sets Eternal Strands apart from other RPGs is how seamlessly the game encourages you to combine your abilities with the environment.
For example, you can set flammable objects on fire and use them to trigger explosions, cause massive environmental damage, or even defeat large groups of enemies. Telekinesis lets you move large objects, smash enemies with debris, or even pick up and hurl furniture like tables and chairs as makeshift weapons. It’s one of the most satisfying mechanics in the game, offering a surprising amount of depth and freedom. In the heat of battle, you might find yourself tossing a barrel at a group of enemies, setting it on fire, and then freezing a foe in place before running in to deal the killing blow.
These powers aren’t just tools for defeating enemies; they are part of the world itself. There’s an inherent synergy between the environment and your abilities that feels natural and rewarding. The game never forces you into using specific mechanics in certain ways, but instead, it invites you to experiment with your surroundings. I found myself constantly in awe of how certain objects could interact with my magic in ways I hadn’t even anticipated. It’s that sense of freedom and experimentation that makes Eternal Strands’s combat so satisfying—it’s not just about brute force, but about clever thinking and creative problem-solving.
Boss Fights: Epic, Challenging, and Rewarding
The boss fights in Eternal Strands are a true highlight, and they serve as some of the most memorable encounters in the game. These massive monsters, ranging from towering wyverns to formidable drakes, require careful planning and strategy to bring down. Each encounter is a spectacle in itself, with large, dynamic battles that make you feel like you’re truly up against a formidable foe. The game doesn’t just throw big enemies at you for the sake of spectacle; these creatures have unique weaknesses, and each requires a different approach to defeat.
One of the coolest aspects of these fights is that they aren’t just about dealing damage—many of the larger bosses can be climbed and attacked from specific weak points. You’ll need to scale their bodies, dodge massive attacks, and expose weak spots to deal real damage. It’s a thrilling experience, and it’s made even more satisfying by the use of elemental magic. For example, you might freeze an enemy’s wings to ground it, or use fire to burn off its armor, making it easier to land hits on its exposed weak spots.
These bosses also feature multiple phases, which keeps the encounters feeling fresh and exciting. You’ll face off against an enemy in one stage, only to have it change tactics in the next, forcing you to adapt quickly and think on your feet. Each victory is rewarding not just because of the materials or gear you gain, but because of the sheer thrill of taking down such powerful foes.
It’s worth noting that the game doesn’t hold your hand during these boss encounters. The difficulty is real, and you’ll need to pay attention to the boss’s attack patterns, environmental hazards, and the specific elemental advantages you have at your disposal. That said, the difficulty never feels punishing. There’s always a way to outsmart the opponent, and the joy of overcoming these massive monsters is one of the most satisfying aspects of Eternal Strands.
Crafting and Customization: Tailor Your Gear to Your Playstyle
Another strength of Eternal Strands lies in its crafting and customization system. As you explore the world and defeat enemies, you’ll gather materials that can be used to craft new weapons, armor, and tools. Unlike many RPGs that make crafting feel like a tedious grind, Eternal Strands makes it feel like an integral part of the experience. The materials you gather are divided into broader categories—like “hardstone,” “beast hide,” and “elemental shards”—and you don’t need to farm specific items to craft the gear you need. Instead, the focus is on ensuring you have enough of the right types of materials to make the equipment you want.
This crafting system works in tandem with the game’s elemental magic. You can forge armor that offers protection against specific environmental conditions or create weapons imbued with fire or ice. Each piece of equipment is customizable, and the decisions you make during crafting have both practical and aesthetic consequences. For example, choosing thicker furs will provide insulation against cold climates, while rare ores might offer you stronger, more durable armor. The visual design of your gear also changes depending on the materials you select, making each piece of equipment feel personal and unique to your character.
While there’s certainly room for min-maxing and optimizing your gear to suit specific encounters, the game does a great job of allowing you to play in a way that feels true to your style. You don’t need to craft the “perfect” set of armor to succeed—skillful combat and creative use of your abilities are just as important. The crafting system is deep but accessible, and it adds another layer of customization that helps you feel more invested in your character and the world.
Characters and Story: Deep, Relatable, and Heartfelt
The story of Eternal Strands is another area where the game shines. As the protagonist, you are part of a group of explorers who have been sent to investigate the strange, magical phenomena occurring in the world. Your journey is guided by Oria, the group’s leader, whose voice rings in your ear through a magical video link. Oria is a fascinating character—she’s tough, experienced, and capable, but there’s an underlying awkwardness to her interactions with others. She’s a leader who struggles with how to connect with her team, which makes her moments of emotional vulnerability all the more endearing.
The other characters in your camp are similarly well-developed. The quartermaster, for example, is a logistical genius who knows what each team member needs before they even ask. But as the story unfolds, you begin to realize that even these seemingly straightforward characters have their own complexities and desires. The dialogue is rich and layered, and it’s these personal interactions that make the world of Eternal Strands feel lived-in and authentic.
The game’s storytelling is subtle, with much of the narrative revealed through environmental details and character interactions rather than through traditional cutscenes. It’s a method of storytelling that invites you to pay attention to the world around you, to uncover the mysteries hidden within the ruins and abandoned buildings you explore. The more you dig into the world’s history, the more you uncover about your team and the challenges they face.
A Living World: Weather, Magic, and Atmosphere
One of the most intriguing aspects of Eternal Strands is the dynamic weather and magical conditions that change the world around you. Each zone in the game is affected by extreme, unnatural weather patterns—freezing cold temperatures, blistering heatwaves, or poisonous miasma that forces you to either adapt or suffer. These magical swings in temperature and environmental conditions aren’t just for show—they significantly impact how you approach both exploration and combat.
The weather can make traversing a zone more dangerous, as fire might spread uncontrollably in a drought, or the freezing temperatures might slow your movement and make combat harder. These conditions force you to think carefully about when and how to approach certain areas. It’s a fantastic way of making the world feel alive and reactive, and it adds another layer of strategy to the game.
Conclusion: A Must-Play for Fans of Action RPGs
Eternal Strands is a magical, action-packed RPG that delivers on all fronts. Its deep, dynamic combat system encourages experimentation and creativity, while its carefully crafted world is filled with secrets and stories waiting to be uncovered. The game’s bosses are some of the most thrilling encounters in recent memory, and the crafting system offers a satisfying level of customization without ever feeling like a grind. But perhaps the game’s greatest strength lies in how it makes you feel connected to its world and characters, inviting you to become a part of something greater than just a series of quests.
With its combination of engaging combat, intricate world-building, and a heartfelt story, Eternal Strands is a must-play for any fan of action RPGs. It’s a game that rewards exploration, creativity, and skill, and it’s one of the most enjoyable and memorable RPG experiences I’ve had in a long time.
Pros:
- Deep and creative combat system.
- Stunning world design with meaningful exploration.
- Epic and challenging boss fights.
- Engaging characters and story.
- Dynamic weather and environmental conditions that affect gameplay.
- Satisfying crafting and customization system.
Cons:
- Single-player only, no multiplayer options.
- Some players might find certain combat encounters repetitive if not approached strategically.
Verdict: 9.5/10 – Eternal Strands is a standout action RPG that brings fresh ideas to the table while offering a deeply satisfying experience from start to finish. If you’re looking for a game that lets you experiment, think creatively, and experience epic battles, this one is a must-play.
