Esoteric Ebb Review: A Natural 20

In the opening 10 minutes of Esoteric Ebb, I have a conundrum. I play a medieval cleric with limited magical abilities who has just woken up, apparently, in a mortuary. I need to find my stuff and get the heck out of here. Oh, and I don’t remember who I am or what I’m doing here. Great. However, I have a problem. There is a zombie in the way of my stuff, and every time I try to fight him, he beats my ass. This is embarrassing. I could go around him by chewing my way through a mountain of apples, but they are apples stored next to a bunch of dead bodies. A voice in my head called Intelligence tells me I really, for obvious reasons, should not eat those apples, but my Strength says to be a man and tough my way through it. What do I do?

Esoteric Ebb, which released this month, truly feels like you’re playing a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) with a friend of yours as Game Master. Even from the main menu, when players click “continue,” there’s a short “session recap” note signed from “Chris,” the game’s developer. I’m in a virtual Dungeons & Dragons campaign right now with a group of ragamuffins, and I can tell that the DM, Mackey, is simultaneously annoyed and delighted when we go completely off the rails from his expectations.

In the colorful and isometric Esoteric Ebb, I chose to let my character get very fixated on a milk-themed pyramid scheme run by a kobold. The game allows me to do this as part of its design, and I can practically see the developer-as-DM patiently rolling his eyes as he allows me to follow up a lot. It’s this kind of good humor and actual humor that spurred the game forward, making my 35-hour playthrough fly by.

Roll for Initiative

Esoteric Ebb oozes with life. Each and every character that you talk to has something weird, personable, and interesting going on with them.

There’s a giant seagull, for whom I learned Cast Speak With Animals just to talk with, who informed me he was a stalwart protector of the ocean and thus would graciously accept any offerings (i.e., trash) in my possession. A guardian Sphinx in the local tavern was absolutely hammered. I even had a great heart-to-heart with a wall! And those are just some of the NPCs in town! I grew deeply affectionate of the members of my adventuring party (you start off alone, but eventually gain companions). I was especially fond of a lovable talking scarf with teeth, who I would do anything for.

One of the most compelling characters is the protagonist himself, who can tell people to call him by his name (Ragn), by his profession (cleric), or as The Cleric (drama!). At the beginning of the game, he has amnesia, and so the player ends up learning more about the character as he stumbles his way through conversations and remembers his path.

Much like The Cleric, the game’s creator, Sweden-based Christoffer Bodegård, does not succeed alone. The credits are filled with collaborators — sound editors, visual artists, programmers, marketers, and representatives from publisher Raw Fury — who have helped make this game possible. On his personal website, Bodegård shares how he has been working on some version of this CRPG (computer role-playing game) for upward of eight years. I admire the commitment, and Bodegård should be proud of making not just a fun game (because it is indeed very fun), but a meaningful one.

A Potion Cure for the Male Loneliness Epidemic?

I decided to try Esoteric Ebb after reading Zoë Hannah’s excellent review on Mothership about how the game deals quite openly with fears and anxieties of the male identity. The protagonist can have rich, honest, vulnerable, and profound conversations with his party, colleagues, strangers, in prayer, and, most importantly of all, himself.

Threaded throughout the game’s runtime are dozens of poignant comments and revelations about insecurity, kinship, intimacy, manhood, strength, courage, and the constant existential question of, “What does it mean to be a good (hu)man?” There were many moments when I thought things like, Damn. This is so beautiful and I hope men are having more conversations like this.

Esoteric Ebb, for the most part, contains many deftly realized comments around gender. However, that’s also why one throwaway line in the game’s epilogue frustrated me. A female NPC, who the game has acknowledged several times to be somewhat frivolous, reflects in an optional bit of conversation, “The only thing holding women back are women themselves. If we didn’t fight each other so much, we’d already be living in a matriarchy!”

I blinked several times and paused. In what was otherwise a beautiful and touching epilogue, I felt deeply discontent with this one casual, optional conversation. I do not think that is why there is not a matriarchy in the world of Esoteric Ebb or broadly around the world (and it would be a completely separate piece or game or thesis to argue why that is), and in fact, I don’t necessarily even know if that’s what Bodegård thinks. But I can’t tell.

What I do know is that I think there is harm in a line like that, however small. Another line, seen above, claims that groups of women are always prone to petty backstabbing. This showcases an extremely reductive view of female relationships, female identity, and female power dynamics in a world — both in-game and IRL — in which women are part of centuries-old systemic disempowerment. It is especially striking in a game that is otherwise filled with nuance and space for male relationships. Perhaps in isolation, this line wouldn’t be so bad, but for almost every other political or societal comment in the game, the protagonist has voices in their head questioning or pushing back, leaving this as a strangely unchallenged statement.

I was disappointed that Esoteric Ebb can be, on one hand, so rich and thoughtful for the male identity, only to undercut female identity in such a casual passing. I raise this point not to say that the game isn’t worth playing because of this one moment, but because I think its creators can do better.

This line is a small, personal disappointment of mine in an otherwise very insightful and nuanced story, though I also have some critiques that will apply to a broader audience as well.

Take Damage

Esoteric Ebb is a fantastic CRPG, though it does have a few hiccups innate to its genre.

The game can be somewhat long-winded with its lore explanations of this fantastical world. This is not a D&D-game (as Wizards of the Coast would surely have a bone to pick if it were), but as a result, there is a significant amount of world-building to establish this particular universe. For the most part, I was amused when a cacophony of different-colored voices began arguing in my Cleric’s head, but there were many lore dumps that — once I got the gist of things — I just quickly clicked through. There is a lot of deep history, politics, and pain surrounding Norvik, but for the purposes of the game, the Cleric is focused in one district of one city, and the dozens of history drops often feel overwhelming. I admired the care put into writing the background of this place, but I couldn’t take in everything the game wanted to share with me.

Perhaps it’s also because of the content that I got a little burnt out. Esoteric Ebb is centered around a crime happening during the city’s first-ever election. Each of the different voices in the protagonist’s head (Strength, Wisdom, Intelligence, Charisma, Dexterity, and Constitution, which those familiar with D&D will recognize as familiar character sheet details) is attracted to a different political party. As a result, there are many well-written, funny, insightful, effusive political takes. I think it is a smart, brave, and relevant game to release right now, but I also found it a rather heavy experience. I often play video games to get away from the real world, and Esoteric Ebb was perhaps too on the nose for me personally at this time.

Similarly, because the game does such a good job of mimicking the experience of playing a TTRPG, it can sometimes feel staggering with its possibilities. When the protagonist of Esoteric Ebb emerges into the sunlight for the first time, he stumbles into a busy town square where a protest is happening. I got involved immediately, but I wondered, later, if I should have. There are many things to do, try, and find, and it sometimes feels like too much all at once. Furthermore, I couldn’t always figure out the game’s internal logic, where I thought something was possible or should be doable but it wasn’t, and I occasionally had to look up help guides online because I was getting stuck and frustrated after trying everything I could think of.

Lastly, there are some places where the game’s visuals fade to black but the narration and dialogue continue, likely as a limit of what was able to be built into the game. It’s never anything too egregious — a one-off conversation with a stranger in an alley, getting lost in a dark tunnel, talking to a midnight shopkeeper, etc. While I missed out on seeing what that owl-person who is a professional bookbinder looks like, I still enjoyed the writing and can appreciate the economic choices made to focus on getting the player to the next section and not wasting resources on small, one-time interactions.

Esoteric Ebb is not a perfect game, but hey, who or what ever is? And besides, that didn’t stop me from having a great time.

Charisma Bonus

I can easily see myself replaying Esoteric Ebb, something I don’t normally do. My playtime so far has been about 35 hours to complete the main quest and most side quests, though, like with any RPG, your mileage may vary and you could definitely complete the game in closer to 20. Even while writing this review, I found myself missing my silly friends and wondering what more of Bodegård’s great writing I haven’t read yet.

I am curious how playing as a different background would affect the gameplay experience. Players can allot base skill points however they want, but there are some suggested initial builds that come with a little blurb of lore that I found much more interesting. I chose an Arcane Cleric, a supremely gifted but lonely spell-caster who desired connection with others. I gave him a high Charisma build, and I enjoyed watching my cleric awkwardly joke his way successfully — and unsuccessfully — through quests. We were able to talk down a few enemies, which felt good, though the turn-based D&D-style combat was fun, so I didn’t like missing out on too many fights.

There’s no voice acting but the music and sound editing is excellent. When I turned into a corridor in a creepy dungeon, a sharp anxious chord vibrated through my Steam Deck and I shivered. (It plays great on the Deck, by the way! A perfect handheld type game. It’s only available on PC right now, but I imagine the game would be similarly great on the Switch or Switch II if it ever gets a port.)

Throughout it all, Esoteric Ebb is charming. There is delight packed into every corner. Take, for example, an item I stole from a politician’s mansion early in the game — a floating, charmed quill taking notes on parchment. I figured I’d get a cool pen. But it’s much more than that! It is called The Tiny Dictator, and yes, it floats, and not just in the world when I first saw it, but around my character, all the time! Furthermore, the description itself is funny and amusing. Just look at it!

I racked up dozens of curious objects during my playtime, and I enjoyed changing out my kit to best suit the situation I was approaching. My early delight at the Tiny Dictator — and how helpful it was for my charming but physically weak and a little stupid cleric — meant it was almost always equipped. What will I find and try next time? Only my DM Chris knows.

Final Thoughts

Esoteric Ebb will delight fans of fantastical tabletop adventures but who have been craving a single-player experience, especially if you are remotely into medieval stuff, silly stuff, political stuff, and/or male identity stuff. I am not alone in thinking that it’s one of the best successors to Disco Elysium, a game I very much loved. There’s strong potential for Esoteric Ebb to get a sequel, or even some DLC, and I’ll be lining up to try it.

I think Esoteric Ebb is an excellent example of the CRPG genre, though it is pretty deep into its systems and those who are new to this style or don’t enjoy it will be hard-pressed to click with it. But if you do enjoy a TTRPG, you’re gonna love it. I’m confident that, at the end of the year, I’ll be putting it on my list of best indie games.

Score: 8.9/10

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Esoteric Ebb, developed by Christoffer Bodegård and published by Raw Fury, was released on March 6, 2026, for PC (via Steam). MRSP: $24.99. Version reviewed: PC (via Steam Deck).