Eternal Strands is the first title from Yellow Brick Games, an indie studio with veteran talent led by Mike Laidlaw, best known for his work on Jade Empire, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect. It’s a world filled with magic, adventure, and fantastical creatures challenging you from the moment you pick up the game.
While Eternal Strands is packed full of lore and memorable character quirks, dialogue, and interactions, there isn’t a strong throughline tying it all together. You may quickly find yourself running around its world, collecting new materials to upgrade your gear, only to ignore the quests critical to the actual plot.
The main story drags forward out of necessity, and there’s an inconsistent pacing of plot versus character development. There’s lots to explore within unique environments, but the game loop of fighting mostly the same enemies can get boring quickly. What kept me hooked, though, was its fun thermophysics-based combat system, in which enemies can be frozen, scorched, or sent flying high in the sky when fire and ice combine.
As it stands, Eternal Strands is a fun game, but one that leaves you wondering what could have been with more polish.
A Band of Wandering Sorcerers
Eternal Strands opens on a band of Weavers, nomadic sorcerers who are chasing their dream of entering their cultural homeland, the Enclave. Once home to the world’s most prestigious Weavers, the Enclave has been mysteriously sealed off for decades by a dangerous veil.
Once lost, the hope of entering this holy land returns when Oria, founder of the Weaver band, confirms a secret entrance granting the group safe passage. She appoints Brynn, a fearless young woman, to lead the group through the dangers that await them. Together, they manage to sneak inside the legendary homeland only to find themselves trapped inside.
Soon, the Weavers learn about the treacherous state of the Enclave. They encounter malfunctioning robots named Arkons and discover cryptic information about the Enclave’s inhabitants, the Hearthsiders. Eventually, the band’s time runs short as the veil that seals the Enclave threatens to expand and destroy their safe haven. Thus, the group must learn to harness the resources of their new temporary home, work together with the Hearthsiders, and solve the problems plaguing the Enclave.
Squandered Possibilities
The story sounds promising but unfolds linearly, without the layers of complication and intrigue you might expect given the detailed worldbuilding. The main quest contains only a limited explanation of what’s happening to the characters, largely focusing on the next event. Any character development can be found in the side quests, which do the heavy lifting of exploring motives, painting personalities, and filling in backstories.
A perfect example of this comes during one of the pivotal moments of the game, when a certain character sacrifices themself to prevent an enemy invasion. The only memorable exposure to this character is short-lived in the main story. You are warned about a point of no return before you reach this point, but I didn’t feel the disclaimer emphasized enough what (or who, rather) was being lost. It wasn’t obvious that the side quests up until then detailed this character’s backstory and the depth of their relationships within the world. Without that context, the character’s death lacked impact.
Perhaps this hints at a larger misunderstanding in how we view side quests—almost as optional distractions. But in Eternal Strands, these quests are essential to understanding the world. Completing them rounds out your experience and, ultimately, the story. Sadly, the average player likely won’t realize this.
In Eternal Strands, these [side] quests are essential to understanding the world.
The game may be led by former BioWare leadership, but don’t come in expecting the next Mass Effect. Branching dialogue exists throughout, but doesn’t provide any impact on the story. Too often, characters recap existing information or reiterate what you already know. Instead, I enjoyed the offhand, uncaptioned exchanges between characters while walking inside the main encampment. Although brief, they offered insight into how characters were feeling, or their questions about recent events.
As for our main character, Brynn is fearless and fierce, but we don’t see her vulnerability or watch her develop. She always knows what to do, even in the most dire of situations. You see her support so much of the band and provide for them, but you don’t see her inner world. There’s an interesting, if clichéd, moment where she and the main villain try to get in each other’s heads. Unfortunately, it shows up late into the story and doesn’t amount to much. In the end, you’re left hungry for a better-developed story in a world that has a book’s worth of lore.
The Power of a Weaver
Brynn wields the power of ice, fire, and kinetics, which is like manipulating or defying gravity (sing the song if you know it) in her Weaver kit. You start the game with skills like “Ice Wall” and “Weaver’s Grasp” (telekinesis), and develop further abilities as you defeat large boss enemies known as “Great Foes.”
The first time you meet these enemies, you must chip away at their health by discovering where they have vulnerabilities. Upon their defeat, you receive a “strand” which can be placed inside Brynn’s Mantle—a magical cloak—to add a new ability. Subsequent encounters involve extracting these strands by analyzing how these epic bosses channel their power and reading recommendations from your companions to see where their magic fluctuates.
The game’s thermophysics work well, depending on the element. Ice magic feels “right,” whether you’re blocking or encasing enemies. Fire consistently destroys everything, yet the damage output never felt consistent to me. (I did love the “Dragon’s Breath” spell, as it’s the closest I’ve gotten to experiencing the “Katon” fireball jutsu from Naruto.)
Kinetic magic took a while to get the hang of. The telekinesis ability “Weaver’s Grasp” is too slow for most enemies; even upgraded (each spell has three levels), I only felt confident using it to block incoming attacks. I also never quite got the jump technique down that was advertised in the game’s pre-release marketing.
In the end, you’re left hungry for a better-developed story in a world that has a book’s worth of lore.
Other than magic, Brynn makes use of a sword and shield, a two-handed weapon, and a bow, all of which have magical variants you can craft by gathering materials out in the world. (The ice weapons felt the most fun.) In an interesting twist, you essentially customize a loadout before leaving your basecamp. You can switch out armors and weapons you’ve crafted, tailoring them to the enemies you expect to face. You’ll even encounter weather conditions that augment or weaken your elemental prowess.
Gearing Up for Battle
Unfortunately, Eternal Strands also suffers from some combat woes. Pacing is inconsistent. Brynn’s sword strikes feel fast, but shielding is slow, and parry windows are equally awkward. There’s a weird lull between enemies deciding to strike and the player deciding when to parry. Once you’re off rhythm, enemies pounce and your health bar takes a nosedive.
In a missed opportunity, there’s no way to simultaneously equip a bow and your melee options. Though most of the game can be hacked through without the bow, its damage is excellent on flying enemies and the most fun I’ve had shooting at a dragon since Skyrim. The two-handed sword, meanwhile, is meant only for group encounters. It’s a different way of using a slow weapon, so don’t expect to abuse enemies without elemental combos as the knockback isn’t designed for that.
Despite combat issues, innovation is the best weapon to overcome them, and this is where Eternal Strands shines. I found my favorite combinations the more time I spent running around the map beating down enemies.
Discovering the best ways to defeat enemies affects the game’s crafting system as well. This system rewards different drops based on how an enemy is destroyed. For example, metal opponents burned at high temps yield rarer metals, while fur-based enemies can be frozen for better leathers.
Taking a cue from Breath of the Wild, every surface in Eternal Strands is climbable, offering a great way to explore the limits of the map and quickly scale to new areas. The stamina bar felt right for climbing, but during fights often ran out, weakening your swings and preventing escape.
The Recipe for Magic Is Almost There
Eternal Strands uses three different methods to tell its story. You have animation, 3D cutscenes, and in-game text dialogue with 2D-rendered characters. I could never tell which was going to be used next, but the latter felt the most polished.
In general, “more polish” is the recurring critique I had throughout this experience. The writing of the lore and worldbuilding is well done, particularly in side quests and the game’s journal, but you’ll never encounter these details unless you go down those additional gameplay paths or read a lot. As a result, a playthrough of Eternal Strands can run you anywhere from 20 to 40 hours, depending on how much you’re willing to explore.
Granted, there’s plenty of incentive to seek out that extra content. The thermophysic elements work great once you take the time to understand them, even if it takes a lot of time to uncover those conditions. Sadly, it doesn’t help that movement in Eternal Strands can be clunky. After a few minutes in the tutorial, I immediately wanted to customize the controls to my liking. There are only two controller layout options, and neither felt quite right.
The voice acting, on the other hand, is superb. It’s some of the best I’ve heard in a video game and conveys much of the game’s emotional depths. Sadly, with the paper-thin main story, it doesn’t get its limelight.
Final Thoughts: Looking Toward a Sequel
The team at Yellow Brick covered a lot of ground in this first game, both in scope and physically in game with the number of areas available to explore. They did a lot of good things within their budget but I would love for them to scale back, hone the rougher edges, and focus on making them great.
The world of Eternal Strands is full of charming, diverse characters overcoming personal challenges as they navigate their life callings and their responsibility to make their world a better place. I just wish we could have seen more of those threads in the actual main story.
If you’re a fan of experimenting in combat with a charming cast, I recommend Eternal Strands for you. The story won’t move you, and the combat, while at times challenging, isn’t anything new. But if you’re curious, you’ll find the magic that keeps you coming back.
Score: 7.3/10
Eternal Strands, developed and published by Yellow Brick Games, was released on January 28, 2025, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. MSRP: $39.99.
Disclaimer: A review code was provided by the publisher.
