Eternal Strands
- January 28, 2025
- Yellow Brick Games
Eternal Strands serves as an incredible debut for Yellow Brick Games, stunning with its incredible visuals and wowing with its great magic system and enthralling gameplay.
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Get on Xbox Games StoreEternal Strands is the debut fantasy action-adventure title from Yellow Brick Games, a new independent studio founded by industry veterans. THE WORLD IS YOUR WEAPON At the heart of Eternal Strands beats a revolutionary new system for gameplay interactions: heat spreads, cold chills, and real-time destruction allows for unprecedented reactivity in combat. Hurl burning tree trunks at enemies with t…
PC
Playstation 5
Windows
Xbox Series X|S
Cloud
PlayStation
Xbox
Xbox Game Pass
Reviews
- Eternal Strands features a dynamic and innovative magic system that enhances combat and exploration, providing a fresh experience in the action-adventure genre.
- The game boasts stunning visuals and great world design, creating an immersive environment filled with lore and engaging boss battles.
- The combat and traversal mechanics are praised for their creativity, allowing players to approach challenges in unique ways, particularly during epic encounters with towering foes.
- Melee combat is often criticized for feeling lackluster and unbalanced, detracting from the overall gameplay experience.
- The story and character writing are seen as flat and uninteresting, with some players finding the dialogue dull and lacking urgency.
- Technical issues such as inconsistent frame rates, clunky controls, and a lack of quality-of-life features (like a minimap) hinder the overall enjoyment of the game.
- gameplay10 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 10 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the title is praised for its innovative mechanics, stunning visuals, and engaging combat and traversal systems, offering a refreshing experience in the genre. However, some players noted issues with clunky controls, frustrating mechanics like limited inventory and lack of fast travel, and occasional tedium in late-game grinding. Overall, while the gameplay loop is satisfying and inventive, it is somewhat hindered by these shortcomings.
“It's an IP I hope to see more of in the future, as its excellent gameplay felt like a breath of fresh air for the genre.”
“Eternal Strands serves as an incredible debut for Yellow Brick Games, stunning with its incredible visuals and wowing with its great magic system and enthralling gameplay.”
“A fun and inventive action RPG that combines a variety of mechanics with some fun characters, spells, and surprisingly in-depth worldbuilding.”
“While gameplay is unique and offers a lot of different ways you can go about any given situation, actually controlling the character is clunky, which creates a lot of inadequate moments while playing.”
“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' detract from the experience.”
“The gameplay loop is fine, but slightly held back by backtracking and some noticeably absent features common to the genre, like a minimap and compass.”
- story9 mentions
- 11 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The story in "Eternal Strands" has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it tedious and lacking a compelling hook, leading to a desire to skip dialogue. While some appreciate the intense action and mechanics, the overall narrative is criticized for dull characters, confusing elements, and a lack of urgency, which detracts from the experience. Additionally, the dialogue often feels out of place, and the pacing suffers due to mandatory grinding sections.
“Eternal Strands is an unforgettable combination of intense action, inventive improvisation, and an engaging story.”
“I wanted to love the story considering this has some old-school Bioware talent behind it, but the lack of a hook in the plot and some very dull characters made me want to skip dialogue often.”
“[a confusing story that takes too long to reveal its depth, dialogue feels out of place with modern slang in a fantasy setting, melee combat lacks balance and impact, feeling underwhelming, limited exploration rewards with repetitive resource gathering]”
“[mandatory grinding sections in the main story hurt its pace]”
- music3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received high praise, with many reviewers highlighting its beautiful and immersive quality, particularly noting the killer soundtrack by Austin Wintory. It complements the fantastic combat and traversal mechanics, enhancing the overall experience of exploration and interaction with the game's environment and giant foes.
“The exploration and levels are amazing, with a killer soundtrack that enhances the experience.”
“The combat invites creativity, complemented by a beautiful soundtrack by Austin Wintory.”
“The game features fantastic combat and traversal mechanics, along with a great music score.”
- grinding3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players note that while the grinding in the game can become tedious, particularly in late-game missions, the engaging mechanics and massive monster battles provide a satisfying gameplay loop. However, mandatory grinding sections in the main story detract from the overall pacing.
“Mandatory grinding sections in the main story hurt its pace.”
“Despite a little tedium creeping into its late-game grinding missions, it manages to weave an unbelievable number of mechanics into a cohesive gameplay loop that feels very satisfying.”
“Look past the tedious story and eternal strands; features some brilliant massive monster battles, especially when you unlock some great magic to use on them.”
- graphics1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Eternal Strands impresses as a debut title for Yellow Brick Games, featuring stunning visuals that enhance its engaging gameplay and innovative magic system.
“Eternal Strands serves as an incredible debut for Yellow Brick Games, stunning with its incredible visuals and wowing with its great magic system and enthralling gameplay.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its stunning visual presentation and vibrant open world, complemented by smooth performance on both Xbox Series X and PC. Players appreciate the satisfying and diverse magic abilities, as well as the fantastic boss fights, indicating strong overall optimization.
“The stunning visual presentation and vibrant, colorful open world make for an immersive experience, while the smooth performance on both Xbox Series X and PC ensures that gameplay is seamless.”
“The diverse and satisfying magic abilities add depth to the gameplay, allowing for creative strategies during the fantastic boss fights.”
“Overall, the optimization of the game enhances the enjoyment, providing a fluid experience that showcases the game's impressive graphics and mechanics.”
Critic Reviews
Eternal Strands
Eternal Strands does some really cool things but is held back by some baffling design decisions, lackluster writing, and melee combat that doesn't ever click.
64%Eternal Strands
Eternal Strands is a fantastic first title from Yellow Brick Games. It’s an IP I hope to see more of in the future, as its excellent gameplay felt like a breath of fresh air for the genre. It’s out Day One on Game Pass and even in this bloated 2025 release schedule I wholeheartedly recommend
82%Eternal Strands Review — Meaningful Magic
Eternal Strands serves as an incredible debut for Yellow Brick Games, stunning with its incredible visuals and wowing with its great magic system and enthralling gameplay.
100%
