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 checking it out no matter where you play.

Eternal Strands offers a charming blend of Shadow of the Colossus and Prince of Persia. While it never quite reaches the heights of those classics, it remains an enjoyable experience. The lack of enemy variety and some frustrating camera issues—likely due to budget constraints—are noticeable flaws. However, its fast-paced combat and well-crafted story showcase the developers' passion.

Eternal Strand is an immense start for Yellow Brick. There are so many perfect parts in this tapestry of ideas from other games, and its approach of letting players explore and figure out ways to use their powers is amazing. There are a few glaring flaws here, but I think it is a case of the rest of it being so good that those weaknesses are put into stark contrast.

Eternal Strands tries much, and very nearly all of it comes off. We could do with some faster pace to lore integration, yet if you wish to skip the backstory that attempts to be injected, you can do so. But land in the world created by Yellow Brick Games and you’ll constantly be astounded by what Eternal Strands offers, whether it be during an Epic battle, in the various ways of traversing the land, or with the playing of physics, the thermos and the mechanics at play.

Eternal Strands is a visually great game with solid technical performance, delivering a smooth and immersive experience. However, its biggest drawback at launch is the lack of Spanish language support—an essential feature. The combat system is well-designed, with an engaging elemental mechanic that adds depth to encounters. The story is well-told, though there are moments where the pacing slows down or feels somewhat empty—though these instances are few compared to the overall narrative. Eternal Strands takes inspiration from various genres, blending their best aspects to create a unique adventure. It had the potential to be something truly exceptional, but in the end, it left me feeling like something was missing.

Despite some design flaws, budget limitations, and insufficient localization, the great world-building work and physics-focused gameplay make Eternal Strands a game worth trying out, especially given its Game Pass inclusion; we wish for it to be a success, so to create the basis for more investment for a sequel that will be able to fulfill the great ambitions of the Yellow Brick Games team.

Eternal Strands makes great promises as a semi-open world game with countless possibilities to win every challenge, centered on the huge and diverse bosses that roam the map. In some moments that are no less than amazing, it fulfills these promises and becomes a simply tremendous experience - but most of its playing hours are focused on being a basic RPG only, which is a shame that it does not use its full potential more.

Even some of Eternal Strands’ visible limitations are charming, like its decision to use 2D animation for some cutscenes and to play out conversations using static character portraits instead of animating everyone. Details like that show Yellow Brick Games smartly working within its budget, which blockbuster studios could learn from. I can’t really call Eternal Strands a good game, but it’s still one I’m fond of. In a world of games playing it too safe with franchise tie-ins and cookie-cutter gameplay, seeing a game that’s actually too ambitious for its own good is a welcome change of pace.