Eternal Strands Review – Magic Weaver

Eternal Strands weaves collectively a deeply intriguing scene from its earliest moments, stitching collectively an image of a fantasy world constructed across the idea of magic emulating threads. It’s a world I needed to dive into from the leap, if solely to uncover extra of the way it got here to be and what the cultures of the completely different places are like. And as a lot because the worldbuilding retains that surprise with incredible-looking environments that make for participating play areas for the physics-based magic system, the beat-for-beat particulars of Eternal Strands’ story aren’t almost as rewarding to unravel.Eternal Strands’ story too usually hits on acquainted fantasy tropes, corresponding to an inexplicable magical catastrophe that modified every part and a corrupting drive that seemingly has no weak point and should be prevented in any respect prices. But the historical past that story is constructed on provides a semblance of life to the world, constructing memorable NPCs that you simply wish to come again to time and again to speak about what of their life led them to the place they’re now, and portray a somber undertone to the world that begs to be uncovered by its detailed lore notes and optionally available collectibles.The world-building in Eternal Strands is excellent.I particularly love how Eternal Strands packages points of its historical past so that they’re considered by the artwork of weaving–not a typical alternative for action-adventure video games. Concepts like spells are recontextualized, remodeling from arcane runes into style selections. You can largely keep away from the historic exposition when you’d fairly spend your time swinging a sword and spewing fireplace, however there’s some nice writing to uncover right here for lore hounds.The moment-to-moment of the present-day narrative is much less compelling, nevertheless, standing out in stark distinction to the way more fascinating historic occasions that led as much as it. The principal characters are memorable sufficient, and conversations with them are delivered to life with nice voice acting–Rebecca Hanssen as Casmyn is a notable spotlight, giving a guarded edge to the mushy phrases of the horned quartermaster that makes you wish to get to know her extra (and her romance arc is so candy!).You strategy this forged as Brynn, the just lately anointed scout who ventures out into the wilds past the security of her get together’s camp to seek out assets, search harmful places, deal with threats, and uncover the origin of a puzzling calamity. Her character is formed based mostly on the choices you select throughout dialogue with different characters, permitting you to considerably curate Brynn’s always-positive disposition and plucky angle to be extra assertive, jovial, or stoic, and these selections are mirrored in how the opposite characters regard her, with probably the most substantial impact being the choice to romance a few of them.You can considerably curate Brynn’s character by dialogue choices with buddies at camp.The most fascinating facet of Eternal Strands is its magic system. Brynn can command the forces of gravity, ice, and fireplace, and each the world and enemies inside it react to how you utilize these powers. At their easiest, they permit Brynn to throw, freeze, and ignite enemies, however they can be used extra strategically to each struggle and discover in new methods. Brynn’s gravity powers can be utilized to propel herself skyward, for instance, or choose up a dropped sword to violently skewer an enemy, or she will be able to use ice to freeze the air and create a short lived bridge to cross a spot or sew an invisible enemy to the bottom to make them simpler to hit. In the identical respect, Brynn’s magic can have an effect on the world as you think about it would–fire magic can soften elements of the world coated in frost, ice magic can freeze water, and gravity magic can stack just about something that is not nailed down.This magic system is at its greatest when Brynn contends with the colossal threats that patrol every surroundings, starting from fire-breathing dragons to lumbering constructs. These highly effective, boss-like enemies should be strategically dealt with, usually having weak factors that you want to clamber up the monsters’ our bodies to achieve. I solely defeated a fire-breathing drake after I managed to climb up its leg onto its again and began swinging Brynn’s sword on the one place its flaming breath couldn’t attain, utilizing ice magic to freeze its wings in place when it determined to take off in order that I might ship it again to earth. And I managed to defeat one of many armored constructs by freezing its foot to the bottom, utilizing gravity magic to tear away the plate armor round its torso, after which utilizing Brynn’s gravity magic on herself to fling her upwards to immediately get to the revealed weak level.The giant boss-like enemies roaming every space are probably the most rewarding challenges Eternal Strands provides.Optional items of lore on these titanic monsters may be uncovered whereas exploring the world, however even when you do put within the legwork to higher perceive how these monsters may behave or be extra simply defeated forward of time, there’s nonetheless a must react to their habits and give you new plans on the fly to take them down. There’s a satisfying sense of victory to taking these behemoths down, and intuiting a brand new plant of assault within the second and seeing my labors end in success was a constant supply of pleasure. These usually lengthy hunts are definitely worth the effort too, as every profitable kill leads to a small explosion of colourful high-level supplies that you need to use to craft higher gear and weapons, in addition to the required elements to weave new spells or improve your current skills.Fights towards the conventional wildlife or human-sized constructs aren’t almost as rewarding. Beyond her magic, Brynn additionally has a sword, defend, and bow, and she will be able to unlock a two-handed greatsword–these instruments can care for the smaller threats simply with a bit button mashing. About three hours into Eternal Strands, I killed a dragon, used the harvested supplies to craft a bow that would deal fireplace harm, and just about managed to keep away from fight towards regular enemies after that by burning every part alive from a distance. It made traversing by most of every surroundings trivial, as I might snipe most enemies earlier than Brynn obtained shut sufficient for something to register her presence. Only the larger-than-life monsters continued to pose any form of problem necessitating me to consider survival and how one can struggle.As you gather assets, you’ll be able to craft new gear and weapons.Each locale that Brynn visits is fantastically realized, from stoic and empty cities to vibrant and noisy jungles. Just a few of the environments afford Brynn the prospect to make use of her magic–specifically gravity and ice–to navigate them vertically, leaping between rooftops or towers and going off the crushed path to find a secret or two. Rarely, nevertheless, are these locations troublesome to navigate, even when the random climate system introduces a hazard like poisonous miasma. They’re in-built a largely linear style, funneling Brynn from one facet to the opposite to achieve her subsequent goal, and though there are occasions when the scout has a number of missions energetic directly, it by no means feels such as you’re really getting an opportunity to discover these areas. For a sport that fashions its protagonist as a much-needed scout paving the best way ahead, Brynn spends an terrible lot of Eternal Strands following the directives of others and being advised the place she will be able to go as quickly as she unlocks a brand new space to discover. For as a lot as Eternal Strands frees you to follow your company in taking down the colossal monsters that dot its harmful world, it limits you in virtually each regard.Eternal Strands is a simple action-adventure sport. The physics-based magic system provides numerous enjoyable and satisfyingly strategic vitality to Brynn’s common run-ins with colossal enemies, however smaller threats hardly ever rise above being a tedious hindrance. And though the historical past of the world is fascinating to uncover and conversations with Brynn’s get together members a repeatedly full of life delight, the precise moment-to-moment story beats do not feel all that compelling. It’s a disgrace that Eternal Strands’ lows drag elements of its expertise down, as a result of the narrative and gameplay have clear highs that might excel in a sport that wasn’t holding them again.