Eternal Strands Reviews
Eternal Strands blends action, exploration, and magic in an adventure full of ambitious ideas. Its battles against massive foes and spell system stand out, but uneven execution and an unfulfilling exploration hold the experience back.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The game world is brought to life through the lore, and there’s a sense of historic high-magic and epic scale that matches the sweeping musical score, not to mention the pristine presentation of the game engine that provides a smooth experience. But, whilst the larger-scale enemies provide memorable battles, the moment-to-moment combat and incremental sense of hindered character progression makes this feel a very ‘by the numbers’ experience that doesn’t reward or satisfy individuality in playstyles, and forces a more linear approach to the game.
Eternal Strands is a triumph of game design, blending the best elements of Monster Hunter and Shadow of the Colossus into a unique and unforgettable experience. Its rich narrative, innovative combat system, and breathtaking world make it a must-play for fans of the action-adventure genre. Yellow Brick Games has set a high bar with their debut title, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next. The Enclave awaits, and it’s a journey you won’t want to miss.
The best thing I can say about Eternal Strands is that the game has its moments of epicness when you finally take down a boss battle. However, actually accomplishing that feat just feels too much like an annoying chore, especially when you have to wrestle and grapple with the janky and clunky mechanics of the game.
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.
In the end, Eternal Strands is a good game with good ideas, but it doesn't have the right structure to make the most of them, stretching its use until it becomes completely repetitive and compromising the strength of its dynamic action proposal with magic and physics. While the free-climbing exploration, the chaos of magic and the confrontation with colossal enemies offer a lot of fun, especially for those who want an action RPG that breaks away from the soulslike trend, what will make the difference in the long run of the campaign will be the involvement with the detailed world-building narrative and each player's perception of the impact of repetition when enjoying the game.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
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.
Eternal Strands won't set the world on fire, but you'll have fun doing it yourself while using your magic powers.
Review in Unknown | Read full review
Eternal Strands is a game that manages to be both surprising and disappointing: boss fights are thrilling, but the same can’t be said for basic enemies; magic adds depth to combat, but weapons don’t match this depth; the story lacks epic moments, but the characters are very interesting. It’s the kind of indie game that needs to be taken in stride to fully enjoy its potential, as long as you overlook its flaws that might hinder the fun in the long run.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Eternal Strands is a bold title that challenges you to dream big. With its changing environment, new gaming methodologies, and mixed systems, it stands out in a sea of crowded action-adventure titles. For all its weaknesses, such as floaty fighting and shallow variety in its enemies, its strengths dominate its faults. For high-fantasy dreamers and investigation and creation games, the game is a thrill.
Eternal Strands is ultimately a game about hope in the face of devastation, about finding beauty in ruins, and about the choices we make when survival comes at a terrible cost. It's an experience that combines spectacular moments of grandeur with quiet periods of reflection, wrapped in systems that are both engaging to master and meaningful to the story being told.
Eternal Strands dazzles with breathtaking visuals and thrilling boss fights, but its convoluted story, underwhelming gameplay elements, and wrong design choices hold it back from reaching its full potential.
Eternal Strands begins with a bang and does its best to keep you engaged through its 40-hour campaign. The inspirations the new IP pulls from are wonderfully celebrated and elevate them as few others have.
Eternal Strands is a game that dares to mix RPG, survival, and management elements in a rich and challenging world. It shines in its battles against giant foes, its creative use of magic, and its visual presentation. However, the slow progression, excessive resource gathering, and lackluster soundtrack may put some players off.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Eternal Strands is a wonderful game. There are numerous physical interactions between objects, which means that even when tackling the same task, you can complete it in many different ways. Although there are some signs of budget constraints, the quality of execution surpasses many AAA games that proudly wield that label. It's not perfect, as the backtracking really got to me. However, considering all the feelings derived from the gameplay, I had an excellent time. I can only congratulate Yellow Brick Games on their fantastic debut. I hope we will see a sequel.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Eternal Strands is a game that has many ideas, but they are hindered by poor execution. Perhaps the biggest flaw of the title is overindulgence, and trimming some of these many ideas and references within its own budget could have helped deliver a better result.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Eternal Strands does not reach the same heights as its inspirations Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Shadow of the Colossus, and Monster Hunter. It is nonetheless an ambitious debut from developer Yellow Brick Games that impresses with its worldbuilding and characters, fun boss battles, intuitive and experimental magic and physics system, and colorful presentation.
Eternal Strands has a few nice ideas and tons of potential with its robust magic system. The giant boss fights are a definite stand-out but all of this is hampered time and again by basic gameplay design that usurps the fun. In an effort to try and add in this magical physics system, the trade-off is very limited stamina, big magic cooldowns and an inability to level up base stats. That’s before mentioning some of the performance issues and pretty mindless side quests to pad the run-time. There are elements here that make Eternal Strands a super fun game, but after completing everything this one has to offer across its 25 hour run-time, it’s a disappointingly mixed experience overall, which is a real shame.
It’s early in 2025, but this game is without a doubt, my game of the month. While it’s shaping up to be an amazing year in gaming, Eternal Strands is kicking off the year with a strong start. The game is a self proclaimed labor of love and it shows in every way. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when I started and at first I was worried this would just be a bit of Monster Hunter and a bit of the latest Zelda games with just a dash of storytelling.