Have you ever played Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, Genshin Impact, Immortals Fenyx Rising, and (well, you get the picture) and thought "Give me more!" ?? Well, I have and Eternal Strands sort of delivers on this. I say sort of because while it does carry over some puzzle mechanics and the ever so frustrating stamina systems, it doesn't quite feel like those games. I mean this in the sense that the world is not open and instead replaced by zones that you'll come to explore time and time again. While I'm okay with a more linear approach, it does take its toll after about 20 or so hours of visiting the same places or finding the same enemies with no true rewards other than a few collectibles here and there.
The storyline of Eternal Strands is deep but left me overall not fully invested. You follow Brynn, a fellow Weaver (magic user, essentially) and her friends and comrades who have been cast aside by the world and are now looking for redemption for an event called The Surge. Brynn is great but I found myself not as interested in the rest of the cast or even the plan to figure out what called the big ole Surge in the first place.
So what makes Eternal Strands fun?
Well, the powers, of course! Eternal Strands blesses you as a magic user and you get to have some pretty creative ways to explore and complete puzzles. In the very beginning area, you are shown how you can use some of these. For example, dastardly fire blocking your path? Take your ice magic and create a safe new one for you to cross. Walls in your way? No with telekinesis! Pick up an exploding flower and burst your way through! It really is fun to see what sort of combinations you do on the environment as well as your foes.
Do not expect Elden Ring levels of exploration or secrets here though as it remains to be pretty barebones in terms of where you can go and what you'll find. A lot of hidden Vitality Potions and armor materials are what is strewn across the land. I ended up not doing my typical "explore every nook and cranny" approach and instead focused on the path and bad guys ahead.
The combat and puzzles were a joy to play through and it is easily one of the main reasons to recommend the game. You do have a variety of enemies to fight with and your weapons/armor can be crafted to combat them (as well as the weather). I had a good time using my powers to defeat the early enemies in style since they can be easily taken down with swords or your bow. It ended up helping me later on as the baddies became more powerful and get, well, larger.
The Great Foes of Eternal Strands
The baddies increase in size but in such a "Oh this feels awesome" type of way. If you've ever gone against a big dragon or ginormous enemy in a game that made you say "oh wow" out loud, Eternal Strands manages to capture those moments with all the big bosses. Through each zone you will encounter one of the Great Foes who have their own unique challenges to overcome. They also made sure the Great Foes don't just feel like set pieces either which can often happen in cinematic styled fights. Thinking back to Final Fantasy XVI here. While the bosses in that game looked amazing, it felt like more of a QTE than anything else. Eternal Strands definitely feels like something you're in control of. I appreciate that a ton.
I looked forward to getting to the end of a zone just to fight the big guys and that says a lot. It wasn't that I did not like the zones themselves, it was more of an excitement and anticipation than anything else. While you do get to fight the bosses again under different circumstances, they're still pretty fun with new challenges (albeit frustrating ones) to do so with.
So Is It Good?
Yes! Absolutely. I would honestly recommend this to anyone looking to spend 30 or so hours with a pretty solid Action RPG. The art style is great, the cutscenes are so fun to look at and the combat is stellar. A few issues with returning to zones after completion for not so much reward and the dry story are the only things I can see bogging Eternal Strands down. If you've got Gamepass or just want a new ARPG, give Eternal Strands a go, I think you'll like it! Eternal Strands is currently available on Xbox, Playstation and PC.
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