Eternal Strands Review

Eternal Strands becomes the debut title for promising Developer, Yellow Brick Games.

Eternal Strands finally enters the stage as we kick off the year 2025 – a year that might be one of the greatest years in gaming history. We’re expecting a lot of great games from all platforms to arrive this year, and it’s already on to a great start, with the likes of Dynasty Warriors: Origins making its way to the scene. Now, with that being said, there are other games to look forward to, even if they’re not among the most anticipated and popular.

The ones that are not so much under the radar but could somewhat interest you if they caught your attention. This is where Eternal Strands comes in, and it’s grey that it’s finally available for us. Developed and published by Yellow Brick Games – a very young developer that was established in the year 2020 by well-known video gaming developer Mike Laidlaw, along with many other developers who worked for Ubisoft to form a small yet very competent team. And Eternal Strands becomes their debut game.

Now, you might’ve seen some gameplay of this on YouTube, but obviously, you’re wondering if this is worth buying. That’s what I’m here for, and I’ll be able to help you through it as you get an in-depth analysis of what you’ll be getting inside this action-adventure. Moreover, if this is one of those games, it could occupy your time as you wait for a more anticipated title to arrive. Again, I’ve got your back.

Eternal Strands tells the fantasy tale from the third-person perspective of a brave Weaver Warrior named Brynn. She is on a quest to retrieve her people’s stolen cultural home and unravel the secrets of a long-lost civilization identified as the Enclave. She’ll have to explore and fight her way through, as she’s very determined to achieve her objectives.

What I like is that, in the story, whenever you make certain decisions, it leads to a different path, but at the same time, there are no wrong choices. So, you won’t feel hard down for making a decision, later filling you with regrets as you progress the game.

Brynn can climb on any surface in the game, and it’s particularly useful for climbing on things to complete an objective. Also, you can climb on certain enemies, especially bosses. In fact, you should climb on the bosses to give you an advantage over them and cause as much damage as possible while doing so. You will encounter around nine bosses from different locations around the game’s world. After each boss is defeated, you’ll claim a new magic spell.

That’s pretty much the only good thing to say about the story. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t have many intriguing elements to encourage me to stay focused on it, and more so, the combat is just about one of the very few areas that kept me interested. Moreover, many of Eternal Strands’ quests are quite tedious.

Eternal Strands’ combat features weaponry, magical spells, and more to overcome the enemies. You’ll get a number of magical spells, but there are a few that you start with at the beginning of the story. The first is the Weaver’s grasp. This spell allows you to lift and move creatures and objects.

Its purple aura will mark targets that are moveable at the time. But if the target is colored red, that means that what you wish to move is too heavy, mainly because of the strand’s level. To use the grasp, you need to prepare the strand, cast off the object or creature, and throw it forward. This spell can benefit you during obstacles and combat.

The other magic spell is the Ice Wall. The Ice Wall will unleash frozen water at a rapid speed, which will develop into large chunks of ice. This spell can be used to create bridges and ledges over surfaces that may cause damage if you step on them, and it can also be used as a weapon. Yes, it can temporarily hold enemies of all sizes into your place, leaving them completely vulnerable. 

This is a very useful spell that can clearly be used for some purposes. However, there is a problem – a big one. I’m not completely sure if this is supposed to happen, but whenever you come into contact with the frozen surface you’ve summoned, you consume damage from it. Especially when in situations where I’d need the spell to surpass obstacles.

This has to be a bug of some sort because this shouldn’t be happening, seeing as it’s your magic. It feels like I’m committing friendly fire on myself. Because of this, I get a little hesitant to use this spell as often as intended and would use it only when the health bar is at least almost full. Plus, it ignites the logic of simply using other magic spells more.

There’s also the Fire ability, which can cause a surface to become dry and can also be used as a weapon against enemies. Enemies that died from the frozen or fire spell are construed as tempered, which means they are more likely to drop rarer materials.

Brynn’s weaponry, you also get a number of them as you progress the story, but you start with a sword and shield and a bow and arrow that has an unlimited supply of arrows. Brynn also has telekinesis. With her telekinetic powers, she can do things such as throw objects or even herself at enemies and more.

Here are other details in Eternal Strands for you: the game helps you with equipment management. You can find gear that’ll be equipped at Casmyn’s caravan. The loadouts can be modified at any time in the base camp. However, you can’t swap the loadouts when in the field. Armor, weapons, and more can be changed to improve Brynn’s stats. You can also craft materials to formulate brand-new weapons, armor, and more. You can also craft the materials to convert into supplies.

You have the Watcher’s Wisp. By pressing the up directional button, you’ll activate a wisp. With this, Oria will seek information from your team and maps to help guide you in the direction of your nearest objective. There’s also the salvage feature for you to salvage excessive resources. And then there’s reforging for you to modify the stats and appearance of your gear. Plus, more things await you if you were to get your hands on Eternal Strands.

You may also find that Yellow Brick Games has done a great deed by not including any seasonal passes or micro-transactions whatsoever. Therefore, the funds you’ll give are the ones you used to purchase the game. That’s something that you love to see. A developer that actually values your enjoyment of a game.

Eternal Strands possesses quite a nice depth and a compelling combination of features to bring you some enjoyable combat. However, the story isn’t something I would speak much of often when discussing the game. Despite that, this game is a great start for Yellow Brick Games and displays the potential the developer has for future projects. Also, if you’re an Xbox or PC gamer, you could simply install this game as it’s available on Game Pass, which is the biggest reason I would recommend someone to play this game.