Eternal Strands Review

thesixthaxis.com:

Eternal Strands begins with a calamity. In this magical world, Weavers use their command of elemental forces for the good of the people. That is, until they sealed themselves within their lands – the Enclave – and left the rest of the world to war and chaos following an event known as the Surge. The remaining Weavers, and magic in general, become about as popular as Justin Bieber at a heavy metal concert, and that’s where we meet Brynn, our hero.

She’s on the road with a Weaver band, attempting to do right by her Weaver heritage, while also looking for a place or group to call her own. Through sheer dumb luck, this group break through the Veil that surrounds the Enclave, beginning the game’s adventure as they find a settlement and begin to explore this abandoned realm.

It’s an evocative starting point, and is followed through with major storytelling accompanied by attractive animated cutscenes, crafting a world that you feel invested in from the off. It’s a shame then that once the opening has concluded, the narrative slows to a glacial pace, with Brynn mostly venturing into the unknown to search and collect something, before bringing it back to base.

Thankfully, you’ll barely notice, as Brynn’s exploration is consistently enthralling. If you’ve played any recent survival game, you’ll recognise many of the crafting and foraging mechanics that Eternal Strands uses. Your earliest encounters see you chopping down trees and bushes, gathering various resources while fighting off the low-level creatures you find dotting the landscape before returning to craft a new item or strengthen an existing one, and then heading out to do it all again.

Where Eternal Strands finds its own identity is in the use of the titular Strands. These Strands are fundamentally the Weavers’  form of magic, giving them elemental powers such as fire and ice, or telekinesis that allows you to throw enemies into crevasses or drag armour off them. There’s more than a hint of Breath of the Wild and Tears