Eternal Strands Steam Charts & Stats

I'm really enjoying the game so far particularly the combat. A great mix of Breath of the Wild and Dragon's Dogma. The crafting system is interesting enough to enjoy but not so daunting enough with items that makes it overwhelming. The only issue I have is with the world and the characters. The world has the potential to be interesting but everything about it just feels bare bones. There is no real push or desire for me to do the main quest or to find out the super secret Enclave area aside from fighting other big bosses because its just not that interesting. Now for the characters. Nobody, not even the player character is particularly interesting. This comes as a two fault issue: 1. Everybody is the same. Every character is "good" and joyful and happy. Nobody feels different, they all look and sound different but if you swap Laen's dialogue with Sola's the dialogue literally feels the same aside from their crafting specific dialogue. And 2. there is no conflict between any of the characters. There is one small issue between Brynn and another character but that is basically resolved within one conversation, otherwise everybody gets along joyfully, any time there are issues everybody is like "nah it's all good!" and that's it. It reminds me a lot of DA Veilguard. Lack of conflict or tension between party members makes the world feel artificial and obviously makes the characters feel artificial. Characters have a backstory, but none of them really stand out, especially when you can copy paste any of their backstories to someone else and nothing would change. Maybe this will change as I progress further, but I doubt it. This doesn't feel like that type of game.

In theory I like a lot about this game: the visuals, the music, the polished UI and the environmental design. In practice, the game is just boring. I can see potentially good and cool ideas like exploring an interesting world of magic, but they never feel as engaging as I imagine them to be. The combat is one of the biggest disappointments: it's too simple, feels floaty and the enemies are not animated well enough nor do they have more than like 1 combat moves. I would expect a lot better from the type of game where combat is one of the major interactions with the world.

Picked this up on the 2025 summer sale and initial impressions are quite positive. It's basically a more compact Monster Hunter with elements of Shadow of the Colossus, and an exciting magic system. I'm happy to have that- I've always found that Monster Hunter doles out the interesting bits way too slowly but got some good mileage out of Dauntless before it collapsed under the weight of being an F2P game, and Eternal Strands offers something in the middle of the two gameplay-wise but without the F2P-ness and with cool spellcasting. Only two real complaints so far, a bit over two hours in: One is that you can only save in camp, which is always annoying but probably inconsequential since the waypoints seem reasonably well spaced, you get an item that lets you teleport home less than two hours in, and there's little drawback to spreading out your progress across multiple runs. (and some advantage, as it will let you clear out the resources you've harvested) More consequentially, I've found the open world of the first hunting area looks a bit samey throughout, which can be disorienting and dampens the excitement of exploration a bit. Quibbles aside, wandering around the world vacuuming up crafting materials has its usual low-key charms, fighting the small monsters is satisfying enough and makes your spells feel stupidly powerful, and the boss fights I've seen so far have been pleasingly challenging. A nice bit of quality-of-life is that when you die you still can select some of your loot to teleport home with you so you can keep your rarest drops anyway even if you get too ambitious. I'm excited to play more!

100% done now and I can only wholeheartly recommend this great game. I will be upfront and say while the gameplay out in the field is really fun to play, especially if you want that Shadow of the Colossus itch scratched, the thing that brings Eternal Strands together is its writing and characters, which there are plenty of. It is simply just a very enjoyable with meaningful and engaging drama, yet without becoming overtly melodramatic, about a group of people coming together under a time of crisis, being external or internal. Never have I thought I would care so much about a choice on how to comfort another person in an emotional and mental distress, even tho I knew this was a very light "choice matters" game, yet I had moments where I did sit down for a good while to reflect on my choices I was about to make. Game does have some jankiness to it, but that is the cost of having some very fun anti-gravity magic to play around with and was never in the way of ruining my experience of the game. Eternal Strands is solid 8 outta 10 game, but some might deduct a point or two if they cannot get behind the amount of dialogue and most of all, while I understand not everyone might enjoy this entry, I will still say at least get it on a sale, give it a spin and support/lookout for what next this studio is gonna make. I really hope they just do a full on Monster Hunter/Shadow of the Colossus game, because the foundation is there here!. Also final note, steam fucked up my total game time, it is closer to 40 hours (30ish for main story + side quests and 10 hours for wrapping up the last achievements).

Very well made, gorgeous and fun game with lots of room for player creativity. It's one of those games where you can play it for a while and still be discovering funky interactions between powers or the effects of temperature on different objects in the game world. I am pleased to have worked out ways to reach some locations before getting the power which makes that stuff easy! The main plot is straightforward with few surprises, but executed and delivered well for the most part. The writing style leans towards lighthearted teen fiction. I sometimes find that grating, but its writing, characters and acting are good enough to mostly avoid falling into the typical pitfalls of overly quippy dialogue and such. It maintains a consistent tone but knows when to shift it a bit when warranted. It's got some great world-building, which tends to be a bit less "light" and simple than the main plot. Which is a good dynamic to have. Exploring the politics and religion via character side quests was the most interesting part to me. Particular mention to the handling of a character's mental illness that is stigmatised for reasons many of us will find familiar, but well rooted in this game's setting and lore. I will say I think they lean a bit too much into the fact you are "The Hero" who does everything with a support team to explain the solo nature of the gameplay and why you never encounter NPCs in the wild. It's not that the value of that team is not well expressed, just that there are many times that feel like they really shouldn't be sending just one person to fix all the problems. There's a particularly silly sequence where you go to visit a key location for your companion, and tell them all about it over the phone, when they could easily have joined you and experienced the very personal and emotional revelations themselves! Still, that's something of a trope that's hard to avoid in these types of games, so I won't knock them too much for it. The above quest was clearly written to conform to the limits of their gameplay and that makes sense to do. Overall, a great time. Would recommend.

It's really good and fun. Feels like Breath of the Wild with some Monster Hunter in it.

Just copy-pasting a comment I left on reddit. The best way I can describe Eternal Strands is as a mix of Monster Hunter, Shadow of the Colossus, and Dragon's Dogma, with a stronger emphasis on narrative and a unique, physics-based magic system. That magic system is where the game really stands out, you can do all kinds of creative things, like conjure a wall of ice, break off shards and hurl them at enemies, summon a mini black hole to trap enemies while you rain down flames or ice grenades, or even launch yourself into the air to grab onto a flying dragon mid-attack, even catch its fireballs and toss them back if you time it right. It's fun, chaotic, and encourages experimentation. The core gameplay loop is pretty simple and leans heavily into that Monster Hunter vibe. You head out to explore, gather materials, and hunt down epic creatures, the resources you collect are used to upgrade your gear and powers. Along the way, your companions will give you quests, some are basic fetch missions that you can knock out during hunts, while others are dialogue-heavy interactions that flesh out the story and characters. Boss fights are definitely the highlight of the game. You can engage them in a straight up melee duel like in Souls games, overwhelm them with magic, or climb onto their back to hack at limbs and weak spots while they try to shake you off. There’s a surprising amount of freedom in how you approach combat. Do you recommend it? Yes but, I'm a fanboy and I want a sequel, so I hope more people give this game a shot. That said, it’s definitely not for everyone, it lacks polish in places, which is understandable since this isn’t a AAA title, but more importantly, if the gameplay doesn’t click for you in the first few hours, it probably never will. You see most of the game’s mechanics and tone within the first zone after the tutorial. Honestly, I was about to quit after the first hour, I was treating it like a typical Soulsborne, assuming the magic would be limited and inconsequential, and the story initially threw me off with a bunch of confusing fantasy terms that didn’t mean much to a new player. But then I started experimenting, freezing enemies in place, yeeting ice shards, tossing black holes into crowds, and that was enough to keep me going, around the five hour mark, even the story and characters started to grow on me, they eased off the flood of random fantasy jargon and finally started having real conversations, about themselves, their world, and things that actually made me care, I found myself looking forward to returning to camp, just to check in with my team and see if they had anything new to say or a new quest to offer. All of this just to say, It’s a fine game, IGN gave it a 7/10, and honestly, that feels pretty spot-on. Most of your time with Eternal Strands is going to be a 7/10 experience, nothing truly mindblowing, nothing aggressively bad either, but every so often, when all the pieces come together, the game gives you a glimpse of something genuinely special, the devs’ true vision, and it’s pretty damn cool.

As a 3D character artist, I was immediately drawn to the design and world-building in Eternal Strands. Characters are EXPRESSIVE, the silhouettes read super well, and the elemental effects 10/10, Knowing that Yellow Brick Games is a relatively small team with industry veterans makes it even more impressive! You can feel the passion and craft in every part of this game!! I’d absolutely be on board for whatever they make next

Enjoyed this more than I expected based on the original demo. Positives - clambering around on giant monsters was fun - crafting system is generous and flexible - voice acting is on point Negatives - one late-game boss is extremely annoying to fight - too many companion quests consist of simple fetch quests (somewhat understandable given the smaller scope of the game)

Don't want to be the "oh my god game reviewers are so dumb" guy but this game deserves way better reviews. Like how did CoD 23 get better reviews than this. That is a travesty. It's got one of the best sandboxes I've played in a game. The magic system is absolutely amazing. There's always a new way to use a spell or combo it with another spell, even If it isn't always better than the alternative. The black hole spell you get early on is the greatest magic spell not just in a video game but real life as well. I don't want to spoil all the stuff you can do with it because figuring out how to use the spells was by far the most fun part for me so please don't spoil it for yourself but if telling you means it will push you over the edge when deciding whether or not to buy the game here are some things you can do with it. [spoiler]You can chain the black hole spell back to back to launch yourself around the map with good timing and positioning[/spoiler] [spoiler]You can use it to quickly cool or heat the area around it if you put fire or ice in the middle[/spoiler] and my favorite one is too good for me to spoil but if you really want a hint [spoiler]it involves a certain spell you get right when when you make it to the city[/spoiler]. I digress, the the big monsters are the perfect addition to that sandbox feeling like a puzzle and the best test of new strategies. The big enemies are definitely the highlight but even the little enemies are fun to mess round with and if you can't be asked just throw them away. Generally the game is nice to look at and it's a pretty cool world. Exploration feels more similar to Dragon's Dogma 2 with some Zelda than Assassin's creed which is great but don't expect to find some crazy new item in every chest like Elden Ring. Unfortunately the last few hours just aren't that good. Really my only true complaint I have of the game. The main and side quests' stories/objectives weren't great IMO and the crafting system was kinda a mess but those didn't effect my enjoyment because I was having fun just playing the game. There were some other small gripes but the only thing that actually affected my enjoyment was the last few hours before the very end. It was almost none of the stuff that makes the game great aside from one new power. No new areas to explore, no new gear, no new bosses to farm and no new puzzles to solve. ~2 hours of meh is easily worth the 40 hours of great game and I'm still looking forward to the 2nd free DLC. It feels like a combination of the new Zelda games and Dragon's Dogma with a hint of Monster Hunter and that shit all bangs so this does too.