Eternal Strands

This was a very fun game for me, I loved the story and the characters, loved the magic system (though it was admittedly a little finicky with some of the spells). It honestly made me nostalgic for the older games i used to play growing up. I do wish some story parts were longer mainly in that starting to halfway point area but even so, it overall felt like the perfect length for this game.

This game is fantastic and respects my time in so many refreshing ways! - The plot, character growth, and immersion were fantastic. The gameplay and magical interactions were solid. I loved the fact that many different kinds of magic could be used to overcome different situations and it was all allowed and supported. - I took about 60h to complete every quest and the main storyline and the time and attention that was given to reduce grind and let me complete the things I wanted to do was so nice. Specifically calling out two systems as excellent: the ability to trade all the useless junk I'd built up for credits and buy endgame components, and the ability to get in-game guidance on where those last POIs are after completing the story. These two systems prevented hours and hours of repetitive grinding and supported my completionist tendencies without wasting my time. Now that I'm thinking about it, many of the other systems in this game were excellent demonstrations that you can create a great game while supporting exploration, customization, and tweaking gear/playstyles without punishing the player for it.

Fun game, but the writing is terrible. Absolutely terrible. Some of the worst writing I've come across. Some characters are insufferable. Others treat you like a toddler. "Great job, Brynn!" People do not talk to other people the way the so-called writers think that they do. I'm not sure what world they're living in, but it's not this one. I was actually rooting for the bad guys to viscerally disembowel some of your "companions," I despised them that much. I got this for $7 and it was too much. They should pay you to suffer through this writing. Imagine someone being paid actual money to write this tripe? The only good news is you can skip through the dialogue and I skipped through a LOT of it. I never do that. But the writing in this game is that bad. It makes Dragon Age 3 look amazing.

This game proves how to "go woke" WITHOUT going broke. And by that, I mean that the game has LGBT+ characters, progressive values... it's basically everything that many gamers have become leery of. But this game is very much worth getting. Here's why: the devs DIDN'T attempt to guilt trip the target audience. There was never any attempt to preemptively accuse players of being sexist/racist/homophobic, and then demanding that they purchase the game to prove their innocence. They simply released a good game, and let it stand on its own merits. And this game has some REALLY good merits. It's a pastiche of some of the best games of the past. The art style is reminiscent of Kingdoms of Amalur. The magic system, allowing you to play around with telekinetic, fire, and cold attacks, is not unlike Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. The recurring boss fights are very much like smaller versions of the colossi from "Shadow of the Colossus," and Brynn can climb almost any surface, using magic and muscle to cling to sheer rock surfaces like Spider-Man. (no webslinging... but there's a late game spell that lets you launch her as if from a cannon... and you can repeatedly cast it in midair) And the aforementioned characters? They're very likeable. Laen is nonbinary, but that's the least important thing about them; they're the resident sage and chronicler, and what's in their pants doesn't matter unless you choose to romance them (or the equally loveable female Casmyn, or - MY choice for my playthrough - the hunky Arekim). Pretty much every single person in the camp is charming and likeable. About the only complaints I have are that my attempts to rebind the charged weapon attack to a different mouse button kept resetting on me, and a certain boss monster was very frustrating. Otherwise, I'm very much looking forward to the next game by Yellow Brick Games, especially if it's a sequel (I've got some theories about what happened to a background character, as well as the true nature of the Surgeborn).

I bought this game on sale for under $10 after reading through many mixed reviews. I played through the demo first, enjoyed it immensely, then played the entire way through the game. This is a good game. Before I bought the game, I read Steam Reviews saying things like the combat is too simple, sometimes wonky, there's issues or bugs, but it's ultimately playable. I beat the game in about 40 hours, which includes every possible sidequest, the main quest, and all collectibles. I think I'm qualified to say the negative reviews are just wrong. Now, there may have been patches released before I played the game, but in its current state, it is solid. I think that at full price, the value is adequate, but if you can find it on sale (especially under $10 like I did), it's an easy decision to buy. You'll get more than enough time in this game to be satisfied, and the core gameplay loop is [i] really [/i] enjoyable. This game has something like 7 large maps for you to run through and explore, and I found that addictive. There are sound cues to alert you to secrets and treasures in your proximity, which I thought made the exploration even more rewarding. The material system is good, and I think it evolves well. There are no "bad" or "wasted" resources, even in the late game, because everything can be scrapped and turned into other resources that you need. It makes picking up 150 pieces of softwood actually valuable, which is a struggle in most tiered resource systems. Combat is not as deep as some other ARPGs, but there are 3 weapon types with 10 elemental powers that combine in [i] very [/i] interesting ways that also impact the environment. Using fire can start the ground, trees, and buildings on fire, which can even blaze out of control if you're not careful. Ice can freeze the ground, slowing you and enemies. I will say that there is definitely somewhat of an optimal strategy vs general ads, which is probably too strong. (ice wall + 2H). You can actually just spam that combo the entire game and clear every single enemy type in the game with ease. BUT, nothing forces you to do that. You have 10 powers, 3 weapons, and you can do whatever you find to be the most fun. In addition to the general combat, there are giant replayable bosses, 1 for each of the elemental powers, and they each have unique mechanics for taking them down. This is where the game gets comparisons to Monster Hunter and Shadow of the Colossus. I personally find that it's a bit closer to Shadow of the Colossus, and once you've figured out a boss, they're pretty trivial to take down in the future. Each one was a fun little puzzle to solve, and if you need to farm them for crafting parts, that's not hard either. I personally found the bosses to be challenging and interesting, but not too frustrating. I looked forward to climbing on them and smacking their armor pieces off with a giant sword. The story is... acceptable. The romance is dull and unrewarding, but I think that's fine. It exists for those who crave it, and it's very ignorable for those who don't. There is some choice in the game, but truthfully little that is impactful. The philosophy of the game feels a bit too modern and progressive for the setting, but the ending wasn't completely obvious. My biggest complaint about the story is that 6 acts is TOO MANY. Baldur's Gate 3 only had 3, and that was PLENTY. Pretty much every character is completely one dimensional, and progression with your band feels painstakingly slow. Honestly, you play this game for the exploration and the feel of the game. It is fun. If you like Shadow of the Colossus, you'll have fun here. If you haven't, you should still have fun with this game. For $30, it's good enough, but on sale, it's a great value.

UE5 in this game brought my MSI Claw 7Ai to heel (even with XeSS), despite other UE5 games like Kiborg running on it with no issues. So I gave this game a try on my 4070 laptop, and the game runs great—even without DLSS. The art-style and graphics remind me a bit of Kena B.o.S. (Unreal Engine 4), and Immortals Fenyx Rising (to which some of the devs are from Ubisoft). The movement and flow of combat seem similar to those games. And there's some Zelda inspiration thrown in as well, which isn't a bad thing... Overall, the game has been enjoyable and the performance rock solid.

Highly recommended if you like spell-blade characters. This is probably one of the few games I've played that mixes martial and spellcasting combat this fluidly. Also the armor customization is fun, they even have a practical little witch hat and similar she can wear if you want to forego helmets and the like. The repeatable mini-shadow of the colossus bosses are super fun to tackle as well. I loved going back to old areas and climbing one to steal bits I needed off of it. Finally toppling them and watching them crash into the ground in a pile of shiny raw materials was always a treat. The spells and combat were a bit awkward on release but they've fixed pretty much every complaint I've had about it since this. It's a VERY dense game for the price and one I still come back to occasionally!

I was incredibly impressed by this game. The story and writing is a joy to experience. The core gameplay loop is simple but very satisfying. Exploring the various regions is fun, it's open but not filled to the brim with question marks (there are like 5-7 per map region, all of them are for unlocking armor and weapon schematics for crafting). The game does have crafting elements but they're not intrusive at all. You can make it very simple and not care much about it, or you can min-max materials to create the perfect armor set based on both stats and looks (different materials in your gear changes the colors). If you think the game looks interesting from the gameplay videos, just buy it. It's well worth it.