Despite its few rough edges, Eternal Strands offers a memorable journey that stands alongside the best of what the action-adventure genre has to offer
There's something hauntingly beautiful about watching the sun rise over the desolate plains of the Broken Lands, its rays catching the crystalline formations that dot the landscape like frozen tears. Eternal Strands is a game that consistently delivers these breathtaking moments, weaving them into a tapestry of survival, exploration, and epic confrontations that echo the spirit of classics like Shadow of the Colossus while forging its own distinct identity.
The world of Eternal Strands is one of quiet apocalypse. Humanity clings to existence in the shadow of the Arks - massive, seemingly dormant beings that tower over the landscape like silent gods. As Maya, one of the last remaining Weavers, you're tasked with bringing down these colossal entities to harvest their essence, believed to be humanity's last hope for survival. It's a premise that immediately sets up an intriguing moral conflict: these majestic beings might hold the key to our salvation, but at what cost?
The narrative unfolds through a combination of discovered journals, environmental storytelling, and interactions with the small community of survivors at your home base. The writing strikes a delicate balance between hope and despair, painting a picture of humanity's resilience in the face of extinction while never shying away from the weight of your actions. Every time you bring down an Ark, the victory feels bittersweet - necessary yet somehow tragic.
The game's core gameplay loop revolves around exploring the vast open world, gathering resources, and ultimately confronting the Arks themselves. But it's the way these elements are implemented that makes Eternal Strands shine. Your arsenal of mystical abilities feels both powerful and grounded in the game's world. The Weaver's Arts, as they're called, start with basic powers like telekinesis and temporal stasis but evolve into increasingly complex combinations as you progress.
Using these abilities never gets old. There's a visceral satisfaction in freezing a charging beast in mid-leap, launching debris at distant enemies, or creating chain reactions with elemental effects. The physics-based nature of these powers means that experimentation is always rewarded, and even after dozens of hours, I was still discovering new ways to combine them.
The true stars of the show, however, are the Ark encounters. Each of these massive beings presents a unique challenge, requiring you to use your abilities creatively while scaling their enormous forms. The sense of scale is absolutely breathtaking - clinging to an Ark's ancient stone as it tries to shake you off, searching for weak points while managing your stamina, all while the ground sways dizzyingly far below. These encounters are extended climbing puzzles, combat challenges, and set-pieces all rolled into one, and they're consistently memorable.
The progression systems add another layer of depth to the experience. Haven, your home base, serves as more than just a hub - it's a home that grows alongside you. Resources gathered from your expeditions can be used to upgrade your gear, expand the settlement's facilities, and improve your abilities. There's something deeply satisfying about returning from a successful hunt or Ark encounter to invest in your community's growth. The system creates a meaningful connection between the game's exploration and its narrative themes of rebuilding and hope.
Visually, Eternal Strands is a testament to the PS5's capabilities. The vast landscapes are rendered with stunning detail, from the way light plays across crystalline formations to the subtle environmental effects that bring the world to life. The Arks themselves are particularly impressive, each one a unique blend of organic and geometric forms that hints at their mysterious origins. The game's art direction emphasizes the contrast between the natural and the supernatural, creating a world that feels both familiar and alien.
The sound design deserves special mention. The ambient soundtrack shifts seamlessly between atmospheric exploration themes and more dramatic pieces during encounters, while the sound effects give real weight to your abilities and movement. The way the audio mix changes as you climb higher on an Ark, with the wind becoming more prominent and the world below growing more distant, adds immensely to the immersion.
However, the game isn't without its rough edges. Some of the smaller combat encounters can feel repetitive, and there are occasional camera issues during intense climbing sequences. The inventory management system could be more streamlined, and some of the side activities don't feel as polished as the main content.
But these are minor grievances in what is otherwise an ambitious and largely successful vision. Eternal Strands takes risks with its gameplay and narrative, and most of them pay off. The way it combines familiar gaming elements - open-world exploration, physics-based combat, climbing mechanics - with its unique setting and story creates something that feels fresh and engaging throughout its roughly 30-hour runtime.
Eternal Strands is ultimately a game about hope in the face of devastation, about finding beauty in ruins, and about the choices we make when survival comes at a terrible cost. It's an experience that combines spectacular moments of grandeur with quiet periods of reflection, wrapped in systems that are both engaging to master and meaningful to the story being told. I do recommend it. Thanks for reading!
The game was reviewed on a PS5 via a code provided by the publisher. Eternal Strands is available on PS5, Xbox and PC.
