Eternal Strands Review | A Spellbinding Epic

84
Story
7
Gameplay
9
Visuals
8
Audio
9
Value for Money
9
Price:
$ 40
Clear Time:
20 Hours
Reviewed on:
PC
Eternal Strands is a love letter to fantasy epics, blending the creativity of Breath of the Wild, the grand battles of Shadow of the Colossus, and the fluid combat of Dragon’s Dogma. Its magic system is the real star—woven into combat, exploration, and puzzles, making the Enclave feel alive with mystical energy. While the visuals sometimes falter and the story lacks depth, the sheer wonder of its world and spellbinding mechanics make it a journey worth taking.
Eternal Strands
Release Date Gameplay & Story Pre-Order & DLC Review

Step into Brynn’s cloak and embark on a magical journey to uncover the secrets of the Enclave in Eternal Strands. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.

Eternal Strands Review Overview

What is Eternal Strands?

Eternal Strands is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Yellow Brick Games. This title blends elements of action, exploration, and environmental manipulation. It follows Brynn, a young Weaver armed with magic and determination, as she ventures into the Enclave—a once-thriving magical hub that sealed itself away decades ago. Her mission is to uncover the mysteries of this long-lost civilization, retrieve her people’s cultural heritage, and survive the challenges posed by a fantastical yet dangerous world.

Eternal Strands features:
 ⚫︎ Action Adventure Game
 ⚫︎ Story Rich Fantasy
 ⚫︎ Crafting System
 ⚫︎ Open Zone Game
 ⚫︎ Reactive Environment
 ⚫︎ Open Exploration

For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Eternal Strands's gameplay and story.


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Price $39.99


Eternal Strands Pros & Cons

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Pros Cons
Checkmark Well Crafted Magic System
Checkmark Amazing Boss Battles
Checkmark Beautiful Cutscenes
Checkmark Dynamic Combat and Traversal System
Checkmark Visuals Can Look Muddied at Times
Checkmark Story is Not That Engaging

Eternal Strands Overall Score - 84/100

Eternal Strands feels like a heartfelt love letter to fantasy epics, masterfully blending the creativity of Breath of the Wild, the colossal battles of Shadow of the Colossus, and the fluid combat of Dragon’s Dogma. But what truly sets it apart is its inspired magic system. Spells aren’t just for combat—they’re intricately tied to exploration, environmental puzzles, and even the treasures you uncover. This makes the world of the Enclave feel vibrant, alive, and deeply rooted in its magical essence.

The Enclave itself is a stunningly crafted world, full of wonder and charm, though not without its flaws. The visuals can occasionally stumble, breaking the immersion, and the story lacks the gripping depth you might hope for. Still, these shortcomings are overshadowed by the game’s enchanting magic and rewarding adventure, making Eternal Strands a journey worth taking for those who embrace its spellbinding charm.

Eternal Strands Story - 7/10

Eternal Strands lays the groundwork for an intriguing lore-rich world, but its narrative and characters don’t quite rise to the occasion. It’s a shame because the game kicks off with such promise. Brynn, the protagonist, has great moments, but her character arc lacks the emotional depth and growth needed to truly shape her into someone unforgettable. Similarly, while your companions are endearing in their own right, they feel more like charming side notes rather than fully realized partners in this magical journey. That said, Eternal Strands still has its moments—those bursts of epic storytelling and high-stakes encounters that pull you back in.

Eternal Strands Gameplay - 9/10

Eternal Strands’ gameplay is an absolute blast, blending the best elements from other titles into something fresh and exciting. It’s amazing how your actions shape the world around you, and the magic system encourages creativity in exploration and combat. The bosses steal the show—grandiose and epic, with thrilling moments like climbing up towering foes before slashing your way to defeat them. While the loop of fighting, collecting, and crafting can occasionally feel repetitive, it remains consistently addictive and rewarding overall.

Eternal Strands Visuals - 8/10

The artistic direction of Eternal Strands strikes a compelling balance between fantasy aesthetics and anime-inspired visuals, particularly evident in its visually impressive cutscenes. The Enclave stands out as a beautifully crafted world, with distinct and diverse areas that avoid feeling generic. However, the visuals can occasionally falter during combat, where poorly blended colors and a lack of clarity sometimes make the action difficult to follow.

Eternal Strands Audio - 9/10

Eternal Strands boasts impressive voice acting, with Brynn and Dahm delivering standout performances. The soundtrack is solid and enhances the experience, but the combat tracks, especially during large boss fights, are the real highlight. It’s the kind of OST that begs to be played on Spotify or YouTube.

Eternal Strands Value for Money - 9/10

With the rising cost of games, it’s impressive that Eternal Strands is priced at just $40 while offering so much value. I can’t help but wonder what magic spell they cast to keep it so reasonably priced. The gameplay loop and progression system offer plenty of options and variety, making it a more fulfilling experience than many AAA titles. For the price, it delivers exceptional value, ensuring players will have a fantastic time throughout their journey.

Eternal Strands Review

A Spellbinding Epic

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Mike Laidlaw, the former creative director of Dragon Age, took a bold leap when he founded Yellow Brick Games and announced Eternal Strands as their debut title. I have to say, this game is truly a magical experience. The risk was absolutely worth it, and it feels like a beautiful love letter to the world of video game fantasy.

Eternal Strands Gameplay Overview

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In Eternal Strands, you play as Brynn, a Weaver—a person capable of harnessing magic and combining it with combat abilities. Alongside her loyal companions in the Weaverband, she embarks on a journey to the Enclave, a mysterious place once sealed off due to its central role in magical wonders. Somehow, they have found a way back in. This third-person action-adventure game invites you to explore the Enclave, uncover new areas, battle epic foes, gather resources, and piece together the lore of the world.

The core gameplay loop involves completing quests, discovering hidden locations, harvesting magic strands from powerful enemies, collecting loot from combat, and finding crafting recipes and codex entries through exploration. Your companions each contribute to your camp, helping you craft better supplies such as weapons and armor, expanding your knowledge of the lore, upgrading your stations, maintaining the map, and enhancing your magical abilities.

Magic plays a pivotal role in both combat and traversal. As you defeat colossal boss enemies, you'll unlock ways to enhance your magic. These giant creatures have specific weak points that you'll need to climb and navigate in order to defeat them, looting valuable rewards to craft new items. As you gather strands from epic enemies, you'll also unlock secrets of the world, scaling cliffs, walls, and otherwise unreachable areas with your wit and magical prowess.

The Magical System is Enchanting

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More developers need to embrace this magic system—it's simply brilliant. If you're a fan of Breath of the Wild for its dynamic environmental interactions, also known as Thermophysics, then you'll feel right at home in Eternal Strands. The game’s magic system is incredibly detailed and intricately woven into both the world and gameplay mechanics.

One of the standout features is Brynn’s magical cloak, which gives her control over elemental powers. Fire and ice aren’t just combat tools; they interact with the environment in fascinating ways. For instance, fire allows Brynn to scorch enemies, inflicting continuous damage, but it also alters the landscape. Burn too much, and lush forests can turn into barren wastelands, or wildfires can spread through the vegetation.

On the flip side, ice can freeze bodies of water, allowing you to craft bridges or paths that open up new exploration opportunities. These elements don't just make combat more dynamic—they directly influence the world around you and even the loot you collect. Use fire on a wolf, for example, and you might find that you won’t get any fur from it since it was burned.

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The magic system evolves as you progress, unlocking even more powerful abilities. My personal favorite is the telekinetic powers, which give me a Link-like “Ultra Hand” experience, letting me manipulate the environment in creative ways. Everything in this world has a cause and effect, making each ability feel incredibly impactful and truly bringing the world to life.

Dynamic Combat and Traversal System

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The combat and traversal in Eternal Strands are just as expansive and varied as its magic system. While not an open-world game, it offers an open-zone experience where areas are segmented, unlocking as you progress through the story. This structure encourages you to return to your camp frequently to craft, upgrade armor, and strengthen your character, as armor plays a crucial role in combat. Crafting armor requires gathering specific ingredients and unlocking recipes, allowing you to tailor your gear to your playstyle. Heavy armor offers high defense but slows you down, while light armor grants more agility at the cost of durability.

From the start, you’re armed with a variety of creative tools like the Ice Wall and Weaver’s Grasp, which open up countless strategies for approaching combat. You can grab explosive objects and hurl them at enemies or shoot arrows while stunning foes with ice—each encounter feels fresh and dynamic, allowing you to experiment with different ways to fight.

Traversal is equally thrilling. You can climb almost anything—giant enemies, walls, trees—making the world feel alive and full of possibility. The game provides a marker to guide you toward objectives, but there are so many branching paths and hidden areas that you’ll find yourself exploring off the beaten path often. Backtracking becomes a joy, as you can create frozen bridges, climb cliffs, or simply find alternative routes. The game encourages exploration and creativity, much like Breath of the Wild, giving you the freedom to approach every challenge in your own unique way.

Boss Fights are Just Epic

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The massive enemies you’ve seen in the trailers, called Epics, truly live up to their name. If you love the grand, intense battles of Shadow of the Colossus, where you scale towering beasts to fight them, but crave a faster-paced, action-packed experience akin to Monster Hunter, then this game delivers. These monsters are gigantic and incredibly intimidating. Without a traditional level system, you’ll need to face them head-on using every tool at your disposal.

There’s a wide variety of Epics to battle, including Arks and Drakes, each requiring different strategies and tactics to defeat. Every fight is unique, often forcing you to stay sharp and focused, as you’ll sometimes need to face these monsters multiple times to gather the resources and strands you need.

The first true boss fight against the Ark of the Triken Earth is a blast, as you’ll need to break through its armor—frost damage makes the armor more brittle, encouraging experimentation. What I love most is how the game fosters creativity in combat, allowing you to try different methods to take down these colossal foes. And I won’t spoil the rest, but trust me—they only get better from here.

Visuals In-Game Can be Sometimes be an Eyesore

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Don't get me wrong, the visuals in Eternal Strands are, for the most part, stunning, and I really admire the artistic direction they chose. However, there are moments where the Legend of Zelda-inspired color palette and art style don’t quite land. At times, the colors seem to blend together, making it difficult to distinguish certain elements, which can be especially frustrating during combat when there’s a lot of movement and action happening at once. It doesn’t always feel natural, and that can occasionally hinder the experience.

That being said, these moments are not frequent, and most of the art—from the beautifully designed sprites to the cinematic scenes and the world itself—is incredibly well executed. It’s clear a lot of care went into the visual design, and when it shines, it really does shine.

Interesting Lore, Not So Interesting Narrative

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I have to admit, I’m honestly a bit disappointed with the narrative in Eternal Strands. It’s not bad by any means, but it definitely had the potential to be much more, especially considering how captivating the world and its lore are.

The codex offers a wealth of information, unveiling a rich history, but I found the central narrative and its characters lacking in depth.
The overarching mystery of the Enclave does a great job of keeping you curious, teasing just enough to make you want to uncover its secrets. However, the story doesn’t fully tap into the potential of its own lore. There are moments of brilliance that make the journey worthwhile, but overall, it doesn’t soar as high as it could have.

Brynn starts out as such an intriguing character, but I found her character arc to be rather underwhelming. I enjoyed the personal stories tied to the side quests, but in the main narrative, she feels one-dimensional and not as engaging as I’d hoped. She’s definitely badass, though.

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As for the other companions, I appreciated their unique personalities and quirks, but none of them really stood out as particularly compelling. Dahm and Oria are the most fun to interact with, but even they don’t have the depth I was hoping for.

While the game does have its share of epic moments, I just wish there was more depth in the story to make the world feel as rich as it truly is.

Is Eternal Strands Worth It?

A Magical Worthwhile Experience

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Despite my few gripes, Eternal Strands is still a truly magical experience that’s absolutely worth the $40 price tag—and honestly, it offers more value than many AAA games out there today. It’s refreshing to see a game that’s reasonably priced while still delivering such a rich, rewarding experience. This game truly deserves to be played and celebrated, and I hope its success paves the way for a sequel or more titles from Yellow Brick Studios. They’ve definitely earned it, and I’m excited to see what they create next.


Digital Storefronts
Xbox IconXbox Playstation IconPlayStation Steam IconSteam Epic IconEpic
Price $39.99


Eternal Strands FAQ

Who are Brynn’s Companions in Eternal Strands?

 ⚫︎ Sola
 ⚫︎ Sevastyan
 ⚫︎ Dahm
 ⚫︎ Laen
 ⚫︎ Casymyn
 ⚫︎ Oria

What Languages does Eternal Strands Support?

The game offers English and French voice-overs, while the languages included for text options include:
 ⚫︎ Japanese
 ⚫︎ Simplified Chinese
 ⚫︎ German
 ⚫︎ Brazillian Portuguese
 ⚫︎ Korean (Only Available on STOVE, PS5, and Xbox Series XIS)
 ⚫︎ English
 ⚫︎ French

What are the Powers and Strands in Eternal Strands

The first two abilities Brynn starts with are Weaver’s Grasps, which lets her telekinetically pick up and throw objects, and Ice Wall, allowing her to shoot out ice that temporarily freezes enemies and the environment.

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Eternal Strands Product Information

Eternal Strands Cover
Title Eternal Strands
Release Date date here
Developer Yellow Brick Games
Publisher Yellow Brick Games
Supported Platforms PC, PS5, Xbox Series XIS, STOVE
Genre Action-adventure
Number of Players 1
ESRB Rating T
Official Website Eternal Strands Website

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