izigame.me

Battle large enemies with a blend of magic and steel to recover your home in Eternal Strands.
Settings, Features & Gameplay
There are a lot of settings for this game, lots of graphic and video settings. Audio controls, subtitles and more. I only adjusted the odd setting and mainly played on what the game defaulted me too upon start up. I had no crashes or game breaking bugs. I found the game to run smoothing. In cut-scenes however it did not support ultra wide so you will get black bars on the sides.
Highlights
* Bosses are farmable and will get stronger with new attacks up to the first three times you fight them.
* The world is highly reactive. The elements affect each other. And every surface you can climb. Just watch your stamina.
* Eventually you get an item (not sure why it is under consumables) but it does not disappear after using it. It is for fast travelling back to camp no matter where you are but it is a one way trip. The item is called Loomshard.
* Press V at any time to use the Watchers Wisp (a trail to show you the direction to go). I just wish it lasted longer when activated. But do the quest for Laen called “A study in Light” to buff it’s cool down rate significantly.
* The HAMMER icons on the map is a location of gear and weapon schematics. I wish we could zoom into the map to see details better. Once a schematic is found a green checkmark will appear on the map to show you that you’ve collected it.
Shortcomings…yes there is a few
* Inventory is way too small. You need to upgrade the caravan to unlock more inventory space, the levelling up of your camp is determined by the story so even if you have the resources you're not free to upgrade until you get to the next point in the story where it lets you. My biggest gripe with the game.
* Fall damage…I personally hate when games, especially fantasy games, make you take fall damage.
* No hud or quest markers but this is where you press V to use your Watcher’s Wisp (see highlights)
* When you die you respawn at camp and can only take a handful of resources back with you. The number you can keep will increase as you level up your camp and you can choose which ones to keep. Still it is sad to lose any at all.
Gear, Weapons and Levelling up
Your character does not level up in this game, only the gear and weapons and those must be crafted. So here is where some grind comes in but it is made worse by such a small inventory at the start. Once back at camp all your resources are safe and automatically transferred to your stash.
Also you do not find weapons or gear in the world. Only resources, schematics, and texts. Everything is brought back to camp to be crafted. You can choose what materials to use and the higher the rarity the better the gear and weapons (obviously).
Your Map…useful info
As you play an area information will become available about not just the areas of the map but what resources it holds. That summary (called Attunement) holds info on the current weather in a map, the current Arkon or big boss available, common enemies of the area, resources that can be found and where the weapon and gear schematics are. It also tells you how many loomgates are in the area.
As you play an area you will collect pages of information. Collect x amount of them to open up knowledge of that area.
The way to see all this info at base camp is by going to the loom and before you travel all these stats show about each area before fast travelling there.
A Loomgate (fast travel portal). Unlock one or many in any given map.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3418480842
Look at the map's stats (weather and what big boss is in that area) before fast travelling. Don’t like the stats then go to sleep in your tent. Each in-game day changes the weather and boss in the area.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3420255727
The Visuals & Audio
The cut-scenes that are animated are gorgeous. The art style is very much “Dragon Prince” style (a great show on Netflix). I adore the Dragon Prince series so the art and look of characters appealed to me right off the bat. Plus the environments are beautiful. Anyone who enjoys taking screen captures will love this game, a lot to capture! No photo-mode which is a real shame, this game needs one.
The music fleshes out the world with melodies of fantasy, magic and adventure. The score was created by Austin Wintory and if you wish to preview a sample he has a video on his Youtube (Austin Wintory).
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3420257468
Overall Experience
Despite the short-comings, which let’s be honest, will be a deal breaker for some, I really love this game. Some things are fixable like inventory space and fall damage (that can be reduced if not outright removed). I see some negative reviews saying the combat feels janky but for me I played with keyboard and mouse and found it felt good.
I did watch some Youtube videos on how to harvest the core magic from the main bosses ahead of time so I knew what to do and some bosses are very challenging. You will have to fight each boss multiple times to upgrade each of your magics to level 3 and bosses rotate where they can be found.
I find the artwork and animations to look very much like the art style of the Dragon Prince series. And the movement in the world to feel like Immortals Fenyx Rising, the way all surfaces can be scaled and how reactive the environments are.
I really enjoy the game and hope some quality of life stuff gets fixed but I’ve laid out what I deem to be the highs and lows and hopefully it helps you make a more informed decision if this game is right for you. For those of you who do decide to jump in…the Enclave awaits. ✨
This game was purchased by me for my personal library. On occasion I share my experiences with the groups I write for to help bring attention to games I’ve personally purchased and wish to give more exposure too.
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