Platforms:
PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S
Released:
January 29, 2025
Publisher:
Yellow Brick Games
Developer:
Yellow Brick Games
3D action adventure games are notoriously difficult to develop in the modern indie scene – even though more accessible creation tools and more powerful game engines are available, the sheer cost and scale of game development in this genre doesn’t tend to favour a typically smaller independent budget. Despite this, 2025 has gifted us Eternal Strands, an ambitious, epic third-person action adventure title from a brand new indie studio.
Between its deliciously dense fantasy nerd lore, titanic boss encounters, and elemental interactions that echo some of the mechanical themes of God of War: Ragnarök, this is an impressive debut for Yellow Brick Games that feels liberated rather than restricted by its indie roots. It’s a vibrant, spectacular romp through a gorgeous magical world, and for the most part delivers a compelling fantasy adventure experience.
You play as Brynn, a magical adept in a world where magic is no longer welcome. After a mysterious catastrophe (dubbed “the Surge”) some years ago, most magic-users (“Weavers”) were trapped within the Veil and cut off from the outside world. Those who were outside the Veil became outcasts and now band together in nomadic groups, seeking a way back to their homeland. Brynn, after joining a new band of Weavers, accidentally discovers a path through the Veil. As newly appointed “point” for her band, Brynn’s role is to explore the world within the Veil (known as the “Enclave”) while her companions guide her through a magical scry. She is tasked with ensuring the safety of her band, piecing together how the Surge happened, as well as attempting to make contact with anyone who may have survived behind the Veil.
Eternal Strands is a melting pot of influences. Its extensive lore and character arcs would feel right at home in the Dragon Age series, while its tone and visual aesthetic hearken back to Immortals Fenyx Rising. The Enclave is jam-packed with fantasy worldbuilding, realised with a sparkly, particle-effect-heavy visual style that makes its many biomes feel lush and vibrant. Most notable of these is the abandoned city of Dynevron, an absolutely stunning setpiece and a true treat to explore.
Most character interactions take place in static text boxes with 2D character portraits, which manage to feel surprisingly natural thanks to consistently high-quality voice acting and clever writing. There are even a few animated 2D cutscenes, lending the entire experience an unusual but cinematic flair. It’s impressive to see an indie studio focus its efforts strategically: the moment-to-moment 3D action gameplay looks and feels great, while the less bombastic character moments are served efficiently without ever feeling cheap.

Threading the Strands
As a Weaver, Brynn has access to an array of magical abilities that allow her to manipulate the elements. You’ll begin with a couple of basic tricks: Weaver’s Grasp is a pretty stock-standard telekinesis spell, while Ice Wall pretty much does what it says on the tin. As you progress, you’ll unlock a bunch of different powers that let you summon elementals, breathe fire, and even create wormholes that launch you or your enemies into the air.
Each of these abilities plays into Eternal Strands’ robust physics system. Taking some of its cues from immersive playgrounds like Minecraft and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the game simulates temperature for objects, terrain, and enemies, letting you scorch or freeze the world to your liking. It’s surprising how much of an impact this can have on exploration. When the weather is sunny, fire spells will spread like crazy and do extra damage, and defeating enemies when “tempered” to a specific heat can affect which materials they drop. Brynn’s armour has dedicated values for heat and cold resistance, and you’ll need to take advantage of special elixirs that make you temporarily immune to thermal damage in order to explore frozen or flaming zones.
On top of this, you’ll also be able to add elemental enchantments to your standard weapons, giving you a flaming bow or a broadsword that can fling baddies into the abyss. When combined with your Weave powers, it always feels like there are tonnes of options to lean on in any given combat.

While schematics for armour and weapons can be found scattered throughout the world, expanding your Weaver abilities requires confronting some of Eternal Strands’ most fearsome enemies. Each time you visit one of the Enclave’s diverse biomes, you’ll find it patrolled by one of several giant bosses referred to as Great Foes. Scaling one of these à la Shadow of the Colossus and taking it down grants you a “Strand” of its power, which you can spend back at camp to unlock an ability corresponding to that boss’ element. It’s not as easy as hacking them to bits, though, as each behemoth has its specific weakness: Ark bosses are enormous elemental automatons covered in armour that needs to be chipped away before you can do any real damage, and the draconic Ashpeak Drakes will launch into the sky unless you damage their wings.
Defeating a Great Foe after already receiving its Strand nets you some rare crafting materials, but in order to improve your magical skills you’ll need to instead harvest fresh Strands from each enemy’s “locus” of power. These only become available when you fulfil specific conditions mid-fight; for example, the Ark of the Living Flame must have its fiery crown doused before its locus appears, while the Highland Iceclaw can only be harvested while it’s flying. You’re also vulnerable while performing a harvest, so you’ve got to make sure you’ve sufficiently damaged the boss’ offensive limbs before attempting to yank on its locus.
Taking on each Great Foe (especially for the first time) is a wonderfully cinematic experience. They put up a tough fight until you know exactly how to exploit their weaknesses, after which they become satisfying exercises in power fantasy. Encounters with these titans also allow the physics and magic systems in Eternal Strands to really shine and get you fully immersed in Brynn’s headspace. It feels incredibly powerful to study up on a foe’s weakness, gear yourself up, and even manipulate the weather for an elemental advantage before going on the hunt. Composer Austin Wintory’s (Journey, Stray Gods) score ties an illustrious bow on the whole experience: the epic music, intense magic visual effects, and decent rewards for your efforts make scaling Great Foes a highlight of the game.
Into the Veil
Outside of taking down Great Foes and exploring the Enclave, Brynn’s adventures cover investigating what exactly happened during the Surge, as well as searching for any Weavers who may have survived behind the Veil. The main quest sees you gradually discovering more about the history of this magical world, its politics, and the relationship between it and your band of Weaver friends. You’ll also receive companion quests that deepen your connections with the band and unlock unique gear. Each of the characters is well-written and decently fleshed out, providing neat glimpses into the world’s broader political landscape.

While the main quest proves as an opportunity to explore the lush world of Eternal Strands, its latter half starts to rely a little too heavily on the player’s patience. Right as the narrative starts to amp up and hint at a climax, you’re hit with a few “find X amount of this random item drop” and “upgrade this ability to level X” quests that will necessitate grinding through areas you’ve likely already explored a few times. While not a deal-breaker, this was enough of a roadblock to the narrative pacing to kill my buzz a little.
It was also here where I noticed that the varied roster of standard enemies all have a larger health pool than you’d expect, eventually turning them into more of an annoyance than an obstacle. I found myself just dashing past most foes towards whichever objective was closest and waiting for enemy aggro to fade, which is a shame considering how fun combat can be.
Aside from these pacing issues, I relished the twenty-odd hours I spent with Eternal Strands. Between its vast array of elemental effects, crafting mechanics, climbing and traversal options, narrative threads, and enemy types, there’s a lot going on at any given moment. However, it manages to weave its mechanical threads together into a cohesive, satisfying fantasy experience. It’s also worth calling out (without spoilers) that queerness is genuinely centred in its narrative in multiple ways, both explicitly and thematically. Brynn’s band of Weavers are a true chosen family, you get opportunities to witness and pursue queer romance – and it’s just horny enough to fuel the fanfics of any Dragon Age diehard. Great stuff.
8
Great
Positive:
- A huge variety of unique and fun magical abilities to mess with
- Colourful, vibrant fantasy worldbuilding
- Scaling monsters to harvest their essence feels genuinely epic
Negative:
- Mandatory grinding sections in the main story hurt its pace
Eternal Strands delivers a slick, action-packed fantasy adventure with tonnes of heart and a whole lot of elemental fury to play with. Despite a little tedium creeping into its late-game grinding missions, it manages to weave an unbelievable number of mechanics into a cohesive gameplay loop that feels very satisfying. On top of that, its vibrant and imaginative world is gorgeously realised and full of delicious lore for fantasy nerds to devour. An incredibly strong first offering from new indie studio Yellow Brick Games.