Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is the primary recreation from newcomer studio River Finish Video games, nevertheless it carries the arrogance and concepts of a group that’s been working within the stealth style for for much longer. With its top-down view, splendidly designed setting, and easy however partaking mechanics, every chapter appears like an hour-long play session in a phenomenal diorama puzzle field. The gameplay is backed by a brief and candy story about house and perseverance in opposition to all odds, and contains gorgeous cinematics to match. When Eriksholm lastly lays out all of its puzzle items on the board two-thirds by way of the sport, your complete expertise sings, inviting playful and sensible experimentation. I simply want I had entry to its instruments sooner; once I absolutely grasped what I used to be able to with all three protagonists concurrently underneath my command, the credit quickly started to roll.
The sport begins within the Nordic-inspired metropolis of Eriksholm, which brushes up in opposition to a whalepunk aesthetic with steam engines, hanging trolley carts, and verticality harking back to Arkane’s Dishonored collection. It’s a stunning setting, with painterly visuals, jaw-dropping lighting, and a society that feels alive. After town’s police kidnap her brother, protagonist Hanna units out on an journey to search out him. She’s rapidly pulled right into a enjoyable however simple conspiracy that leads her to deserted mines, rusty and dank sewer canals, and finally, head to head with probably the most highly effective individuals within the metropolis. However she’s not with out assist, as she encounters an area resistance chief within the type of Alva, and the hardened however shy Sebastian, who be part of Hanna’s journey to save lots of her brother and Eriksholm, too.
I just like the dynamic between these three, as every represents a special side of town and what it does to its much less lucky, much less prosperous residents; Hanna, a baby of town simply attempting to outlive, Alva, a younger lady with a fireplace for revolution, and Sebastian, a solitary employee who retains to himself. The best way they play off one another narratively is nice, backed by glorious voice work, however I get pleasure from the best way these three harmonize mechanically much more.
Hanna can crawl by way of air flow shafts, escaping by way of secluded buildings to succeed in new locations and discover hidden collectibles, and shoot sleep darts with a blowpipe. Alva can climb drainpipes, bringing her to the rooftops of Eriksholm, the place she will use her slingshot to shoot pebbles that create diversions or gentle sources to darken an space. And at last, Sebastian can choke guards out along with his brute power and swim within the surrounding water to succeed in new (often decrease) areas. The actual deal with of Eriksholm is scouting out the threats forward, be it illuminating gentle or an abundance of guards or one thing else, and determining what every of those playable characters must do to permit the others to succeed ahead.
Maybe Alva must climb to a rooftop to shoot a pebble on the avenue gentle above, permitting Hanna to maneuver nearer to a close-by guard and take them out with a sleep dart obscured by the darkness Alva’s shot supplied. I study this guard is a sentry, that means a dart alone received’t take them out, however fortunately, Sebastian is close by and may end the job by choking the sleepy guard out. With the sentry out of their means, all three advance to a close-by hedge maze, the place I have to assume even more durable about how their movesets will get me by way of this labyrinth crammed with half a dozen guards whose sightlines crisscross in disturbing methods. In case you’re noticed by a guard and don’t conceal earlier than their sightline fills up, you’re met with an prompt recreation over display screen.
Happily, for probably the most half, checkpoints are beneficiant. The sport’s trial-and-error stealth puzzles and frequent recreation overs hardly ever stall the enjoyable. However there have been a couple of instances I felt betrayed by a poor checkpoint that set me again a bit too far, and it doesn’t assist that the sport’s lifelike animations and general motion velocity are fairly gradual. Nonetheless, I’m often just some minutes away from one other nice head-scratching puzzle, bookended with a eureka second that doesn’t get outdated.
Eriksholm’s largest folly, although, is that you just spend nearly half the sport with simply Hanna earlier than Alva joins the fray, and by the point Sebastian rounds the trio out, there are only a few hours left to get pleasure from. I see why River Finish Video games did this – the primary few chapters with simply Hanna function an prolonged tutorial and alternative to find how Eriksholm’s world reacts to your stealthy strikes – nevertheless it holds again too lengthy how nice the sport may be when Alva and Sebastian enter the image.
Chapters start and finish with cutscenes that function mystifyingly attractive visuals that rival the trade’s greatest, and the story Eriksholm tells is easy however filled with coronary heart, even when I noticed its twists from a mile away. By the point I wrapped up the sport, some 15 hours into it, I used to be left wanting extra of this crew and world. However Eriksholm additionally ends with a neat bow, wrapping up most free ends in satisfying style. My favourite moments, although, got here within the miniature tales instructed by residents and guards as I stealthed ahead. One a couple of lady professing her affair to her husband, who lay unconscious at the hours of darkness because of my actions, left me chuckling. It’s an nearly bodily sort of comedy afforded by the sport’s diorama-esque participant viewpoint, and it gives moments of sharp writing and wit all through.
Eriksholm is a good puzzle recreation underneath the guise of a stealth journey, using the mechanics of the latter to create the items for the previous. With a centered forged, three playable characters that synergize harmoniously, and a world whose nooks and crannies beg to be seen (with collectibles to reward your efforts), I’m left wanting extra. Eriksholm, for probably the most half, avoids the crucial error of stealth puzzles that develop past advanced into irritating, and turns in a collection of challenges which are nearly all the time enjoyable and, within the remaining handful of hours, good. I simply want the remainder of the sport matched its later heights.