Eternal Strands: Everything We Know

Yellow Brick Games, a studio founded by Mike Laidlaw, the former Dragon Age creative director, has finally revealed its debut title. Eternal Strands is making its way to PCs and consoles, and it's a mystical delight. After close to four years of hushed development, the studio is finally ready to peel back the curtains, giving fans an insight into what they have been working on. So what is it all about? Will the studio's debut title put the new studio on a pedestal with the other big leagues? Let's find out more in Eternal Strands—everything we know.

What Is Eternal Strands?

Eternal Strands is an upcoming third-person fantasy action adventure. The game centers on Weavers, a group of magic users whose population grows fewer by the day. Notably, this is a familiar premise in the world of fantasy games. But what sets this upcoming title apart is its ingenious blending of physics and magic. 

Speaking to IGN, Louis Tremblay, one of the developers, revealed, “In Eternal Strands, we wanted to merge our magic with the physics gameplay. That was something that…we wanted to achieve for a very long time, trying to bring the joyfulness of physics games and simulation games into a more action-packed game.”

Story

Players will step into the role of Brynn, a member of the Weavers, the magic group that is reducing in numbers. You'll journey across a vast fantasy kingdom struck by a tragic magical event. Your quest is to uncover the secrets of a once mighty nation, the Enclave, and restore your home and its people to their former glory. 

Gameplay

Playing as Brynn, the fearless warrior, players will have access to various enchanted weapons and armor. Besides this, your primary weapon is a magical cloak known as the mantle, which you use to leverage the temperature and elements to your advantage through channeling magic. Ideally, this highlights the game's central technique of bending Unreal Engine 5 to infuse magic with physics. 

In a deeper dive, the developers give an example of how players will achieve this. “If, for example, you're fighting the fire drake that will blast fire into your face, you can cast a wall of ice and reflect that fire back at other NPCs, which is pretty fun. But with these spells also, you can lift stuff with physical force, like there's [telekinesis power] that's pretty fun to play around, and I think we haven't spoken about synergy yet. So you can mix and match your spells. If you're, for example, creating a bubble of force, you can cast fire into it and create a ball of fire.”

This next-gen physics encourages creativity among players, where you ideally create your own chaos. Objects in the game have certain temperature levels, meaning heat or cold can travel from one object to the next. Therefore, if a hot object falls on water, it can produce vapor. Players may use this technique to reduce visibility and launch a surprise attack. 

Moreover, players will use these powers to fight human-sized foes and colossal, climbable beings called Arks. The only way to defeat these gargantuan beats is by scaling their backs and attacking their armor, which makes them vulnerable. Then, by using the elements, you can attack their weak spots. For example, you could use fire to burn off their fur or an ice attack to topple them over. 

Delevelopment

Eternal Strands is an ambitious project by a team of developers with vast experience working on triple-A games. The team consists of Thomas Giroux, Jeff Skalski, Frederic St. Laurent B, and Mike Laidlaw. The studio was established in 2020, and since then, they've been working on this title as their debut project. If there is something you can't question about the team, it is their experience with games of a similar portfolio.

Skalski, the studio's Executive Producer and Chief Operating Officer, said, “We have learned a lot from working on world-class, multi-year projects with thousands of colleagues, and we want to take a different approach. Leveraging a smaller, talented team where people come first, we will create amazing worlds and experiences for all others to enjoy. The market is moving fast, and we have no desire to play catchup and chase it when we can influence where it goes. These goals drove us to found Yellow Brick Games.”

The studio has sixty-eight employees working on the game using a craftsmanship approach. The studio plans to leverage the power of the new generation consoles, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, to bring their vision to life. 

Furthermore, the studio also intends to take on a self-publishing role. CEO Miek Laidlaw notes that the self-publishing is a “leap of faith” given the murky waters in the industry and also says that “it is an opportunity to take our destiny into our own and reach out directly to players and the wider gaming community:”

Trailer

Yes, we have a trailer, which is an ‘alpha footage' version. The trailer showcases the 25-foot towering adversaries and the humanoids you'll tackle. Plus, the game world is undoubtedly ripe with magical elements, with fire engulfing parts of the environment and ice sticking to rocks. 

From the trailer, it also appears that the game will feature destructible environments amidst the flashy combat. There's a lot of smashing, hurling, and jumping, all brought together by the power of Unreal Engine 5. Moreover, the game looks stunning and colorful. The developers revealed they're leveraging lighting effects to give each level its own palette identity. 

Release Date, Platforms & Editions

Release Date, Platforms & Editions

Eternal Strands is slated for a 2025 release, but the developers have not provided a concrete date for its launch. We can, however, confirm that the game will exclusively launch on PC (through Steam), Xbox Series X|S, and PS5. 

Additionally, we don't have information on the editions to expect. So many details remain scarce at the moment. However, you can always follow the official social media handle here to keep track of new updates. Meanwhile, we'll watch out for new information and let you know as soon as they come up.

So, what's your take? Will you pick up a copy of Eternal Strands when it drops? Let us know over on our socials here.