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[LectureMaster]

Eternal Strands will be available on January 28, 2025. Original post-launch content update designed with Square Enix's Creative Studio III. Also will be available day one on Xbox Game Pass.

Eternal Strands launches January 28, 2025; post-launch content collaboration with Square Enix Creative Studio III announced

Eternal Strands will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam on January 28, 2025, developer Yellow Brick Games announced. It will also be available via Game Pass. The developer also…

www.gematsu.com

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Post-Launch Original Content Update Designed with Creative Studio III

In an exciting development, Yellow Brick Games has partnered with Square Enix’s Creative Studio III (known for Final Fantasy XIV Online and Final Fantasy XVI) to design brand-new, original content for Eternal Strands.

The first post-launch update will be available for free, and will feature a new Epic creature, weapons and armor set designed in collaboration with Creative Studio III’s renowned lead artist Yusuke Mogi (known for Final Fantasy XIV Online).

The new trailer teased a glimpse of what the aerial Epic will look like, bringing a striking, visually dynamic addition to the game, that will push the boundaries of combat in Eternal Strands with Creative Studio III’s unique and beloved artistic flair.

Quote by Jeff Skalski

“As a long-time fan of Square Enix and the games Creative Studio III have made under the helm of Naoki Yoshida, member of Square Enix’s board of directors, and studio head of Creative Studio III, this is a dream come true for all of us here at Yellow Brick Games. To first have the opportunity to create our own original fantasy [intellectual property] and then have the chance to work with the Creative Studio III team to further enrich it with all-new content is just a once in a lifetime moment. As an independent studio working on our first game, we will forever be thankful to them. I can’t wait for the players to experience the new cool designs from the master artist Yusuke Mogi when our first free post-launch update for Eternal Strands arrives in the spring of 2025.”

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What to expect in Eternal Strands

• Challenge your creativity: combine your growing array of magical powers and enchanted weapons on the battlefield to take down colossal enemies on the ground and in the air.
• Highly interactive and breakable environments where the world is your weapon: burn, freeze, throw everything.
• A beautiful world to explore by climbing freely to discover a setting rich with secrets, supported by a warm cast of supporting characters.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Am I going to say it?

Horrible art direction.

 

[Clear]

DOA.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Am I going to say it?

Horrible art direction.

Yeah, looks alright mechanically, but they really needed to rethink that art.

 

[GHG]

This looks awful.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Yeah, looks alright mechanically, but they really needed to rethink that art.

Perhaps its not fair to judge a book by its cover but I've seen many of those mobile, gacha and f2p games looking exactly the same like this. They all seem to chase that Fortnite appeal. I simply don't like it.

 

[Danjin44]

Yeah I’m not the biggest fan of its character designs and overall art direction.

I’m guessing Creative Studio III is not the one working on its artstyle.

The character designs screams western game.

 

[pulicat]

This type of experimental game they should avoid in the first place. Not a single soul was asking this kind of game from Square Enix.

This kind of game is wasting everyone's time and SE resources.

They should cut those unnecessary spending on something like this and channelling all the budgets towards guarantee millions sellers such as

Next mainline Dragon Quest game
Next Dragon Quest Remake
Next Dragon Quest monster game
Next FF remake
Next mainline FF
Next FF tactics game
Next mainline Nier
Next asano project

 

[Rocinante618]

NOTE: I can see by the replies that a lot are not really reading into this so:
SQUARE ENIX DID NOT MAKE THIS. SQUENIX could never make something this fun! They will help the dev - Yellow Brick Games (Canadian) to make DLC/postgame content!

I had played a demo of this game and it's really unique and kinda fun.

This game is very much borrows a lot from Zelda BOTW and you can mix-mash abilities to skip huge section, one shot bosses, just in general experiment. The physics and environments are very well baked into the gameplay. Some of the animation and enemies were janky, unpolished but I think in the final product it'll be better, I mean not Nintendo level but playable ( I hope so!)

The art-style is ok, the gameplay totally makes up for it. I'm glad the gamedev (Canadian) got into an agreement with Squenix to develop this further, super excited to play the final product!

Don't skip this!, the gameplay is unique, broken and fun. This game reminded of another which I had overlooked because of the graphics/style - Neon White, which has become one of my favorites.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

A demo will be available on Jan 21st (Steam only).

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Am I going to say it?

Horrible art direction.

Definitely. The font used for the name is a red flag to me. Too many mediocre movies and games with similar ones.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

I will be playing the demo. I think the actual gameplay looks great, and if the demo impresses, I'll pick it up.

 

[DragoonKain]

Reviews pretty solid this far. If anyone wants to make a review thread. I'm pondering getting this.

 

[adamsapple]

Just starting and already got one gear to grind.

If you're going to put something in the setting, please explain what it *IS*.

Alternate Sprint On/Off
Description: Turns Alternate Sprint On or Off.

BUT WHAT THE FUCK IS ALTERNATE SPRINT ?

 

[thatJohann]

Playing on PS5 Pro. So far, there seems to be some micro stutters for about a half a second while moving around, quite annoying actually. Not sure if it's data loading or bad frame pacing or something else. Hope it gets patched.

 

[winjer]

92% user score on Steam.
But very few people playing it so far.
My guess is that most people never heard of it.

 

[N0S]

 

[thatJohann]

Oof, my first impressions are not good. Every basic enemy takes like 15 hits to kill, they have bad animations and collision detection that makes the combat extremely unsatisfying. The controls feel janky and the movement just feels unpolished. Not sure if even patches will fix this one for me. Playing on PS5 Pro.

 

[Denton]

Deader than Elvis.
Personally I expected it to get to at least few thousand CCU, this is just sad.
But I dislike the cartoon artstyle so much that I am not even interested in trying it in gamepass.

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

It's actually pretty good imo I'll see it thru and platinum it most likely but what a shame that nobody will even look at it hardly. It's a well made game overall and looks awesome in person, but I'm on an 83 inch lg c1 and online footage does it no justice.

It has the same issue tho all these games have with characters being run of the mill generic. The thing that's dumb is it looks like a mixmash hodge podge of characters, not really dei but sorta the nod to "look at us and all these colorful characters"... Makes no sense, when you shoot for everything you have nothing, and typical generic female character... Zero stand out.

I mean have people stepped back to add up the amount of female protags we have gotten not just in gaming but shows and movies in the last few years? Like can we swing the pendulum back a little? But whatever, it has a nice craft system and it's just a pretty game I'd say, some amalur vibes... But yea I mean what a shame to have a game and it go nowhere.

 

[Revolutionary]

Played through the tutorial and I liked what I played so far. But I'm neck deep in Rebirth so this is going to have to go on the backlog for now.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Looks kind of okay. I will check out the demo.

The art direction is kind of weird, I kind of like it and kind of don't.

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

Looks kind of okay. I will check out the demo.

The art direction is kind of weird, I kind of like it and kind of don't.

It's pretty good once you're in, it has Amalur vibes if you ever played that.

 

[Alexios]

Surprisingly good user reviews so far though. Didn't see that coming, I thought it'd get more hate if anything.

 

[Heart_Attack]

Western developers still don't get that having ugly as fuck modern audience like characters kills any interest in your game. GENERIC!!!

 

[Donald mac Ronald]

Forspoken 2.0

 

[KiteGr]

I've heard it's good.
Looks like a very talented indie, that takes from Dragon's Dogma and a bit from Breath of the Wild.

 

[OctopusBox]

I’m enjoying it so far. Playing on PS5 Pro, it looks good and controls well. The melee is a little weak, your hits don’t have much impact, but I still have the dinky stariting sword. Magic elemental effects that you cast can hurt you, I think I like that.

Big plus is that it’s only $40. I hope that doesn’t mean it’s super short or anything, but I’m impressed so far for a “budget” priced action rpg.

 

[thatJohann]

I feel I'm playing a different game than most people here. IMO, the combat is so unsatisfying and unpolished and the the enemies are hit sponges, it all feels so bad to play. I was wondering if I'm missing a patch or something but my game is up to date.

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

I’m enjoying it so far. Playing on PS5 Pro, it looks good and controls well. The melee is a little weak, your hits don’t have much impact, but I still have the dinky stariting sword. Magic elemental effects that you cast can hurt you, I think I like that.

Big plus is that it’s only $40. I hope that doesn’t mean it’s super short or anything, but I’m impressed so far for a “budget” priced action rpg.

Yea the price tag is great. I sorta don't like that our magic hurts us a bit but it's no major deal. Yea the opening enemies could use a few less hits but same I haven't upgraded my sword yet.

It's a really cool little game that for me sorta came out of nowhere, I think for an indie type game and a first game for these ex bioware devs it's pretty cool

 

[geary]

I’m enjoying it so far. Playing on PS5 Pro, it looks good and controls well. The melee is a little weak, your hits don’t have much impact, but I still have the dinky stariting sword. Magic elemental effects that you cast can hurt you, I think I like that.

Big plus is that it’s only $40. I hope that doesn’t mean it’s super short or anything, but I’m impressed so far for a “budget” priced action rpg.

Heard is 20 hours or so.

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

I platinumed the game aaaaaand... The first half was more enjoyable than the 2nd half. I actually hated the game by the time I was done... But if they managed to survive for a sequel which I'm guessing they won't given the poor numbers, I'd try it... But this game had so much wrong by mid to end game I couldn't stand it. But I seen it thru, finished at 43 hours

 

[Punished Miku]

I platinumed the game aaaaaand... The first half was more enjoyable than the 2nd half. I actually hated the game by the time I was done... But if they managed to survive for a sequel which I'm guessing they won't given the poor numbers, I'd try it... But this game had so much wrong by mid to end game I couldn't stand it. But I seen it thru, finished at 43 hours

I'm surprised you soured on it so much. Combat is incredibly fun. Tons of destructible environmental elements with physics that can all be manipulated by your telekinesis powers. Lots of flexibility in how you want to tackle fights. Interesting biomes with layered level design. Elemental reactivity is easily better here than in any RPG I've ever seen with heat and cold constantly fluctuating seamlessly in real time based on your spells or enemy effects.

Feels like this is one of the few times the "made by Bioware veterans" descriptor checks out. Lore is pretty deep and it seems clear they're establishing roots for an ongoing new IP. The giant bosses are all pretty solid as well. Looking forward to this SQEX collaboration in Spring. Yellow Brick Games seems like the real deal. An incredible debut game for them.

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

I'm surprised you soured on it so much. Combat is incredibly fun. Tons of destructible environmental elements with physics that can all be manipulated by your telekinesis powers. Lots of flexibility in how you want to tackle fights. Interesting biomes with layered level design. Elemental reactivity is easily better here than in any RPG I've ever seen with heat and cold constantly fluctuating seamlessly in real time based on your spells or enemy effects.

Feels like this is one of the few times the "made by Bioware veterans" descriptor checks out. Lore is pretty deep and it seems clear they're establishing roots for an ongoing new IP. The giant bosses are all pretty solid as well. Looking forward to this SQEX collaboration in Spring. Yellow Brick Games seems like the real deal. An incredible debut game for them.

Gonna copy and paste my impressions I had written out and posted...

"So I want to say that if a sequel released, I would buy it but I'd really hope some things change.

So biggest thing for me was I liked the first half way more than the second half, way more. I thought the entry into the world was fun, exciting and felt fresh overall. It was simple and fun, that's what I wanted to experience. But by the end of the game I was have pretty much zero fun, I couldn't wait for it to be done.

To me sometimes less is more, I spent I think 43 hours to 100% this game but man so many fetch quests but that's not a major problem, it's when they send you to fetch something and then resend you right back to the same area, it became so repetitive. The core loop became apparent by mid game and was really dragging for me... But that's just me.

You guys really need to rethink enemy structure, placement etc especially with combat feeling slow depending on the weapon but by mid to end game I'm getting shot by arrows from everywhere, hit by invisible enemies, ticking damage from some element, it just wasn't fun. I found all I wanted to do was throw enemies off cliffs with kinetic if they were around what I needed or where I was going. It simply wasn't fun, especially with the enemies that disengage quickly and run away quickly, and it was just to me... Pretty bad.

The final boss was for me one of the most annoying and worst boss battles I can recall. Just found it to be zero fun, it's hard to break it down completely but it just felt cheap, but I found it zero fun and I'm not trying to just bust balls just describe my experience.

I like that there was a nice array of armors but honestly I didn't like it because the idea of crafting fire sets, ice sets... Is if you need to on the fly change out you can. Going back to town to switch gear is an odd choice. Why?

I went thru the whole game with one set that was like level 2 or 3.

I find no experience level system to be a let down because half the time kills, quests are just there.. No incentive really.. I want to feel like I'm going to get stronger as I kill enemies or turn in quests but that's just my preference. I just feel that chasing mats solely as my progression to be a little boring.

I think the kinetic stream was a fun and awesome magic but comes way to late. Thr servant a great idea but barely works. The ice armor didn't use it. The ice wall didn't seem to work we when it came to pinning down boss feet etc... They were stuck maybe 2 or 3 seconds.

I found the bosses while fun to still be wonky, like the concept was cool but there are things for instance like it was infuriating to start the harvest and still get flung or picked off, and that's because the harvest animation just felt so long... I mean either make it shorter and you're able to be flung off, or keep it longer and once you initiate it you're locked in for the kill.

As I said above tho ultimately I think less is more. Maybe cut back on dialogue a bit next time, get to the point faster, maybe a few less fetch quests, id rather a solid short but fun 20 hour romp than a 40 hour padded out romp, but that's just me.

Overall was an ok game, good start that felt pretty cool but man it petered out for me hard. I get maybe others will have a different experience but for me that's where I'm at."

It's long but it sorta conveys my thoughts. The more I played the more it was apparent some of the gimmicks became headaches, trust me I was really feeling it but by the end, yikes. Maybe because I got the platinum, if I would've buzzed thru maybe it wouldnt have weighed me down as much.

 

[Punished Miku]

Gonna copy and paste my impressions I had written out and posted...

"So I want to say that if a sequel released, I would buy it but I'd really hope some things change.

So biggest thing for me was I liked the first half way more than the second half, way more. I thought the entry into the world was fun, exciting and felt fresh overall. It was simple and fun, that's what I wanted to experience. But by the end of the game I was have pretty much zero fun, I couldn't wait for it to be done.

To me sometimes less is more, I spent I think 43 hours to 100% this game but man so many fetch quests but that's not a major problem, it's when they send you to fetch something and then resend you right back to the same area, it became so repetitive. The core loop became apparent by mid game and was really dragging for me... But that's just me.

You guys really need to rethink enemy structure, placement etc especially with combat feeling slow depending on the weapon but by mid to end game I'm getting shot by arrows from everywhere, hit by invisible enemies, ticking damage from some element, it just wasn't fun. I found all I wanted to do was throw enemies off cliffs with kinetic if they were around what I needed or where I was going. It simply wasn't fun, especially with the enemies that disengage quickly and run away quickly, and it was just to me... Pretty bad.

The final boss was for me one of the most annoying and worst boss battles I can recall. Just found it to be zero fun, it's hard to break it down completely but it just felt cheap, but I found it zero fun and I'm not trying to just bust balls just describe my experience.

I like that there was a nice array of armors but honestly I didn't like it because the idea of crafting fire sets, ice sets... Is if you need to on the fly change out you can. Going back to town to switch gear is an odd choice. Why?

I went thru the whole game with one set that was like level 2 or 3.

I find no experience level system to be a let down because half the time kills, quests are just there.. No incentive really.. I want to feel like I'm going to get stronger as I kill enemies or turn in quests but that's just my preference. I just feel that chasing mats solely as my progression to be a little boring.

I think the kinetic stream was a fun and awesome magic but comes way to late. Thr servant a great idea but barely works. The ice armor didn't use it. The ice wall didn't seem to work we when it came to pinning down boss feet etc... They were stuck maybe 2 or 3 seconds.

I found the bosses while fun to still be wonky, like the concept was cool but there are things for instance like it was infuriating to start the harvest and still get flung or picked off, and that's because the harvest animation just felt so long... I mean either make it shorter and you're able to be flung off, or keep it longer and once you initiate it you're locked in for the kill.

As I said above tho ultimately I think less is more. Maybe cut back on dialogue a bit next time, get to the point faster, maybe a few less fetch quests, id rather a solid short but fun 20 hour romp than a 40 hour padded out romp, but that's just me.

Overall was an ok game, good start that felt pretty cool but man it petered out for me hard. I get maybe others will have a different experience but for me that's where I'm at."

It's long but it sorta conveys my thoughts. The more I played the more it was apparent some of the gimmicks became headaches, trust me I was really feeling it but by the end, yikes. Maybe because I got the platinum, if I would've buzzed they maybe it wouldnt have weighed me down as much.

I'm near the end I think but haven't finished it yet or gotten to the final boss so I'll skip that part.

I'll post some gifs when I get home later and have some time. I think the combat powers really shine in ways that aren't immediately obvious and they leave it unstated how to best utilize everything, almost like a Japanese action game instead of spelling out every little thing you can do. Appreciate the impressions though. It's not best game ever made, but I think people are truly sleeping on it in many respects around the gameplay, elemental and environmental interactivity, and general quality level for a new IP from a new studio. It's a RPG slam dunk for me. Blows away the reactivity and physicality of Dragon's Dogma magic which is shocking, and the melee works well too. The two hand sword has all the weight and impact I would want from a top tier action game. I found a lot of cool uses for the magic, and it reminds me of the kind of physics and reactive weather elements you'd see from the powers in Breath of the Wild. They are there to be played around and experimented with. Ice wall can freeze people, but you can also toss an ice mine then instantly add ice wall to create a cold shock, or toss in the telekinesis bubble to concentrate the elemental buildup then explode it to spread it. Flames are high damage but difficult to control, often requiring ice wall barriers to shape your attacks and it all reacts seamlessly in real time. Telekinesis and physics effect nearly everything in the environment, and you can even use the force bubble on yourself for super jumps. Flame minion has an attack you can control with RT that does a high amount of damage. Two hand sword has a 3 hit charge combo that's massive damage. You can use ice wall for crowd control to block off doors and access points and limit who you're fighting. Arrows from enemies can be parried with shield and reflected back on archers.

 

[Filben]

92% user score on Steam.
But very few people playing it so far.
My guess is that most people never heard of it.

Plus it's on Game Pass.

Personally, really liking the (long!) demo so far. Only gripe is the lack of advanced DualSense features but I think they're missing on PS5, too. Will most certainly buy it once it gets its first discount.

 

[Punished Miku]

 

[Punished Miku]

 

[Punished Miku]

Couple other fun tricks. You can put a force bubble on invisible enemies and it highlights their position and tracks them. You can create a flame buddy then toss him at distant enemies with telekinesis like a bomb.

 

[ARK1391]

Oh yeah, I'm picking this up. This looks awesome.

 

[Punished Miku]

 

[adamsapple]

I'm interested in playing this more but it's a bit low on the priority. Hope it stays on GP through summer.

 

[Punished Miku]

I'm interested in playing this more but it's a bit low on the priority. Hope it stays on GP through summer.

Well it sounds like this SQEX update with new bosses is in Spring. Might be a good time.

 

[Punished Miku]

Maximum style points

 

[Punished Miku]

The final ice and flame powers are so insanely OP its amazing. I wont show it but you can really get creative with how you use the flame one in particular in a few ways I bet a lot of people will overlook. There's no doubt this eclipses Dragon's Dogma's magic for me. Both great games though. DD has more variety, bigger budget. This pulls off some stuff that no one else has done though. Legendary 1st game for this studio.

Shout out to the crafting as well. Armor looks great and you customize the colors based on elemental components you pick. It looks slightly different each tier you upgrade it. My level 5 weapon even has a slightly altered animation for the special. Nothing major but a nice additional detail.

 

[Punished Miku]

I made a full suit of Tamarkind armor with only level 5 sovereign entrium and level 5 iron leather for every single upgrade. Im now completely immune to fire at all times with no buffs.

 

[Humdinger]

First time I'm hearing about it. First impressions: combat looks flashy and colorful, but dialog and story setup seem generic, at least judging by the trailer, which I know is just a small slice. If there is more meat on it than that, I may check it out later.