After the relatively hardcore stealth shenanigans of titles such as Commandos: Origins and Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, I have come to realise that I’ve long been in the mood for a more linear and, well, less punishing genre effort combined with sky high production values and a gripping story. And wouldn’t you know it – that is exactly what Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream brings to the table and I for one, at this point in my gaming life, am absolutely here for it.
Brought to life by River End Games, a burgeoning Swedish studio stuffed with AAA level development talent that has toiled on the likes of the Little Nightmares, Mirror’s Edge, Battlefield and Unravel franchises, it’s very clear from the moment you first pick up the controller and peer past the initial title screen that Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is something a little bit special.
Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream PS5 Review
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Unfolding in the opulent city of Eriksholm, an expansive Nordic city influenced by the cityscapes of early 1900s Scandinavia such as Gothenburg and Malmö, Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream places players in control of Hanna, a rebellious young firebrand (with crimson locks to match) who is hellbent on rescuing her brother Herman from the shadowy regime under which everyone in the titular city toils.
Now, the location in which Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is set in is very important. ‘Why’, you ask? Well, this is important because every strand of Eriksholm’s visual identity is threaded through the lens of its geo-historical inspiration. Early on, this includes a raft of colourful timbermade tenements lining the streets of Eriksholm, all of which boast the bright facades, weathered wood and contrasting window trim which collectively embody the hygge-inspired warmth of the home country of Eriksholm’s developer, Clear End Games.
Elsewhere, stylistic nods to Art Nouveau, Victorian industrialisation and a deep lean into elevated architecture, all create a visual feast where ornate Viennese mansions, narrow alleys, hidden vents, modular plumbing designs and continental elegance all coalesce to create a fusion of edificial opulence that you just don’t see in hardly any games these days – let alone those in the stealth genre.
Underpinning the facets of Eriksholm’s eye-opening design from a technical perspective is Epic’s Unreal Engine 5. Put to a myriad of stunningly effective uses, River End Games makes the most of the games industry’s most well-known graphics engine with beautifully detailed environments that show off every facet and detail of their historical influences. These influences are then robustly supported in turn by a liquid smooth 60 frames per second, Lumen lighting and an impressive consistency in fidelity between real-time character model visuals and what appears to be pre-rendered cutscenes.
A word about those pre-rendered cutscenes. Also created using Unreal Engine 5 together with Epic’s MetaHuman motion capture technology, the level of character detail and the sophistication of their physical performances look almost eerily lifelike, with the most nuanced of facial animations being convincingly captured and put on display. In fact, I would go so far as to say that these are some of the most beautiful pre-rendered cutscenes I have bore witness to for a very long time.
Of course the heady quality of the character models and their performances merely serve to underscore the drama that sits at the heart of Eriksholm’s story, which in turn is also supported by the fantastic voice acting performances. Representing a veritable trip up and down the sceptred isle, Erikholm’s voice cast of heroes, smugglers, soldiers, politicians and aristocrats ply accents that span everywhere from the West Country to the Yorkshire Dales and beyond, all of which really help to effortlessly immerse you in these characters and their respective plights.
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In addition to the quality of the voice acting performances, the soundtrack in Eriksholm proves to be a qualitative match. Caressing the ears with a rousing, yet delicate orchestral soundtrack that swells and ebbs in line with both the story and the on-screen action, all in all Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream might just be the most impressive looking and sounding isometric stealth game ever made. Seriously.
When it comes to all of the sneaky shenanigans that form the gameplay touchstone for Eriksholm, it’s certainly fair to say that as I mentioned earlier that this genre effort leans much more towards game design that is less challenging and far more linear than its counterparts in the genre. Folk who have drifted to Eriksholm from other isometric stealth titles such as the Commandos and Desperados franchises, will recognise the key tenets of the genre on display here with enemy viewing cones, multiple characters that have different abilities and so on, but it all feels a little more rigid and less punishing than in other titles. As previously mentioned, you can switch between different characters with Hanna able to use a blowpipe to incapacitate guards and sneak through vents, while Alva can climb pipes and leverage her trusty slingshot to knock out lights and another character later on in the game has additional abilities to bring to the table too.
As you might expect, Eriksholm very much requires players to combine the ability of all three characters in order to progress through its different maps and story chapters, with Alva knocking out a light, which then allows Hanna to blow-dart a hapless guard into the land of nod, in one example, while elements in the environment such as a loud moving train can be used to mask any noise that you make, too. Predictably, the required combinations of abilities and how you leverage them in the environment become more and more complex as the game goes on, providing a nice little hit of dopamine whenever you successfully pull off a particularly elaborate set of actions which allows you to progress.
The caveat to this however, is that Eriksholm is almost completely linear in its approach, meaning that the developers only want you to complete each situation in a particular way that they have in mind and there is no amount of creative latitude afforded to the player to think outside of the box that the developers have provided. Naturally, if you’re accustomed to other stealth titles where a myriad of approaches isn’t just allowed, but actively encouraged, then Eriksholm’s narrow focus might disappoint you somewhat.
Though Eriksholm embraces linear design when it comes to its moment to moment stealth gameplay, there is some relief to be found in the various notes and collectibles scattered around each map and which often lay somewhat often the beaten path, helping to not only fatten out the lore with helpful bit of introspective narration from our heroes, but also earn you some shiny PlayStation trophies into the bargain as well.
In addition to Eriksholm’s use of a linear approach, tropes from an earlier era of the stealth genre also rear their ugly head, with missions that can be insta-failed if you’re spotted or if a body is discovered. Though frustrating, this does tie directly into the rigidity of the experience in that the developers don’t want you to get spotted and then find a way out of that situation – they just want you to succeed precisely as they have designed it. To make things even easier, should you fail, Eriksholm is extremely generous with its checkpointing, often transporting you back mere seconds prior to the moment of your unfortunate failure.
While Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream won’t win any awards in terms of its challenge or implementation of stealth mechanics, I absolutely fell in love with its opulent setting, excellently heartfelt performances, gripping story and linear stealth adventure goodness that did just enough to satisfy my stealth hunger. Though some may rightly decry its lack of challenge relative to other entries in the stealth genre, Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is nonetheless a stunning debut for Swedish based studio River End Games and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is out now on PS5.
Review code kindly provided by PR.