Breakout success tend have an unfortunate effect on the games industry for decades afterwards. Dark Souls, for instance, set us on the path we’re now on today where most action focused games include at least some elements of the soulslike trope in no small part with hopes to capitalise on the success. Such it was for stealth games back in the day, with the success of the Thief series meaning that most games would seek to include some form of the mechanic and, unfortunately, usually doing it quite badly. Gone also were the days when pure stealth games were common, now even games that are ostensibly “stealth” games usually incorporating more traditional action sequences in order to keep players more engaged. Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream then is quite the curiosity, being a pure stealth game in an age where the action-rpg-soulslikes dominate the headlines.
Hanna wakes up to see the face of Herman staring back at her, it’s a miracle. After being struck down by the heartpox Hanna has been one of the lucky few to make it through to the other side and they can continue their lives on from here on out. Herman, now happy that Hanna is out of danger for now, returns to his job and tells Hanna he’ll be back that night. However it’s not long before the police break down the door, berating Hanna on the whereabouts of his brother and what nefarious activities he’s been up to. They try to take her for questioning but before they can grab her she makes a swift exit out the back only to find the full force of Eriksholm’s police force bearing down on her. What has Herman done to get this kind of attention and what can Hanna do to save him from it?
Much like Deliver at all Costs before it I don’t have a good reference point for Eriksholm’s visual aesthetic, the only others I can think of being the old isometric games of yore like Crusader: No Remorse which are closer to pixelart than anything else. Still though what the dev team have been able to do with the environments is impressive as there’s an incredible amount of detail both in terms of assets and level design. That does make the game’s opening scenes a bit overwhelming although it doesn’t take you long to get a feel for what’s explorable and what’s a background piece. Performance is also good, even when I tried to engage in certain shenanigans to break the physics engine. The cutscenes are another step above too, avoiding the issues I had with Deliver at all Cost’s in-game cutscenes that made it rather apparent just how low the level of detail was up close.
Eriksholm is a 100% true stealth adventure, meaning that you don’t have the easy option of just going full guns-blazing should you be detected by an enemy. This does mean that Eriksholm is limited to the standard tropes of the genre: timing the guards, using the environment to your advantage, distractions and finally taking out guards but making sure to put the bodies in a place where their buddies can’t see them. The variety comes in the form of different characters having different abilities, necessitating different strategies in order to get you through a level. You’re not locked into a perfect solution however as there appears to be both alternative paths and not-so-strict mechanics that let you get away with things that I don’t believe were 100% intended. Eriksholm then isn’t particularly original or novel, but given this is the first game from the studio it’s very well executed.
Given stealth is the main mechanic you’d expect it to be done well and for the most part it is. Most solutions are the most straightforward one and should you find yourself up against split-second timing to get something right you can usually assume that what you’re doing isn’t intended. Enemies don’t have superhuman ears or anything like that and the detection time feels well correlated to how easy you should be able to detect. The game’s straightforward nature does mean that a lot of ancillary systems haven’t been implemented (like a check for you tossing someone on the train lines after you’ve taken them out, as I did below) but I’ll hazard a guess that’s not the point. Whilst you can get away with some hilarious shenanigans that’s certainly not something the devs were really thinking about.
Whilst exploration is a key part of Eriksholm’s experience it doesn’t feel as rewarding as it could be. Scattered around the world are notes, pictures and other collectible trinkets you can find but none of them have an impact on the gameplay. Some of them are in challenging puzzle setups, which can be fun, but other than building out the world a little more or triggering a line or two of dialogue there’s not much to be had for scouring all the nooks and crannies of the map. I’m not usually motivated by these things though so I’m sure there’s some achievement hunters out there who will probably have the opposite experience.
Even for a short game as this progress feels a little bit slow for my liking. It takes an awful long time for you to graduate out of the simply timing guards part of the game and similar changes in the game’s core mechanics feel similarly slow. This could be my action-addicted brain wanting more stimulation which is certainly not the point of a stealth game.
PLOT SPOILERS BELOW
The narrative unfortunately fell flat for me, mostly because the game’s seemingly climactic moment is in fact not that and is instead around the midpoint of the game. I am talking about when you find Herman of course and his summary execution the second you do. Whilst the game does it’s best to build this out from a revenge narrative from there I just didn’t feel like that was the shock or twist that the game needed to take it to the next level. It was at that point that I felt that most of the wind was taken out of my sails and, given the somewhat repetitive nature of the gameplay, I wasn’t interested in going on much further than that.
PLOT SPOILERS OVER
Making a game like Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream in today’s gaming market is something of a gamble. On the one hand it’s a standout among this year’s offerings precisely because of what it is, something that we don’t really see much of anymore. But at the same time the niche of players who’ll go for something like that is much smaller, others getting their stealth fix from titles that don’t hold as true to the genre as it does. All that being said though Eriksholm is still very competent title for a first time release from a new studio and for that I commend them. It didn’t resonate as much for me as it did with others but that’s OK, it’s enough to show me that the devs have potential and I want to see more from them.
Rating: 7.5/10
Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is available on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S right now for $55.00. Game was played on the PC with a total of 5.6 hours playtime and 64% of the achievements unlocked.
