The Swedish studio River End Games released the demo for their upcoming game Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream on PC just a few days ago. The narrative-driven stealth game follows Hanna, a young woman in search for her younger brother Herman who disappeared after stealing a valuable item, and who’s now actively searched by the police. Of course, there’s more to the story than that.
The demo allows the player to dive into the game for about 1h30. Stealth is at the heart of the gameplay. To find out what happened to Herman, Hanna has to navigate through the city and avoid being seen by the numerous police officers now also looking for her. Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream sets its story and introduces its characters in a very short and smart way, and puts the player at the heart of events very quickly. We know what’s happening and what is the immediate objective. The controls are simple, getting started is fast, everything is made to focus on how to move around, how to use the camera to evolve in the different rooms and places, and of course how to not be seen. The isometric view, or top view, allows the player to draw potential escape paths and pick the right way without missing the optional paths leading to bonus finds.
Within this hour and a half, the game showcases a solid writing, led by writer and story director Andreas Roman, that places the characters in what feels like an actual city and its history. The pace is good, nothing comes too soon, nothing seems missing that we should know of, the pieces of lore we get are simple, clear and add context to the events without the weight of too much mystery. It’s obvious from the very beginning that the story also focuses on class differences and politics/nobility abusing their power, and who doesn’t like playing against the power.
The graphics are stunning, the universe is meticulously crafted, the story is intriguing, and the lore is growing. Nothing fantasy or supernatural here, the city of Eriksholm is inspired by early 20th century Scandinavia. The cinematics, using MetaHuman technology and led by cinematic director Gabriel Flamm, feel natural, with great facial expressions and body language. It’s even more interesting knowing creative director Ander Hejdenberg was actively discouraged by people to do cinematics, as he mentioned in the Inside Unreal talk MetaHuman Cinematics for Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream, which actually motivated him to do it even more. The result speaks for itself!
The only negative aspect of the game so far is the puzzles and the way Hanna is giving too much instructions to solve them. There’s very little thinking to do but it could change later in the game when two more playable characters will join the party. It doesn’t make the game less enjoyable, and again, it’s just the very beginning of the game.
I’ll review the entire game in July, this demo really convinced me!
Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream will be released on July 16 on PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X and Series S
