Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream review: Impressive indie gem with great visuals and engaging challenges

In the flood of independent game releases without big advertising campaigns and with previously unknown titles, once in a while, there comes an entry that immediately catches the eye and arouses interest. It immediately brings to mind a solid AA game - not an indie game made at a low cost and effort. That's exactly how it was with the first announcement of Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream - a game from a new studio in Sweden, but with veterans who had previously worked on Unravel, Mirror’s Edge, or Little Nightmares. Every frame from the trailer stood out with its beautiful graphic design, illustrating a quite original setting.

And it wasn't just some embellishments for advertising. Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream truly enchants with its audio-visuals from beginning to end. At first, it feels like a mix of A Plague Tale and the mechanics from the Commandos series. There's the theme of close-knit siblings, a city plagued by disease, and escaping from the authorities, all viewed from an isometric perspective. You sneak around and switch between characters with different abilities. The game intrigues from the beginning with its mysterious plot, but then it veers off into slightly less interesting topics. It's not bad, but I was missing some excitement and surprise at the end. You can always count on demanding and highly satisfying gameplay, though.

Top-down perspective can also impress with details

Eriksholm is the name of a fictional city - supposedly inspired by Scandinavian culture. I really liked the vibe there, the sunny weather, the style of signs and ads painted on the tenement walls reminded me a bit of southern France and a bit of the vertical locations from the Dishonored series. In any case, the locations viewed from an isometric perspective, especially those showing the city itself and the residences of the rich, look amazing.

You can see some signs of the Heartpox epidemic here and there, but it's not the end of the world. It's just a temporary issue for the people of Eriksholm. You can really feel the idyllic atmosphere of the early 20th century and the beautiful, detailed scenery in the isometric view. We'll just pass by the regular folks going about their business, and their conversations will give us a better understanding of the game world. Various collectibles, like newspapers or notes, also serve this role.

Hanna steals the show

In situations like this, we get to know Hanna and Herman, who are recovering from Heartpox. Herman, Hanna’s younger brother, is already working in the mine. He, however, doesn't return home after his shift. Instead, the police come with the intention of searching the apartment. But what could law enforcement want from a small, poor boy and his sister? Hanna escapes with the resolution to find Herman and find out what all this is about. This curiosity rubs off on us too, because from this point on, history can go in any direction.

After a while, it turns out that it's heading in a way that I'm not really into. Suffice it to say that to some extent, family dramas give way to matters of high politics. A big plus goes for keeping everything in authentic realities, without magic or supernatural things. I really enjoyed following the story from start to finish, but I missed that "wow" factor at the end, like making a crucial decision instead of just watching a cutscene.

The plot also greatly benefits from its characters, especially Hanna. The girl is simply sensational - brave, valiant, feisty, cheeky, extremely expressive, and memorable. Furthermore, the character was brilliantly voiced by the actress and portrayed even better in top-quality cutscenes. Really, most AAA games from leading franchises could envy Eriksholm for the execution of cutscenes. One glance from Hanna, the slightest change in her facial expression, says as much as a stream of words. The same applies to the rest of the characters, especially Alva and Sebastian, who help Hanna and are equally well-developed. We also have some really well-written, natural-sounding dialogues that accompany us all the time. Well, maybe with a few exceptions when the characters are explaining the main gameplay mechanics to each other - but on the other hand, the game screen isn't interrupted by interface messages, so nothing breaks the atmosphere.

Each stage is a puzzle

The story reveals that the main characters are connected to a local thieves' guild, more like a Robin Hood-style gang, and this has an impact on the Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream gameplay, where we sneak around and mainly avoid or put enemies to sleep instead of killing them. Each location is divided into something like stages - puzzles to solve, that is, how to get from point A to B without being detected. And avoiding it at all costs, because there aren't really many escape options here. If the enemy notices us or a body lying somewhere - game over - we have to start all over again. This way, the devs avoided the need to create any smart guards. We simply avoid getting in their sight and that's it. But the game doesn't seem any shallower, easier, or underdeveloped because of this, as everything was designed for such a system.

Frequent checkpoints work great. For example, even when I moved to the next room, an NPC suddenly appeared in the previous one and found the body left in the middle of the room. I managed to fix it without having to replay the whole chapter. And I admit that a truly emotional moment was accidentally created, where within a few seconds, I had to turn around, divert the attention of the approaching NPC elsewhere, and drag the lying body into a corner! Everything had to be perfectly synchronized and it didn't end with just one attempt.

The beginning of the game might seem simple at first, as you just have to avoid the guards by choosing alternative paths, using bridges, and sneaking behind covers. But as you progress, the levels get harder and you really have to think hard to move forward. We are gradually discovering more and more options and mechanics as Alva joins Hanna, and then Sebastian. Each of them can do something different and you'll often need to use each of them to move on. Hanna has a blowpipe with sleeping darts and can squeeze through ventilation tunnels. Alva climbs up gutters, shoots with a slingshot to distract and turn off lights, and Sebastian can swim and is the only one who can sneak up and knock down opponents from behind.

Moreover, there are environmental elements like using moving carts as cover and staying in the shade. Although every stage is like a puzzle, where each character has to do specific tasks in a certain place. It seems a bit linear, without much freedom in how to go through a certain stage, but it still gives a lot of satisfaction because it requires observation and figuring out what to do and where. This is definitely not a no-brainer that you just have to click through, and at the same time, it isn’t frustrating. You always have to figure out the right solution on your own. Well, except for those moments when you have to coordinate the actions and abilities of all the characters almost at the same time, but that's when you can really feel the fast-paced action in the isometric stealth game!

I hope that Hanna will return in a new story

Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream was generally a very pleasant surprise. Apart from an engaging story, beautiful graphics, and equally wonderful music, I also received gameplay that forces the grey cells to make a little effort. Throughout the game, I only encountered two minor technical glitches - sometimes the birds we scare away to distract attention would freeze, and occasionally a question mark from the interface would stay on the screen - nothing too bothersome. The levels are designed for a mostly one-and-done experience, clocking in at around 10 to 14 hours. But that's not surprising for a single-player story-driven game. It might have a few more environmental puzzles not related to stealth - other than that, I don't have any major complaints about this title. I also don't know if there is potential for a sequel, but I hope the developers will come up with something, because I would definitely like to see Hanna again!