In Eriksholm – The Stolen Dream, players assume the role of Hanna, a young orphaned girl striving to build a life in the city of Eriksholm alongside her brother, Herman. When Herman mysteriously disappears, Hanna embarks on a desperate search for him. This quest quickly escalates as she finds herself pursued by the city’s entire police force. Her objective then becomes to evade capture while uncovering the truth behind her brother’s disappearance.

Development

Eriksholm – The Stolen Dream is developed by Swedish game studio River End Games, a team largely comprised of veterans from DICE. Creative Director Anders Hejdenberg aimed to craft an experience distinct from grand, bombastic shooters. This vision materializes as a compelling stealth title, featuring a well-developed narrative and superb voice acting.

Gameplay Mechanics

The gameplay mechanics are centered around an isometric view with intuitive zoom and rotation controls, facilitating strategic navigation. Adversaries possess heightened senses, detecting both visual and auditory cues, necessitating avoidance of direct lines of sight and minimizing auditory distractions. Strategically, drawing their attention to a false lead can sometimes be advantageous. Players eventually acquire tranquilizer darts; however, given the brief delay before targets are incapacitated, maintaining stealth remains paramount.

Premise

This title is unequivocally geared towards enthusiasts of the stealth genre, as its core mechanics are entirely predicated on covert operations. Direct combat with enemies is not an option; progression relies solely on clandestine navigation through levels. The experience is further augmented by several environmental puzzles of varying complexity. A particularly engaging segment involved operating a crane to complete specific objectives. A notable design choice, and a welcome feature in this genre, is the frequent placement of checkpoints, which minimizes the frustration of replaying extensive sections upon detection.

Graphics

The graphics are visually stunning, with environments so meticulously crafted that they invite players to pause and appreciate the intricate details, often diverting from immediate gameplay progression. Our review was conducted on the Playstation 5 Pro, which delivered a consistent 4K image quality at a stable 60 FPS, even during visually intensive sequences. On the standard Playstation 5, the title is expected to maintain a consistent 60 FPS, with reports indicating enhanced HDR implementation and more consistent ray tracing.

Controls

The controls are intuitive, facilitating immediate immersion into the game’s narrative. The learning curve is minimal, yet as players progress, the difficulty escalates, with puzzles becoming increasingly complex. In such scenarios, the close proximity of checkpoints proves to be a significant benefit.

Summary

In summary, Eriksholm – The Stolen Dream represents a remarkable debut for River End Games. This title could contend for a “must-play” rating, were it not for the inherent niche appeal of the stealth genre. Despite the reviewer’s personal preference typically leaning away from stealth-centric titles, *Eriksholm – The Stolen Dream* proved to be a highly engaging experience. Consequently, while narrowly missing the “must-play” threshold, it earns a strong recommendation.

Nordcurrent provided a review code for this test. Providers of material have no editorial influence on our reviews.