There's a knock at the door. A voice permeates the shoddy wood: "open up." Confusion flickers across our protagonist Hanna's face. Last we saw her, she was bonding with her brother after recovering from a particularly nasty bout of the plague-like Heartpox, currently ravaging parts of the city. Herman went off to work, but upon a quick survey of the room, he doesn't seem to have arrived home. As you let the police chief in, he demands that you accompany him to the station. Alarm bells ring in Hanna's mind, and she ducks into the vent behind her room divider, prompting disgruntled murmurings and the order to "find the wench." From the moment I booted up Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream, it had me hooked, and I can't wait to play more.
If you're unfamiliar with stealth game from River End Games, a collection of former Battlefield, Battlefront, and Mirror's Edge devs. Viewed from a top-down perspective, you play as three characters whose lives are turned upside down by whatever Herman appears to have done. Blending the steampunk feel and tricky-open-ended stealth of Dishonored with an immediately intriguing narrative, its strong style piqued my interest when it first appeared in June of last year, and I was beyond excited to finally get my hands on it this month.
I'll say straight off the bat that Eriksholm is beautiful. Where most games struggle to convey a convincing range of human emotions in their characters, modern tech makes it possible for smaller projects like Clair Obscur and Eriksholm to boast some pretty convincing faces. Despite not having that Rockstar cash, Eriksholm's cast look and act like real people, with subtle facial movements and believable emotions flashing across their eyes. I felt an instant attachment to them.
The world is equally impressive. Hanna escapes her lodgings and then attempts to cross a river. As police patrols block her escape routes, she darts down dimly lit alleyways and skulks through the streets. She knows Eriksholm like the back of her hand, and its people know her, too, tossing playful jokes her way while promising to keep her location a secret. Narrative-driven games can sometimes use NPCs as quest, lore, or direction dispensers, but Eriksholm's interactions are casual and natural. In the guise of Hanna, I feel I've lived here my whole life. While my time with the game was relatively brief, its story and worldbuilding firmly planted its claws in me, much like Expedition 33 earlier this year.
Outside of the cutscenes and NPC interactions, Eriksholm is a stealth game, meaning you'll avoid enemy patrols, trigger distractions, and sneak through tight spaces (hopefully) undetected. Its top-down perspective gives you a full view of each location and the routes you can take to get around it. You can tackle each encounter in several ways, and while it starts simple enough, later sections on a mysterious, heavily guarded island really tested my mettle.
Playing as both Hanna and her longtime friend and underworld , Alva, I duck and dodge as roving search lights beam overhead. Where Hanna can dip into ducts and shoot sleep darts with her trusty blowpipe, Alva can nimbly climb drainpipes and use pebbles to scatter roosting birds or shatter lamps. You'll have to use both skill sets to navigate past the guards.
As Alva, I throw a stone into a flock of birds, prompting a series of angry honks which lure the guards away from their position. Then I use Hanna to knock them out with her darts, quickly hiding the bodies to avoid unwanted attention. From here, I wrap around the back as Alva, repeating the same trick to remove the guard blocking her path, all while attempting to dodge the spotlight and hide the evidence in time. From here, both girls hide in tall grass, which lets them sprint without attracting attention. We cross the land bridge unscathed and continue weaving through the shadows to meet our . It takes me five or six attempts to complete each section, and as I sit here writing this, I'm already realizing what I could have done differently – it makes me want to go back and try it all over again.
Eriksholm is ticking all the right boxes for me so far. Its narrative is intriguing, its world is well-realized, and it's hard enough to challenge but not so punishing that it becomes overwhelming. Coupled with its gorgeous visuals and stunning reimagining of early-1900s Scandinavia, Eriksholm is primed to be something special.
Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream will launch sometime in 2025. If you like what you've heard, you can wishlist it on Steam right here.
In the meantime, we have a list of all the best strategy games if you love teasing your brain.