Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream

I just randomly stumbled upon this title in one of those '10 Highly Rated Games That Nobody Played' videos on YouTube that was accompanying my elliptical session at the gym. I don't know whether it was the Nordic vibe, the beautiful architecture reminiscent of Gothenburg that I had visited last year for a conference, or the fact that I don't play enough RTT stealth games nowadays, but it was an instant buy for me, and I very excitedly proceeded towards playing. I loved it. Part of me wishes that there were a few more chapters that explored the urban beauty of the city of Eriksholm, instead of primarily having me sneak through mines, basements and factories, but the visuals were absolutely beautiful regardless. The gameplay is simple, linear and quite straightforward, despite the added layers once more characters become available and thus the number of combinations between them increase. This is perhaps one of the pain points for people who were expecting a Desperados or Commandos style experience, but to be honest, this is exactly what hooked me - discovering the one or two elegant solutions that the game had intended, instead of experimenting with endless possibilities. The story was... fine-ish, although it mostly has the archetypal characters and the usual plot twists. What surprised me was that despite the mostly bright and cheerful atmosphere, it is not afraid to be brutally dark at times. But otherwise, reading the scattered notes and pamphlets or listening to guard conversations taught me more about the world here than the cutscenes did. Funnily enough, I discovered that this game kind of occupies its own niche, when following the conclusion of the story, I asked ChatGPT whether it can recommend me similar games. And, apparently, there aren't exact matches that fit a linear, story-driven RTT stealth genre. So, I'll warmly recommend this one, and hope that either this studio or others end up making more.