Legends of Ethernal
Legends of Ethernal, Lucid Dreams Studio’s debut title, sees you play as Wilfred, a young boy who returns home to find his house ripped apart and his parents missing. So he sets off on a quest to locate them, travelling through the world of Arkanys and stumbling into many a threatening creature on his way to uncover just what in the world is going on.
As you progress through the world, you will have to fight to survive - attacking pretty much everything you come across. The game makes light of this, and that’s always something I love as you often forget just how much damage the protagonist does in games (or even movies) like this. You gain ether from every kill, as well as by destroying breakable objects like boxes and vases. Ether comes in four different colours: red, yellow, blue and green, and these are crucial to your success throughout the game. Red can be converted to restore health, whilst the other colours serve different abilities in the world (such as throwables). The game is surprisingly difficult at times, so ensuring to heal when possible (as you can’t carry many of each ether type until you increase your Ether Pouch) is 100% necessary. You will also come across little campfires, glowing either blue or red depending on how much health they restore as you pass through - these act as checkpoints, and are something I’m hugely grateful for as it’s pretty easy to die here.
Dying gives you a “Fortunately, this is not how Wilfred’s story ends” screen before respawning you at your last campfire, and I grew tired of seeing that message pretty fast. Some sections of the game will cause it to be shown super frequently, as controls and hit boxes can be a little off with certain enemies which takes some getting used to. Bosses follow a pretty rigid, puzzle like pattern in their attacks which isn’t too bad as you can memorise their routine but these battles sometimes have a few things going on at once which can make it very easy to get overwhelmed. The controls are straightforward enough, with a melee attack using different weapons (that can be switched out with LB) or a ranged attack to hit levers and distant enemies. Some weapons are heavier than others, causing them to result in a slower, more powerful attack but more often than not I stuck with the faster weapon as some enemies (such as the mosquitos) are way too fast to reliably time otherwise. Combat is frequently a cause of frustration, as enemies can easily whittle down your health to nothing, and oftentimes will get a hit or two into you that appears impossible due to how far away they are or how they can move through obstacles that your attacks can’t.
Visually, Legends of Ethernal is very simple but well detailed, and every area looks fantastic. Enemies have distinct styles depending on where you come across them, and fight in their own specific ways. Naturally, the aesthetic is usually always one of the first things that gets us interested upon seeing a game. If we are enticed by the appearance, then we’re gonna want to know more, especially with a story as intriguing and mysterious as this. Sound-wise, the beautiful score fits well with the story and the well varied locations, and it has a really powerful, hopeful vibe crossed with some darker, haunting moments throughout.
The lack of map (aside from a vague overview of the entire world) makes Legends of Ethernal hugely irritating when you leave playing for a day or two. Coming back to the game and trying to remember which way you need to go, and what you need to do often results in you wandering around in circles for what feels like an eternity - and with enemies respawning between screens, you can’t even use the presence of enemies as a tell. You might also be repetitively attempting a certain section of the game, without realising something needs to be done elsewhere first, due to the metroidvania layout - hindering your progress.
At £16.74 on the Xbox Store, Legends of Ethernal will give you a decently interesting story - if you can make your way through the game, that is. It’s brutal difficulty, even on the lower settings, makes for a trying time so I’d only recommend going for this if that’s something you’re up for - otherwise it might frustrate the hell out of you, and put you off.
In the end, we decided to give Legends of Ethernal the Collecting Asylum rating of 7/10.
Have you played Legends of Ethernal yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!
- V x
Thank you to Lucid Dreams Studio for the Legends of Ethernal Xbox One review code!
