- Joined
- Jan 24, 2025
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I haven't played an isometric puzzle/stealth/strategy game in a long while, but Eriksholm's 1900s Scandinavian aesthetic completely sold me. People who have given me similar recommendations say that it is basically "baby's first strategy game" which... while might be true... I find to be a huge disservice to what is otherwise an incredible game presentationwise. I mean... something doesn't have to re-invent a genre in order to be great, right? On that note I can only speak for myself of course, but I loved everything from the story, to the imperfect but likable characters, the gameplay and how you have to outsmart the enemy by stealthing around, the variation in locations which kept the narrative fresh, the lovely British accents (the voice acting in general), and the industrial sound design and vibes overall.
I played the game on PC, as I felt a top-down point n click game like this was better experienced with a mouse, but regardless of your platform I urge you to try it (I believe there is a demo on Steam), and yes, I do think 299kr is a fair price even if most can plow through its linear one-solution campaign in about 10-15 hours.
Because that's another thing, I am taking a HUGE stance against this notion that money spent = play time. I would be absolutely fine with spending 299kr (convert to your own currency) on an 8 hour game, if those were the most incredible and horizon-broadening 8 hours of my gaming "career". I don't need a game to be 80 hours full of bloat and meaningless fetch-quests just to fill out a checklist, or scouring every inch of a gigantic map in order to find every single chest, in order to say I've got my money's worth. Heck, aside from returning to old locations to retrieve previously missed collectibles, I don't even need a game to have any content related replay value.
Sometimes all I need is a solid linear experience with characters I care about in a short but well-told story, where all the reason I need to replay it later, is that I just like the game. And Eriksholm is currently that special game for me. A simple but beautiful game whose praises I'll sing from a mountain top, and hope this isn't the last we've seen of River End Games.
I played the game on PC, as I felt a top-down point n click game like this was better experienced with a mouse, but regardless of your platform I urge you to try it (I believe there is a demo on Steam), and yes, I do think 299kr is a fair price even if most can plow through its linear one-solution campaign in about 10-15 hours.
Because that's another thing, I am taking a HUGE stance against this notion that money spent = play time. I would be absolutely fine with spending 299kr (convert to your own currency) on an 8 hour game, if those were the most incredible and horizon-broadening 8 hours of my gaming "career". I don't need a game to be 80 hours full of bloat and meaningless fetch-quests just to fill out a checklist, or scouring every inch of a gigantic map in order to find every single chest, in order to say I've got my money's worth. Heck, aside from returning to old locations to retrieve previously missed collectibles, I don't even need a game to have any content related replay value.
Sometimes all I need is a solid linear experience with characters I care about in a short but well-told story, where all the reason I need to replay it later, is that I just like the game. And Eriksholm is currently that special game for me. A simple but beautiful game whose praises I'll sing from a mountain top, and hope this isn't the last we've seen of River End Games.
