I’ve been craving for more stealth games ever since the demise of Mimimi Games (the makers of Desperados III and Shadow Gambit) back in 2023. I had set my sights on Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream a while back, and after playing a short demo, boy, was I hooked and waiting on the final product. It was exactly what I had been asking for, a brand new stealth adventure to dig my teeth into. So, now that it is finally out, does it live up to said expectations?

The game is set in 1900s Scandinavia, in the titular city of Eriksholm, which has been ravaged by both a plague and a ravenous dictator. You play as Hannah, a girl on her quest to find her brother Herman, who has kicked off a series of events that could change the world for good. The game starts off with a compelling mystery and strong character motivations, leaving plenty of questions open to help push you through. Unfortunately, while the premise is interesting, the story falls short of the heights it set out to achieve. There are some weak characters that don’t grow, and a disappointing ending that doesn’t end the story in a satisfying way.

The pre-rendered cinematics are stunning.

Eriksholm is an isometric stealth game. Think in the same line of games like Shadow Tactics and Desperados from the sadly long-gone Mimimi Games. Just a touch more linear. Your goal is to ultimately avoid detection from guards whilst reaching your objective. You’ve got guards actively patrolling and trying to find you, with some fairly standard AI that can spot you with ease if you stand out in the open or if you start making too much noise. 

If you get detected, that’s an instant fail — no way to hide or escape from the guards – and be forced back to the last checkpoint. I do like this approach, but it can make the game feel a little rigid to play, like there’s no real consequence for getting detected. There are a generous number of checkpoints, so you are very rarely sent back more than a couple of minutes. The stealth is fairly basic, featuring standard conal visions and sound distractions. It doesn’t do too much new here, but its tightly designed levels make Eriksholm a constant joy to play. 

Hannah has her trusty blowdart that can take down guards from the safety of cover or in the shadows. However, shooting a guard won’t instantly disable them, and they will be somewhat dazed for a few seconds before dropping to the floor. At this time, the guard will start looking in your direction, and if he spots you, it’s game over, so it’s essential to fire from cover or in the shadows. 

Eventually, you get control over three characters with their distinctive abilities. As well as Hannah, you have two other companions joining her on her quest. Alva can fire stones from her slingshot, creating simple distractions or even shattering the lights, which puts the guards in a more panicked state and gives you shadows to hide in. Meanwhile, Sebastian is much more of a brute style class, and he’s able to take down guards by sneaking up on them. Additionally, certain areas can only be accessed by specific characters through air vents, pipes, swimming, and other means. 

This creates an almost puzzle-like gameplay loop that forces you to use all three characters to proceed. The situation becomes more complicated as more brutal guards, who are resistant to Hannah’s poison, begin to appear, meaning you will need to hit them with a blowdart, then use Sebastian to finish them off. Some of Eirksholm‘s best moments are when you require clever use of all three characters to proceed across some relatively large-scale maps. 

However, it’s not perfect, and there are some issues throughout. Mixed in with the stealth encounters, are a few simplistic puzzles to solve, which tank the pacing. There’s no real purpose behind them, and they end up just being a distraction that takes away from the excellent stealth gameplay. Also, with the restrictive level design, you don’t get those moments where you can take characters in different directions.

Eriksholm often feels more like a puzzle game than a stealth one.

As a whole, Eriksholm is a compelling stealth adventure with excellent level design that thoroughly tests your skills. It encourages creativity and experimentation while maintaining a linear design that remains challenging and engaging. There’s usually only one or two ways to complete any particular moment, but it remains satisfying regardless. Thanks to the guards who, while acting in predictable ways that also feel fairly realistic.

Eriksholm is also a surprisingly good-looking game. Scattered throughout are some high-quality pre-rendered cinematics that rival games like A Plague Tale for their visuals and cinematic direction. Thanks to great character models and animations. However, these are few and far between, but the rest of the game looks pretty good regardless. The world reminds me of Dunwall from the Dishonoured games, and I mean that in the best of ways. It’s a cold, depressing world with elements of steampunk scattered throughout. 

The world building stands out as a strong point in this game.

Voice acting is also mostly quite good, with the main cast able to lend the story some emotional depth. However, it’s the voices around the world that make it feel alive. Guards will chatter, clueing you in not only to where you need to go, but also to deepen the world around them and giving you plenty of context along the way. They interact, call each other if they go missing from patrol, and if their captain disappears, they might wander off completely. Whilst civilians will have their take on what’s going on. There’s just so much going on with the sound that it just feels that much more real.

Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is a great new adventure that ambitiously combines the genre’s traditional elements with a bit of action, a healthy dose of puzzles, and a great presentation, reminiscent of my other favourite stealth franchises. Without a doubt, its cinematics and sound design stole the show. Even though not all of its elements stuck to the landing, with it occasionally feeling like it could have achieved more with such potential, it felt like an incredible start to a brand new world to explore, and I hope this isn’t the last we see from the town of Eriksholm.

Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is available now on PC, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.

Reviewed on PC with an RTX 4070, Ryzen 7 7800X3D and 32GB RAM.

A copy of Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream was provided by the publisher.