Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is an upcoming tactical stealth game with a special emphasis on its narrative, as well as three distinct protagonists. Being developed for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, the title is slated for release later this year. Creative director Anders Hejdenberg was kind enough to have a conversation about the various aspects of Eriksholm, including its setting, and how its protagonists differ from one another.One of the first things about Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream the game that tends out is its setting. Can you tell us more about what led you to choose a 1900s-inspired Scandinavian setting for your game?I remember watching the movie Kikis Delivery Service many years ago, and I was really drawn into its world and aesthetic. Many aspects of their world were inspired by Swedish cities, but even though I am Swedish, their world still had a captivating and almost dreamlike quality. I wondered if my reaction was due to having grown up in Sweden and having visited the cities that theyd used as inspiration but when talking to people from other countries, I realized that the appeal was actually quite universal. So that sparked the idea that maybe it could actually be pretty interesting to create a world inspired by Scandinavian aesthetics but in a larger than life kind of way. And it certainly doesnt hurt to have all the references youll ever need right outside your doorstep."Many aspects of their world were inspired by Swedish cities"The game has three separate characters with their unique abilities. Can you tell us more about them, and how significantly they will differ from each other in terms of play style?You can swap between characters at any time, but the gameplay is very much about using your characters as a team to overcome obstacles together. So the way you play is quite interlaced, where one character can perform an action that allows another to move into a position that in turn creates an opening for the third character etc.Hanna has a blowpipe with darts that she can use to sedate enemies, but its not like you can just walk around and put everyone to sleep you have to be a bit careful with it. If you shoot a guard, they wont just fall asleep immediately it takes a few seconds. And theyll turn around to see whats hit them, so its usually best to shoot from cover so youre not just standing there in the open when they turn around. But then you have to consider if they have any friends nearby that could hear them get hit, or friends that will miss them if they dont come back for a while. And you have to think about what your next move will be if the guards colleagues come looking for him, and how you could use a situation like that to your advantage.Alva has a slingshot that she can use to create various types of distractions, but also to take out lights to create shadows. But if you pay close attention to the situation and dialogue from guards, you may notice one guard being particularly nervous or another thats afraid of the dark. You can use things like that to your advantage so that taking out a light isnt just a way to create shadows to move through unseen, but also a way to create a reaction from your someone in a way that works in your favor.Sebastian is able to choke guards from behind quite quickly and silently, so you rarely have to worry about making noise. But you do have to get up close and personal with them, which may not always be the easiest thing to pull off. But combining this skill with Hannas darts can often be an effective way to take out multiple enemies at once. Hannas darts will turn them, and guards who are getting choked may see whats going on but its not like theyre in a position to call for help."Hanna has a blowpipe with darts that she can use to sedate enemies"Each character also has a unique traversal skill where Hanna can crawl through vents, Alva can climb drain pipes and Sebastian can swim. This makes it easier for the player to read the environment, and can start coming up with clever ideas on how to outsmart the enemy based on how and where the characters can move.But characters abilities are merely the basic components of the gameplay. Context is everything, so different skills can sometimes be used with different results depending on the situation. For example, a guard will call out Ow! when theyre hit by Hannas darts, and other guards will react to that. But if there are a lot of mosquitoes in a particular area, and one guard keeps getting bitten by them and complaining about it, then the player can use that to their advantage. Whos to say he wasnt just bitten again if it sounds the same?Did the decision to make the game a stealth experience come from the story, or was it the stealth-driven gameplay that informed the story?It was definitely a stealth game before the story came into place, but the story and characters certainly had a big impact on the type of experience it became. We experimented early by having a more sandbox-style gameplay, but players didnt like it they felt like it was out of character for Hanna to try to take out as many guards as possible with her blowpipe, it just didnt feel right. She would be much more clever about it than that, and only use it when she really had to.It was a bit strange for us to hear players telling us what our character would or wouldnt do, but they were absolutely right. And by crafting the gameplay to fit the character and the other characters as well made it all fit together in a much more coherent way. Its not a gameplay, then story, then gameplay type of experience. Its all intertwined where the story takes place as you play. And for that to work and work well the parts need to fit together. The characters need to be in character as you play."It was definitely a stealth game before the story came into place"Finding the balance between complexity and simplicity is often so crucial for stealth games. What has your approach been on that front with Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream?Our approach is to start very simple, and then gradually build complexity over time. But in order for that to work, you really need to design every aspect of your game from the ground up according to that principle. You have to have a game thats interesting from the very first moment, even though the only thing the player has learned so far is how to move their character around. The player shouldnt have to wait until theyve mastered all the controls in order to have fun it should be fun immediately, and that takes a lot of effort.I like games with very few actions, but where the actions are so versatile that they can be used with different results depending on the context. That way, players will become competent a lot quicker because they dont have to remember a bunch of different actions and combos but they can still do a lot of things because their actions mean different things based on the context. Sure, its more difficult to design games that way, but I think its worth it because it gives the player a much more streamlined experience where they dont have to climb a learning curve mountain the first thing they do when they start the game for the first time.Once youve taught the player some basic principles, then you can present new contexts where those principles mean new things. After that you can start combining those principles for added complexity. Then you can combine complex combinations, etc."I like games with very few actions, but where the actions are so versatile that they can be used with different results depending on the context."But through all of this, playtesting is crucial and weve done lots of it. Just because you have a brilliant idea for a part of a level, that doesnt mean that the player picks up on it at all. And finding the balance between saying too much and too little is very difficult. You want to give the player room to figure things out but if they are given too much room, they can easily get lost and irritated. I dont know how many times weve gone back and forth with different parts of the game, but when it works its such a beautiful thing.In terms of the games story, what were your primary inspirations?Creating passionate characters, fueled by their desire to stand up and fight even when the antagonizing force is overwhelming, has been our primary story vessel. We just dont want you to root for Hanna. We want you to stand up together with her, when the moment calls for it. There are moments when Hannas courage has moved both the team and the actors. There is much grief and pain in what she goes through, but there is equal beauty in the bonds she forges and what shell do for her friends and they for her. Even in the darkest hour, theres always a streak of light. Our story is about that light.Roughly how long will an average playthrough of the game be?It will depend on how players approach the game or how fast they are going to solve puzzles throughout the levels. We want people to take their time and enjoy the story and the narration in Eriksholm.Do you have any plans to also bring the game to the Switch, or perhaps its upcoming successor?Currently, we are not planning to release Eriksholm on Nintendo Switch. If this is going to change, we will be more than happy to communicate it to the players."Creating passionate characters, fueled by their desire to stand up and fight even when the antagonizing force is overwhelming, has been our primary story vessel."Are there any reasons why the game is not coming on Xbox Series X and S?The game will be released on PC, PS5, and both Xbox series X and S. We had some technical issues with the store page on Xbox, but it will be fixed in the upcoming months.Are there any plans to make the game PS5 Pro enhanced?We have been working hard to optimize the game so that it could run smoothly on the regular PS5. We will do our best to optimize Eriksholm on PS5 Pro as well.As a developer, what are your thoughts on the PS5 Pro? How does boost in GPU help in developing your game compared to the base PS5?Its never a bad thing to work with great hardware. In our case, we are already satisfied with how the game runs on PS5.What are your thoughts on PSSR? What kind of opportunities will this open for the game?If we were to target 8K resolution on the PS5 Pro, it could be an interesting option in case we cant quite reach all the way. Even though we still have optimizations to do, Im quite confident that well be running native 4k at 60 fps on the Pro possibly even on the standard PS5.What resolution and fps will the game target on the PS5 and on the PS5 Pro (if supported)?Were currently very close to running native 4k at 60 fps on the standard PS5, but we are still working hard to achieve it. We are confident that for the PS5 Pro, well be able to run native 4k at 60 fps, and possibly higher, but we will be able to determine that at a later stage.