From systemic combat and gigantic boss fights to stylized visuals and more,Eternal Strandsis promising quite a bit that has caught our attention, and ahead of its looming release towards the end of this month, here, were going to go over a few key details that you should know about it.SETTING AND STORYEternal Strandsis set in a mystical realm known as the Enclave. Once a bustling hub of magical advancement, the Enclave has now been quiet and dormant for decades. The game will see players stepping into the shoes of Brynn, a young Weaver, who are warriors just as capable of unleashing magical abilities as they are adept with the sword. Part of a group of several fellow Weavers who entered the Enclave, Brynns goal is to uncover the mysteries surrounding its past, and try and bring it back to its former glory.NOT NARRATIVE-DRIVENEternal Strandsdeveloper Yellow Brick Games boasts talent that has worked on everything fromDragon AgetoAssassins Creedand more, but in spite of that strong link to narrative-driven games, thats not the direction thatEternal Strandsis headed in. Speaking in an interview with GamingBolt, chief creative officer Mike Laidlaw explained that the action-adventure title is first and foremost a gameplay-centric experience.The storys there to provide context, goals, quests and so on that push our players to enjoy and experiment while in combat and exploring the world, he said. With this focus in mind, we decided very early in development that EternalStrands was not going to be a game about tough moral choices or dilemmas, but instead a tale of discovery. A group of competent experts unravelling the mysteries of what happened to the Enclave.OPTIONAL STORY CONTENTThough story isnt the focus inEternal Strands,players looking for deeper narrative context are going to have a decent amount of optional story content to seek out. Laidlaw told GamingBolt that the game has dozens of completely optional dialogs (all of them voiced) that react to Brynns progress through the story, her discoveries, and so on. He added, These arent needed to complete the game, but we feel they add both texture and depth for players who want to dig deeper into the story.ELEMENTAL ABILITIESEternal Strandsmoment-to-moment combat will involve plenty of melee combat, but at the heart of the experience is going to be an elements system. Brynn will be equipped with a magical cloak called the Mantle that will allow her to unleash fire and ice attacks, and every single thing in the world both in and out of combat will reach to heat and cold accordingly, further encouraging players to mix and match and experiment.TELEKINETIC ABILITIESJust as crucial as Brynns elemental abilities will be her ability to unleash telekinetic magic on her foes. That, of course, means you can pick up any number of objects or items in the environments and use them as weapons to be thrown at enemies from a distance (or perhaps to block incoming attacks). Though the elemental systems will remain at the heart ofEternal Strandsgameplay, Brynns telekinetic abilities are also obviously going to have an important role to play.BOSSESEternal Strandshas made several intriguing promises that have captured peoples attention, and high on that list is the games boss encounters. The action-adventure title will see players taking on a number of massive, titanic bosses over the course of their journey. Yellow Brick Games has explicitly mentionedShadow of the Colossusas one of the inspirations for the games bosses, with a total of nine gigantic bosses to seek out, climb over, and defeat.TRAVERSALEternal Strandsis also placing quite a bit of emphasis on its traversal mechanics, with players seemingly being given many different ways to navigate the world. For starters, Brynns elemental and telekinetic abilities will be just as useful for traversal as they will be in combat- like building bridges made of ice to cross vast chasms, for instance. Meanwhile, similar toThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildandTears of the Kingdom, the game will also let players freely climb every surface in the world.PHYSICS SYSTEMA particular point of pride for Yellow Brick Games withEternal Strandsis the games physics system, which, according to the developer, is key to its systemic nature. As we already touched on, temperature and elements will play a crucial role- so heat will spread, while ice will, of course, cool things down. Everything in the world will abide by those rules (so fires spreading beyond control will be a possibility, as an example), while the game will also tout real-time destruction mechanics.WORLDNo,Eternal Strandsisnt going to be open world, instead adopting a more linear and compact structure, but players will nonetheless traverse and explore a variety of different locations as they trek through the Enclave. The full extent of that environmental diversity obviously remains to be seen, but Yellow Brick Games has confirmed that players can expect to explore dense urban environments, untamed wilds, and more.INSPIRATIONSEternal Strandsclearly borrows a page or two from more than a few games. Chief among them is obviouslyShadow of the Colossus, with Laidlaw telling GamingBolt, Shadow ofthe Colossus inspired the scale of our foes. [] Like Colossus, theres no way to bring these foes down by just hitting them in the ankle over and over. Where we differ fromColossus, though, is that where its foes had specific weak points that had to be struck to defeat them almost like a puzzle approach to their defeat, we let you find your own solutions by casting and combining magic and weapons.In addition toShadow of the Colossus,the game also takes inspiration from the likes ofDragons DogmaandThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.In terms of tone and visuals, meanwhile, Laidlaw saysEternal Strandsalso takes inspiration fromThe MummyandGame of Thrones.LENGTHEternal Strandsis going to be a pretty substantial experience, by the look of things. Laidlaw confirmed to GamingBolt that the action-adventure title will be about 25 hours long on average. However, it also features a lot of exploration opportunities and side quests, courtesy of which he says the overall play time can vary a lot.MUSICEternal Strandshas plenty of big-name talent working on it, as weve already touched on, and that extends to the games music as well. Its soundtrack is composed by lauded musician and composer Austin Wintory, who is best known for his work onJourney, The Pathless, Assassins Creed Syndicate, Hades 2,and more.PC DEMOIfEternal Strandshas piqued your curiosity but youre still not quite sure about whether you want to fully dive in, luckily for you, the game is going to have a demo on offer soon. On January 21, a week ahead of the full games release, a demo ofEternal Strandswill become available on PC only. Players will be able to play through the prologue, and yes, youll be able to take all of your progress with you into the full games.COMING TO GAME PASSIf you were thinking this looks like the perfect Game Pass game, as it turns out, thats exactly what it is. Yellow Brick Games has confirmed that the game will be available to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers upon release. Continued members of the old base Game Pass tier (which has been replaced for newcomers by the new Standard tier) will also get the game day and date.PC REQUIREMENTSPlayingEternal Strandson PC will thankfully not require a particularly demanding rig. On minimum settings, players will need either an i5-9400 or a Ryzen 5 3350, along with either a GeForce GTX 1660 Supe, a Radeon RX 5600 XT, or an Arc A580, as well as 8 GB RAM. On recommended settings, meanwhile, youll need either an i5-11600 or a Ryzen 5 5600X, along with either a GeForce RTX 3070, a Radeon RX 6800, or an Arc A770, on top of 16 G B of RAM. On either setting, youll also need an SSD and about 24 GB of free storage space.