Strategy masters Mimimi may have disbanded after Shadow Gambit, 2023’s best stealth game, but the spirit of the stealth tactics genre lives on. One of the prettier upcoming takes on isometric sneakytimes is Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream, coming to us from Swedish indie studio River End Games, and debuting a fancy new trailer as part of the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted showcase. Quick: Go and sneak a peek at it now, while the guards aren’t looking.
Set in the fictional Nordic city of Eriksholm, players will be controlling a young woman named Hanna as she searches for her missing brother, Herman. Seems that either one or both of the siblings have fallen foul of the powers that be, as military police seem to be swarming the city with an eye to snag the wayward youth. It’s an impressive environment, and the early 1900s is a period seldom touched on in games, stealthy, action-oriented or anything else.
(Image credit: River End Games)
Mechanically Eriksholm looks more than a bit like Commandos and its descendants—isometric squad stealth requiring multiple characters (three, in this case) to sync up their actions to flummox guards and complete objectives. Or just choke out everyone in your path and hide their (hopefully just snoozing) bodies out of sight. The trailer shows characters using rocks to distract guards, scaling buildings via their guttering and knocking out an opponent or two, but nothing fanciful or supernatural. This (at least so far) seems to be a remarkably grounded setting.
For me, the most striking part of the trailer is the cutscenes, featuring some impressively detailed motion-captured performances against some exceedingly well-lit backdrops. While the world seen during gameplay looks like a detailed but vaguely toyetic diorama, the dialogue shown has the look of a glossy prestige period drama. All the more impressive when you consider that River End Games is a relatively small outfit, with only 19 staff according to its site. A testament to what can be done even outside of bloated AAA budgets and development cycles.
It’s an intriguing trailer, with a surprisingly un-videogamey aesthetic. It’s definitely a feast for the eyes, but visuals only go so far. Whether the stealth mechanics, overarching mystery and performances can carry the game is a question that only hands-on experience can offer. I do know that I’m hankering for more squad sneakiness, and there are few environments that look prettier to sneak around than this one. Eriksholm is set to release sometime in 2025, and you can wishlist it on Steam now.
