Eternal Threads, a time-manipulated first-person puzzle game review

Imagine being able to manipulate time thanks to a very advanced technology, but having strict limits to respect (without exaggeration) so as not to create paradoxes with devastating consequences for the entire universe. This is more or less the idea behind the title. Cosmonaut Studiosis a first-person puzzle game in which you have to change the course of a given event without causing space-time catastrophes. Is it worth doing? Just read to find out Eternal Issues reviewluckily it’s only available on a timeline.

gameplay

During instructive At Eternal Threads, we got the strange impression that throughout the entire game we find ourselves in front of some kind of video editor, namely a game designed like that. But let’s go in order. We are at the site of an operations agent sent to the north of England to a house where six people died in a fire in May 2015. Our goal is to save them, but by following some rules. In particular, we are not allowed to prevent a fire from breaking out by acting on the cause that triggered the fire. What we must do instead is examine the timeline of events that occurred in the seven days before the event and manipulate them to save the lives of the six victims. We want to see the events that we really want to see happen in reality, such as clips where we can act by forcing certain behaviors of gold through choices made in other events or in the events themselves. To do this, we have a very powerful tool at our disposal that projects events into the environments in which they occur and allows us to examine them.

The nice thing is that we can see them in the order we want because we can get the whole timeline right away. Already from this short description you will understand what we are talking about, having the feeling of playing with some kind of video editor, where we cannot change the order of the sequences, but change the sequences themselves.

Here nature is overwhelming puzzle game by Eternal Topics. Walking around the house to watch various scenes makes us think about them, try to figure out where and how to go, and manipulate them. Eventually everything has to come back, otherwise we failed our mission. Discovery also complicates matters. Walking around the big house in search of clues is actually necessary to understand some events and act accordingly.

For example, you can read messages on an abandoned smartphone or observe objects in the rooms of six people making suggestions to get them to behave in the desired way. Regardless, observing events remains an essential part of the game where you spend the most time and, ultimately, more mechanical attention. After all, it is the most fascinating element of the whole. gameplaywhat justifies it and makes it original.

So much of the game takes place by going through the timeline, where each node gives the basics like the characters involved and whether we’re watching it for the first time. Soon we will also get in touch with the line of influence, i.e. graphical information that allows us to understand when the manipulated event will weigh on future events, which is vital to the investigation.

Investigation

Talking about game mechanics Not much to add because Eternal Threads is all there. In a way, the developers seem to have avoided creating as many complications as possible to keep the player focused on finding a solution to the situation. Indeed, it would be more correct to call it a solution because it is possible to save the lives of the characters in different ways by behaving as you wish. In this sense, we are faced with a very specific title that brings to mind masterpieces in the caliber of His Story or The Return of Obra Dinn, due to the freedom of approach left to the player. It is indeed possible to act as you see fit. For example, you can concentrate on a single character, or you can reconstruct the events of gold one by one, all the way to the root of their misfortune, starting from the fire and working backwards. If you want, you can also go randomly by selecting events scattered across the timeline and then developing research starting with what you’ve learned. If you do not remember a particular event, it is possible to look at it at any time so that you can immediately check certain facts. From this point of view, there are really no limits and the game is designed to be as open as possible to leave the player free to draw their own conclusions. If so, it is also possible to replay to try alternative solutions. In short, the development team gave us the tools, but now it’s up to us to disassemble and reassemble the movie.

In this sense, Eternal Threads is a very successful title, especially if you fall under the spell of yourself, it manages to be included in its spiral.investigation. His story contains more than a few surprises, but it remains not the main element of the adventure, but rather the investigation itself and the way it is carried out.

Technically, the Cosmonaut Software game was made with great intelligence. Clearly the developers knew they didn’t have unlimited resources, and perhaps focused on taking a better look at a single, expansive environment rather than broadening the scope to get lost on the road. By the way: most of the game takes place at home and the greatest care has been taken in this, maybe it made things difficult, but your feet were on the ground throughout the adventure. After all, the existence of so many events will mandate choices about how resources will be used. On the other hand, the events are all moving and well done, a sign that the team is very clear on where to focus.