Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream – Everything You Need to Know

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As an enthusiast, I must share my insights about “Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream,” a game that may seem traditional with its isometric viewpoint but offers a unique twist on the stealth genre. Instead of a real-time tactics game as one might expect from its top-down perspective, it’s more about solving puzzles and driving a compelling narrative through a stealth lens. Here are 14 essential points to consider before making your purchase.

What is it?

According to River End Games, Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is categorized as a story-driven, stealth game with an isometric viewpoint. Its top-down perspective and enemy vision cones seem reminiscent of games like Commandos, Desperados, or Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun. However, unlike these games, Eriksholm presents a more linear, handcrafted experience rather than a sandbox one. Despite this, it offers an engaging setting, an unusual lead character for stealth games, and a character-swapping mechanic that complements the narrative’s depth well.

Story overview

In the early 1900s, set against a backdrop of a Scandinavian-style city, players will step into the shoes of Hanna, a resident searching for her brother Hermann who has mysteriously vanished. The city’s law enforcement are also in pursuit, but Hanna must find her brother while staying one step ahead of them. As she digs deeper into Hermann’s disappearance, she unwittingly stirs forces more sinister than she could have ever imagined. Eriksholm holds many secrets, and Hanna’s quest to bring her family back together may reshape the city’s destiny altogether.

Motion capture propels the story

With Unreal Engine 5’s MetaHuman, River End Games’ team of 17 plans to elevate photorealism in games, following in the footsteps of Ninja Theory and their work on Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. The visuals of Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream’s story are marked by breathtaking cutscenes, showcasing its unique approach to storytelling that diverges from the giants of the isometric stealth genre, through carefully crafted and performed cinematic interludes.

Stealth mechanics overview

In Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream, you’ll find all the classic elements of a stealth game, such as hiding in shadows, studying enemy movements, diverting guards with thrown objects, performing non-lethal takedowns (with a dart gun), concealing bodies, and blending into long grass. If you’ve played any games with stealth-like mechanics, you probably won’t find anything new here. However, the game distinguishes itself by incorporating unique character abilities to solve puzzles and using the environment in a way that feels realistic, making the stealth action in

Eriksholm, the city

As a Scandinavian gamer with roots deeply embedded in this region, I’ve always been captivated by the universal charm of my homeland. This inspiration fueled the Swedish team behind “The Stolen Dream” to craft an immersive urban landscape for their game. The city they’ve created, Eriksholm, is a breathtaking blend of beauty and grit, teeming with districts that exude unique cultures, architecture, and socio-economic vibes.

There are echoes of Disco Elysium’s Revachol in the city’s political turmoil, while its historical setting – on the cusp of the early 1900s – suggests a city grappling with the challenges of industrialization and capitalism’s unyielding march. In essence, Eriksholm is a city in the throes of change, undergoing transformation.

Eriksholm’s inhabitants help Hanna

In the game Eriksholm, instead of typical NPCs serving as guides or signposts, the townsfolk interact more naturally with the protagonist Hanna. They’ll chat casually and even help her evade the police by revealing secret paths while stalling pursuing officers. This citizen behavior in The Stolen Dream reflects River End Games’ broader approach to developing NPCs, treating each one as a unique character with distinct viewpoints, thereby enhancing the authenticity and immersion of the city they’ve crafted.

Hanna, and her specific skills

As a gamer, I find myself in the shoes of Hanna, an ordinary citizen thrust into a world of espionage beyond my control. Despite my lack of night vision goggles or silenced pistols, I’ve got a knack for Eriksholm that could prove useful. The game designers have crafted puzzles requiring my actions and those of my team, leveraging my unique traits: I’m the only one who can squeeze through tight spaces, and I pick up a dart gun along the way, offering the chance to take down guards from a distance.

Alva and Sebastian

Alongside Hanna, Alva and Sebastian join intermittently during her adventure. While Alva has a remarkable talent for scaling pipes, Sebastian, who often serves as an older advisor, is proficient in swimming. The roles of Hanna and Alva’s narrative are more prominent compared to Sebastian’s, given their relationship dynamic.

Skills must be combined to progress

Analyzing environmental cues helps determine how to utilize each character’s abilities – Hanna, Alva, and Sebastian – effectively to solve the game’s challenges. This approach is essential in Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream, as it’s not just about having one character perform a specific task like swimming across a river to lower a drawbridge, but rather requiring the coordinated efforts of all three characters to advance.

Encounters are hand-crafted

In the game “Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream”, encounters are carefully designed and there’s no option for players to evade once spotted. Instead, if you’re detected, the screen goes dark and the scene restarts. Some players might find this disruptive to their immersion, but it gives the development team more control over enemy and NPC behavior in specific situations. Additionally, a swift reset helps keep the game’s storyline consistent.

That said, there’s usually more than one path to success

Indeed, Eriksholm’s storytelling style suggests a carefully structured progression, yet, as the game’s director clarifies, many encounters offer multiple solutions rather than just one. Unlike a sandbox game, The Stolen Dream won’t be entirely open-ended, but it will allow players to strategically use their surroundings to gain an advantage, such as diverting a patrol by startling a group of birds. This way, the game preserves a sense of player autonomy that is often absent in tightly designed games.

There are collectables and secrets, too

Enhancing the game’s efforts to deviate from a strict linear storyline are hidden areas and treasures. In fact, throughout the game Eriksholm, players who choose to veer off the main path may stumble upon an unanticipated find. Locating these secrets can be achieved by noticing particular guard behaviors and environmental hints, or creatively combining character abilities to devise inventive methods.

Release date, platforms, price

On July 15th, 2025, the game titled “Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream” is set to launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store. As of now, the pricing details have not been disclosed on their respective stores. However, according to a recent announcement through its Steam news feed, the game will be priced at approximately £33.50 or $39.99 for PC users.

There’s a demo

If you’re curious about experiencing Eriksholm’s engaging, narrative-driven stealth gameplay before making a purchase, you can download a demo version for PC players on Steam and Epic Games Store. Your saved progress from the demo will transfer to the full game, and you can do this until the official release date. At this time, unfortunately, there is no console demo available.

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2025-07-06 15:41