Eternights Review

Love can be difficult to find at the best of times, but how about finding “the one” during the end of the world? Eternights is a game I’ve had my eye on for quite some time, and was just a tad excited when I got my hands on the full game. I initially played through the demo during Steam Next Fest back in July and have been intrigued by Studio Sai’s debut title ever since! But is Eternights a blossoming romance in times of turmoil, or is it more a shockingly bad Tinder date? Let’s have a look!

Eternights opens with our teenage protagonist being urged to set up an online dating profile by his rather irritating friend, Chani. Some back-and-forth banter ensues — with the player having the option to select certain dialogue choices — before your character caves and joins the world of online dating. After a quick personality test, they find themselves matched with a peculiar young woman who seems a little too eager to want to meet up.

But fate has other plans for our lovelorn duo, as explosions pepper the city, causing our main character to flee into the nearest bunker. Oh, and a giant wall to rival the one in Westeros has encircled the city. But it gets worse… Turns out that a new anti-ageing miracle drug — Eternights — has been mutating humans into grotesque monsters with one goal in mind: kill anything with a pulse. It doesn’t take long for the protagonist's luck to run out, and is captured by a stranger wielding a rather large twin-bladed sword, who proceeds to slice off their right arm. All seems lost as they begin to bleed out, but wait! That mystery woman they matched with on their online dating app appears in a vision, and she just so happens to be some sort of ethereal being, gifting the main character the ability to fight back against the once-human menace. She definitely seems to have an ulterior motive, though, and she may not be quite as friendly as first thought.

I don’t want to spoil anything past the opening section of the game, but I did enjoy Eternights’ story as a whole. The pacing wasn’t perfect, but I genuinely enjoyed having some downtime and being able to interact with the characters I’d met along the way, learning more about who they are or getting flirty with whoever looked in my general direction. It’s not quite as in-depth as a game such as Persona 5, but when that game is practically perfect in every way, being “not quite as good” still makes Eternights’ narrative largely enjoyable. Unless, of course, you’re not really into sexual innuendos and crude humour, because there is a huge amount of both during the less dramatic scenes. Someone really needs to tell Chani to go take a cold shower.

The visuals are split into two categories: the 3D in-game graphics and the 2D animated cutscenes. First off, the 3D models look fantastic, and I particularly liked some of the truly disturbing enemy designs: mutilated civilians with impossibly-angled limbs and oversized weapons aplenty! Environments are bleak and menacing but feature some lovely lighting and particle effects to give this apocalyptic city a splash of colour. This ties into the combat, which can look absolutely stunning on a 4K display, with each attack smoothly flowing from one to the next before a dazzling finishing move fills the screen with a wide gamut of colour. As for the 2D cutscenes? Well, they’re on par with some of the best anime I’ve seen. Seriously, someone please make an animated adaptation of this game (not you, Netflix) these scenes are superbly drawn and animated!

I decided to play through Eternights with the English dub (I’m sorry) and I was pleasantly surprised at how great all the characters sounded. Everyone sounds suitably terrified in the opening sections when they’re trying to make sense of this disaster they find themselves in, or jovial and light-hearted when the situation suits it. Unfortunately, the lip-synching is practically non-existent, resulting in some manic mouth movements! Equally, the themes and music heard throughout are dark and brooding, fitting the tone of whatever environment you find yourself in. If I was listening to the soundtrack without knowing which game it was from, I’d have to guess it came from a horror title. So bravo, Studio Sai, you’ve made an anime-inspired game genuinely eerie!

There’s a good balance of gameplay in Eternights, and whilst it can feel a little drawn out in some areas, the combination of exploring, combat, and interacting with your party felt mostly satisfying. The exploration isn’t anything too exciting, it feels like a typical dungeon crawler where you’ll traverse a section of the world to progress towards the inevitable boss encounter. There are some unexpected set-piece moments and puzzles here and there, and even a few instances of a dancing minigame, but mostly, you’ll just be wandering around this bleak hellscape to get to the next important plot point.

But before we reach the safety of flirting with our party members in cosy little bunkers, it’s time to fight! Combat is a big part of Eternights and although it’s visually exciting, the moment-to-moment gameplay isn’t quite as exhilarating, although it is still enjoyable. Two buttons trigger light and heavy attacks, another is used to dodge, and a third executes a combo ender when an on-screen prompt appears. That’s it for the basics, but as you progress and grow in power, you’ll unlock special moves such as the Elemental Fist that, when triggered, lets you pull off high-damage dealing combos. Even your companions can get in on the action, providing assistance to keep you on your feet, with more skills unlocked as you progress your relationships. There are a few niggles now and again; I found the dodge timing to be particularly harsh, with what felt like milliseconds between the telltale sign of an enemy attack beginning and its contact with the player. Since most of the enemies hit hard and can deplete your health bar very quickly, many of the game over screens felt a little unfair. Similarly, if you go in for an attack but don’t already have your sword out, the first strike will actually just play the animation of the protagonist materialising the weapon into existence, leaving you wide open to a flurry of enemy offence.

With all this death and destruction, you’d almost forget that Eternights is heavy on romance. But bonding with the other characters is a crucial portion of the game. Each of the five available people reward the player with not only new skills in combat the more your bond grows, but also some genuinely heart-warming or comedic scenes. The characters are really well-written and I cherished every moment I got to spend chatting with them. Did I stay faithful to the first character I romanced, though? Uhm… moving on.

All in all, Eternights doesn’t break the mould of the genre, but it doesn’t need to, thanks to its great cast of characters, intriguing narrative, and gorgeous visuals. Although the combat is flashy, it isn’t overly exciting, and the slight lack of polish often lead to frustrating deaths. That aside, I would recommend this to anyone who wants to connect with an original set of quirky characters struggling to survive in an unforgiving world.