Ereban: Shadow Legacy is a decent stealthy debut – Review
byRobotic-Games-
0
he debut title from Baby Robot Games, Ereban: Shadow Legacy is a stealth game following Ayana, the last of the Ereban, a race capable of merging into the darkness. She’s come to Helios, a megacompany that has seemingly saved the world by finding a way to provide unlimited energy, but Ayana suspects something is amiss and that Helios might know something about what happened to the Ereban. There’s no shortage of stealth ’em ups in the indie and double-A scene though, so what does Ereban: Shadow Legacy offer?
To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Ayana’s suspicions are proven correct and she has to make a hasty exit before Helios can grab her and use her for their nefarious plan, whatever that may be. Aid comes from an unlikely source, though, as one of the goons working at Helios turns out to be a member of a resistance called the Second Suns. And so we have the premise of our adventure: Ayana needs to discover the evil secret of Helios, learn about her people and discover what it means to be Ereban.
What ultimately takes the punch out of the big reveals is that Shadow Legacy can’t nail foreshadowing without giving the game away. Every time the story attempted to deliver a twist I had already seen it coming from the very first time it was hinted at, and the ones that I didn’t weren’t exciting anyway. Despite some very high-quality voice acting especially for a debut title from a small studio, neither Ayana nor the small cast of characters she meets are engaging enough to make the story meaningful. Maybe a big part of that issue is how little time Ayana spends with anyone else, which is to say almost no time whatsoever. The leader of the resistance has minimal screentime, and the only person Ayana actually builds a rapport with is done almost entirely over a radio – and even then, it’s so little and so unconvincing that the writing at the end of the game, which attempts to make it seem like they’ve built a deep friendship, comes across as false.
Released On: 10/04/2024 Available On: PC Reviewed On: PC Developed By: Baby Robot Games Published By: Baby Robot Games
Review code provided by the publisher.
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It’s a shame because I actually believe the game’s backstory and premise to be pretty cool. As the game gradually built up its lore I couldn’t help but feel that a game set during all of the lead-up to Ereban: Shadow Legacy would be even more intriguing than what we got where it seems like all the good stuff already happened.
I want to be clear, though: I don’t think it’s a bad story. It’s just a very bland one that I’m honestly struggling to remember anything about. A few tweaks could have really improved it, like letting Ayana’s relationship with the first resistance member she encounters get built up naturally instead of trying to imply through snippets of dialogue that they’ve somehow become friends, even though we, the players, were there for the entire journey and know they didn’t.
The main enemy you face are Syms, big chunky robots that patrol locations using simple movement patterns. Aside from uttering some genuinely quite funny lines of dialogue, these robots are there for you to evade or destroy as you see fit. A few varieties pop up across the fairly short 5-8 hour campaign, including long-range snipers and a special model that can revive fallen comrades. While you are armed with a retractable blade capable of taking out a Sym in a single stroke, combat is not something you engage in. To Ereban: Shadow Legacy’s credit, it goes down the purer stealth route by letting the Syms one-shot you as well. It’s possible to run away and hide, but generally speaking, being spotted will mean game over instead of an excuse to bust out the rocket launcher.