Baby Robot GamesEreban: Shadow Legacy is a throwback to an era of single-player video games that I miss.
Earlier this year, I played 2008’s Prince of Persia after getting into the series with the release of The Lost Crown. That title was ahead of its time in many ways, but I appreciated that it was an all-killer, no-filler style of single-player game. I enjoy when games simply center the experience around a core idea or two, then explore that thoroughly in a compact six-to-eight-hour adventure that doesn’t overstay its welcome. I was facing a bit of game burnout after playing through long titles Like Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Helldivers 2, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and Dragon’s Dogma 2 over the past couple of months, but Ereban: Shadow Legacy provided some respite for that.
Ereban: Shadow Legacy is a stealth game from Baby Robot Games that is centered around a character who can merge and travel through shadows. Throughout its eight-hour adventure, Ereban thoroughly explores that gameplay hook in a tightly designed, creative sci-fi adventure that you can beat over the course of a night or two of playing. While the notion of wanting shorter games made by smaller teams is a bit of a cliché at this point, playing through Ereban: Shadow Legacy reminded me of why that’s become a popular refrain for some players in recent years.
From the shadows
In Ereban: Shadow Legacy, players control the last surviving member of the Ereban race, which has the ability to live in and travel through the shadows. A megacorporation called Helios finds this Ereban, named Ayana, and tries to recruit them to their side. A rebel group called the Forgotten Suns quickly saves Ayana, who she then works with to uncover Helios’ plan as well as the secrets behind what happened to the Ereban. That quest plays out across eight chapters, each of which provides an open-ended level for Ayana to explore, find hidden ability-enhancing collectibles, and complete mission objectives.
Even when it gets more linear, being able to travel within shadows felt very freeing as I used them to climb to a vantage point high above my enemies or avoid them entirely. Considering most enemies can kill Ayana in one hit, I was encouraged to enjoy playing as stealthily as possible. The central gameplay conceit of Ereban: Shadow Legacy is easy to wrap your head around, and denoted with a neat visual effect that sees Ayana change color depending on whether she’s in light or shadow.
Despite being short, it even has some replay value, thanks to a system that rates the player after every level based on how many enemies they killed, how many collectibles they found, and how many times they were caught. Everything I want out of a stealth game is present in Ereban: Shadow Legacy, although it isn’t a masterpiece within the genre. The game is fairly one-note as it only really explores that one gameplay mechanic, and it can also be a bit glitchy. I got stuck within level geometry in my shadow form within 15 minutes of playing the game for the first time, and I finagled my way out of bounds and softlocked myself a few more times over the course of the adventure.
Insta-kill stealth encounter design also isn’t for everyone. I was willing to overlook those rough edges, though, as this is a game from a smaller development team and doesn’t last long enough for those frustrations to become overwhelming nuisances. The brevity and simplicity of Ereban: Shadow Legacy may make it not as memorable as the likes of Dragon’s Dogma 2 or Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, but that doesn’t lessen the fact that it was just the kind of chaser I needed after playing through so many huge games this year.
2024 is quickly asserting itself as the year of live service games and RPGs, which can be quite exhausting to play. As such, I’m now really appreciating the respite games like Penny’s Big Breakaway and Ereban: Shadow Legacy provide when they come along, especially when they’re ambitious and experimental titles from new teams trying to prove themselves. Games are getting longer and longer, and that’s starting to make me yearn for the era when games like Ereban: Shadow Legacy were much more common.
If what I’ve said about Ereban: Shadow Legacy sounds intriguing enough, the game will emerge from the shadows and finally be released for PC on April 10.
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