Open world RPG Eternal Strands is an intricate and challenging adventure through the lands of Enclave.

The game puts us in the shoes of Brynn, a weaver who can use all sorts of elemental powers to defeat powerful foes. The game plays like a mix of modern Zelda and Monster Hunter, encouraging players to experiment with its combat and physics as much as possible.

Eternal Strands is reasonably easy to pick up, but some of its systems are worth going into, which is why we chose five things we think you should know when starting the game.

5 – Stamina Management is Important

Eternal Strands opts for a stamina-based combat system, making it so players have to constantly watch their movement and attacks to not run out during a battle.

The game doesn’t necessarily reach souls-like levels of stamina management, but being tired does have significant downsides. Brynn’s attacks get substantially weaker when she runs out of stamina, doing less than a fourth of the intended damage, which can really trip you up during fights.

The player is also more susceptible to damage whenever they are tired, and that’s a big deal since enemies in Eternal Strands hit reasonably hard, especially early on when you don’t have any gear upgrades. Make sure to manage your stamina well, doubly so during boss encounters.

4 – Sometimes You Shouldn’t Go Outside

Eternal Strands has a dynamic weather system, which changes every time you complete a mission or return to camp. These different weathers can drastically change how you tackle exploration, and some of them can be disruptive.

Some weathers, like the drought, can get rid of water in a level, while others can create massive icicles that freeze large areas or even add giant clouds of purple mist that damage the player. Needless to say, you don’t want to deal with those things.

Tackling an epic hunt while the weather is bad is a recipe for disaster, so sometimes it’s better to just wait things out and move the clock forward until you can find better conditions. Nobody wants to fight a dragon with no water around.

3 – Locational Damage Matters

There are many ways to defeat bosses in Eternal Strands, and the way you tackle fights matters immensely. Bosses have different parts that can be damaged, and breaking those parts can sometimes result in different loot or even new weaknesses being exposed.

The previous Monster Hunter comparison was not made in vain, since monsters in Eternal Strands are built from a lot of moving parts that the player can interact with individually.

Breaking or damaging certain parts of a boss changes how their moves work, and depending on the parts you break it might give you access to their strand, which can be extracted to upgrade one of your elemental skills.

2 – Pay Attention When Crafting Items

Brynn’s armor sets require a wide variety of resources, as Eternal Strands tackles crafting in a unique way, letting players use any material of a certain type to build their items. 

The player has a good amount of choices to make whenever crafting armor, as the material types not only change the armor’s stats, but also its appearance. Certain ores might increase your defense against fire but lower it against ice, while others might simply give a flat boost to physical defense but don’t feature any elemental stats.

Each armor is yours to build in whatever way you see fit, and their materials can be replaced whenever needed through the reforging system, so you can either craft some new armor just to try it out or fully min-max it with the stats you want at any point.

1 – Exploration is Key

Every area in Eternal Strands has different enemies, resources and roaming bosses, but you probably won’t have any exact info unless you look around and get to know each location.

To learn more about the game’s areas, players need to complete certain codex entries, which are usually found around points of interest or in hidden places. Acquiring info on each of the game’s areas is incredibly important, since you definitely don’t want to drop into a stage completely blind.

Exploration is also your main source of armor set blueprints and resources, so make sure to check every nook and cranny of the map, as Eternal Strands constantly rewards players for their curiosity.

If you want to know more about Eternal Strands, then check out our full review for the game right here.

Eternal Strands is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Microsoft Windows (through Steam).