From my short time with it, Eternal Threads is not the game I was expecting it to be. A short Google will suggest it’s a survival game but it’s far more engaged than that. It takes from walking simulators, puzzle games, thrillers and produces something that feels unique, even if a little flawed.
To give you the elevator pitch, Eternal Threads puts you in the shoes of a time-traveller tasked with making choices and shaping the lives of a small group so significantly that the ability to time travel is never discovered. It’s a game about using one of the most awe-inspiring powers to stop itself from ever being brought about. In this sense, it’s a meta-narrative about time travel itself, the choices we make throughout our lives and the implications of those thoughts.
You have to get to know the lives of a few people in a cramped British house, making decisions during the apex of many of their lives. You watch their interactions like a ghost, impacting their decisions to get new outcomes. Everything is placed on a timeline that you can explore at your own will. So much of the game takes place in the same corridors and bedrooms but how you view it is shaped by the context of every soul that touches its walls.
Those walls are oftentimes claustrophobic, containing upwards of five people, showing little bits of their life before you have to make some central decision that could impact the story you reveal. With over 197 events and 54 decisions, Eternal Threads is a game that values narrative above all else. This comes with full-on voice acting and a multitude of secrets to explore - be it a postcard revealing a secret nickname or a drawer hiding a key to a new room.
This being said, with the little time I’ve had with the game, it’s clear something sinister hides underneath. The creepiest parts of the story are the bits you don’t get to witness - where characters go after the confrontation and what they do when they’re off-screen. This is something I can’t wait to dive deeper into.
If you like the idea of exploring a quaint, modern British apartment and discovering secrets more harrowing than the British weather and economy, you can play Eternal Threads for yourself on May 19th, 2022.
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