Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is a story about personal growth and relationships. It’s also a game about engaging with clever stealth puzzles in a dense, industrial city. It’s also a movie-like experience that leverages some of the most advanced tools Unreal Engine has to offer, with visuals rivaling some of the biggest-budget AAA games on the market today. Needless to say, Eriksholm is a lot of things.
It all seems to hold together well, serving up a deep and ever-changing gameplay experience peppered with film-quality cinematics. Recently, Game Rant had the opportunity to sit down with Anders Hejdenberg, the creative director of Eriksholm, for a conversation about its influences, driving game design philosophies, and ambitious visuals that threaten to make the game an industry leader.
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How Eriksholm’s World, Story, and Characters Come Together
Setting Is a Vital Character in Eriksholm
Eriksholm takes place in a fictional city that is the game’s namesake. It’s at the tail end of a radical transformation courtesy of the burgeoning steam industry by the time players boot up the game, and this is exemplified by the first area that players can explore, a neighborhood by the name of Cutter’s Hill. Cutter’s Hill was once an up-and-coming district but has been relegated to stagnation and poverty due to the city’s rapidly changing industrial landscape. But Cutter’s Hill is just one of several unique, nuanced locales players will get the chance to visit. Touching on the game’s diverse setting, Hejdenberg said:
…each area that you visit has its own story. But we’re also careful to not say, like, ‘We’re in the rich part of town, everyone must be evil here.’ Rather, we want to get a perspective from these characters that isn’t too over-the-top. We want to show that these people have their own struggles, in their own way.
Hejdenberg was careful to note that while themes of rampant capitalism and industrialization may appear during the game, they aren’t what Eriksholm is most about. “[Eriksholm is] a very personal story, and even though there are some political intrigues and whatnot, it’s very much the story of Hannah and her journey and her bravery,” he said.
Characters are at the heart of the Eriksholm experience, it would seem. There’s Hannah, the ostensible protagonist, but there are also two other playable characters: Alva and Sebastian. Commenting on how their dynamic would inform the broader moment-to-moment gameplay, Hejdenberg said “Different gameplay elements are introduced when you’re just playing as Hannah, and have meant different things until the point that you team up with Alva. So it winds up being a kind of back-and-forth situation.”
Eriksholm Strives to Remain Engaging from Beginning to End
Variety is the name of the game when it comes to Eriksholm‘s multi-character premise. The three playable characters—Hannah, Alva, and Sebastian—each has unique abilities that deepen the player’s tool set as they make their way through the story. All of this is done to make Eriksholm more varied and unpredictable:
…we start small, and you get the basics, and you understand how everything fits together. And then we add complexity as we go, so that each new puzzle or situation you end up in is a little bit different and sometimes a whole lot different.
Hejdenberg went on to say that a major goal of Eriksholm is to be “fresh,” never letting any of its systems or mechanics overstay their welcome. This is a rather ambitious goal, but it’s one that Hejdenberg and his team don’t seem to be taking lightly. Through a combination of a tense, tailored story, and diverse gameplay, Eriksholm hopes to be as deep in gameplay as it is in narrative.
