Going in, I knew nothing about Ereban: Shadow Legacy except that it is marketed as a stealth-based combat game with a protagonist who looks very cool. Nearly 14 hours later, as the final credits rolled, I was completely blown away with how well the game balanced both stealth and story.

Ereban: Shadow Legacy follows the story of Ayana, the last living Ereban, a race whose extinction is shrouded in mystery. The game is all about the journey of Ayana as she tries to find the truth about her people while battling enemies, solving puzzles, and helping others with unique stealth gameplay.

And the game does not disappoint.

A Story About Loss, Darkness, And Hope

Being the sole survivor of a race and not knowing what happened to them can be one of the most tragic backstories. So when Ereban: Shadow Legacy puts this in the spotlight and gives us a protagonist with shadow powers, essentially relating it to darkness, it feels like cherry on top.

Ayana is invited for a job interview by an energy corporation called Helios, and the game opens with her navigating within the office of the company. However, the interview soon turns violent as Helios sets out to hunt the last living Ereban for their own means. Ayana’s battle against Helios sets her on a journey where she meets an anti-capitalist organization called the Forgotten Suns. They help her find the truth about her people and bring down Helios for good.

With her headstrong, determined, and fearless personality, Ayana’s story is not just about overcoming a great tragedy, but it is also one of hope and self-discovery. The narrative is set up perfectly and becomes the very essence of the game.

In today’s age, with games getting a ton of social media coverage, I rarely get to go in blind before starting a game. Ereban: Shadow Legacy is one of the few games in recent years that I started playing without knowing the plot details, and let me say, it was such a surprise.

I didn’t expect the story to be so fleshed out and long. But at the same time, there wasn’t a point during my playthrough that I felt bored or wanted to take a break. In fact, I ended up playing the game in one sitting because I was so invested in the story and just wanted to keep going until the end.

With eight chapters in Ereban: Shadow Legacy, the narrative wasn’t dragged or exhausting. Instead, it perfectly complimented the gameplay.

Blending With The Shadows

Chapter 1 is mainly a tutorial that tries to familiarize the players with Ayana’s Ereban powers. Since the gameplay focuses on stealth, her shadow-based powers serve as the groundwork to take down enemies without being detected.

Ayana has two primary powers- Shadow Merge and Shadow Land- that aid her from the very beginning. Shadow Merge is when she blends with the shadow and can either move undetected or go behind enemies and stealthily take them out.

Shadow Merge has its own meter which depletes when Ayana uses the power. Once the meter hits empty, it transforms her back as she was. However, the stamina meter can be increased with upgrades during your playthrough.

Her other power, Shadow Land is when Ayana can jump a great height and use the shadow to soften her landing so the enemies around aren’t alerted by her sound.

Additionally, collecting shadow orbs and tech parts help Ayana to upgrade her skill tree with more abilities and craft gadgets like sonar and mines respectively. These open more unique opportunities to take down enemies in various methods.

There is no fixed path in gameplay when it comes to Ereban: Shadow Legacy. The game tells you that there is more than one playstyle you can employ. Ayana can be a ruthless killer, or she can show mercy and decide to go the non-lethal way. These choices will impact the playstyle, Ayana’s character, and what ending you get.

There were levels where I died more than 10-20 times because I was figuring out my playstyle and was simply forced to try another approach. Sometimes the path was so tricky to get across swarms of enemies that I learned to use the sewers or go behind enemies to simply escape instead of taking them out.

Since Ayana mostly sticks to the shadows, she can only take down enemies stealthily and not directly from the front. Often, I would feel frustrated with this challenge because I am more of a direct combat player than stealth. Despite that, taking down enemies still felt very satisfying.

Another challenge is the environment, which is never constant in Ereban: Shadow Legacy. If there is light around, Ayana’s shadow powers cease to exist as it only works in darkness. So, to progress in certain areas, I had to rack my brain and figure out other ways to go forward, and these small bits did feel like puzzle sections that were fun in their own way.

Traversal And Environment

Each chapter level in Ereban: Shadow Legacy is vast and diverse. From silent city to offworld, from factories to prisons, the variety of environmental areas with their own semi-open world made the exploration more interesting. Sometimes while exploring, I would unexpectedly come across small side quests which were a nice change of pace from the main story.

When it comes to traveling, Ayana’s Shadow Merge was the key to get to places she can’t reach on foot. The important thing to keep in mind in such situations is to have her follow the line of shadows whenever there is light swimming around.

For example, I had to get across the other end while infiltrating Helios’ factory, and the only way to go forward was via the giant fan’s shadow hitting the opposite wall. But between the blades of the fan’s shadow, there was light reflecting in the wall. I had to avoid that light by having Ayana use her Shadow Merge and move through the shadow of the fan in order to successfully make it through the other end.

This took a bit of trial and error since the fan was moving. Sometimes, I would accidently go into the light which would reduce the stamina meter of the Shadow Merge, making Ayana fall to her death.

As Ayana can only move swiftly within the shadows, traversal in Ereban: Shadow Legacy is very creatively done. I am not the best with fast paced travel and can get quite clumsy, so these puzzles were a bit of a challenge for me. A challenge I did not frown from but mostly enjoyed.

A Beautiful Narrative

As someone who loves narrative-driven games, Ereban: Shadow Legacy checks all the boxes in what makes such games truly special.

Rarely a game takes all of my attention and sleep, and this was one of them. Ayana’s story very much takes the front stage while also meticulously connecting her powers into stealth-based gameplay that left me wanting a sequel and maybe another one after that. Baby Robot Games clearly have a winner in their hands, and I would definitely like to see Ayana’s story being continued within this universe they have put together so dedicatedly.

Ereban: Shadow Legacy offers about 15 hours of gameplay, or more if you want to be thorough. The game is guaranteed to satisfy your single-player linear story itch.