Ereban: Shadow Legacy

 I was born in the shadows

One underserved genre which is very close to my heart is that of Stealth. Not many companies want to sit down and dedicate themselves to that sort of game and that is perhaps because of the backwards and often nonsensical rules that go into designing for such a playstyle. Because most stealth games, the good ones, need to be both stealth and action games with players having the choice of handling each encounter in whatever manner they so choose, and have the utmost amount of feasible fun whilst they do exactly that. So those who sit down to make a game about avoiding the spotlight need to also work on great moment-to-moment fighting gameplay and enemy AI, all for a state of play which is the exact opposite of the core game's design philosophy. Which is probably why most Stealth genre games are addendums to already ambitious 'choose your own path' style adventure games like Immersive Sims.

At the Microsoft/Bethesda press conference, we got ourselves a presentation of one new game hoping to carve out a legacy for itself in the shadows of this genre; 'Ereban: Shadow Legacy', and I find myself wondering where on the spectrum of action-stealthy gameplay this title will end up falling. What we have here is a sci-fi stealth title with a ninja-like protagonist who appears to wield some type of umbral sorcery to pursue and slay her foes. And that's not lip service either; her heroine appears able to actual melt into shadow in order to climb gaps or sneak up on their enemy making that 'real-time shadows' check mark in the graphics a must, I guess. She also has a stabbing knife and a penchant for dropping on her enemies heads to stab them, which has drawn amused comparisons to another long-run once-stealthy franchise which people feel underserved by.

Is this Assassin's Creed's great revival game? Ubisoft have pretty much crushed all hope that it's community has for another great Assassin's Creed game to grace our industry ever since they got the backwards impression that the fanbase were more interested in the RPG elements then they were in the stealth action the franchise was built on. And maybe they have found their new audience now. Afterall, they wouldn't keep it up if it wasn't making money for them, right? But the shift in direction has made refugees out of stealth fans who saw the franchise as their own stable ground for the future when every other franchise was infrequent to the point of non existence or slipping out of active development entirely. (All so that AC could became an increadibly middling RPG with lazy systems attached, what a shame.)

But Ereban seems to tap into that wayward love even in the smallest of ways, which is enough to stir the sleeping excitement of a lot out there. Stalking one's target with superior athleticism consumed by the desire for that one superior angle is the USP that Assassin's Creed was so good at replicating. Making us feel like the wolf bearing down on the prey, like a more merciless version of Rocksteady's Batman. Hitman, although it's a game that I love, doesn't give you that sense of total superiority over the people you're hunting, where they're simply toys for you to toss around like they're nothing. And that's the dormant feeling I get when I see our heroine slipping under giant spotlights in the shadows or worming her way into the killing position on one robot's neck.

Of course as with any game of this generation you can't possibly have it just be a stealth game straight up, and so there is indeed going to be a choice-meets-consequence mechanic where you spare or kill enemies on a path to reveal the true ending. I'm not really a fan of this style of reactive story as I find it perfunctory and uninspired a lot of the time. When you're given the choice between killing and sparing, what do you think the narrative is going to reinforce as the 'right' choice? The game bills itself as being in a 'morally grey universe' but somehow I already now there's going to be a lot of black and white when it comes to the personal whims of the player and what they choose to do. I just don't see the point of choices when they're that straight-cut; especially when sometimes it literally means punishing you for killing those who really deserve it because 'killing is bad'. I mean, sure; but you'd think a 'grey narrative' would be better in touch with the concept of 'nuance'. Alas.

From the trailer we've received there's very little to go on regarding the themes of the game as the premise and gameplay seem to have taken precedent. We know the story will follow the last of a vanished race of shadow people fighting against the industrial forces of Helios, presumably seeking some sort of revenge as that's where Stealth game stories typically go. Either revenge or money; those are the listings at the crossroads. This may be some vague residue from my recent playthrough of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, but I sense a little bit of environmental themes in some of the preamble of the trailer. The way the protagonist is described at have been 'awoken', as well as the clearly industrial and built-up nature of her foes makes her seem like some sort of dark avenger for nature. But I may be reading into my own shadows there.

Instantly when looking at the gameplay here I'm reminded of the Styx stealth games, which are some of the more traditional stealth games on the market. Styx is the kind of 'all or nothing' stealth where the scion of the shadows is totally helpless in the light and will be cut down the second he's seen. Perhaps the way that every enemy we've seen from Ereban is a beefy bulky robot is a way of having the same dynamic in this title without it feeling humiliating to be squashed like a bug whenever you get into a 'fair fight'. Which is a totally fine way to design your stealth game, but I'll always been a fan of your Sekiro and you MGSV; where being discovered is just the beginning of either your impressive escape plan or valiant counterstrike.

Baby Robot Games is making their debut with this Stealth game and I have to say this is a pretty slick looking first game off the bat. Whether through active attempt on their part or just plain luck from how the development cycle wound up, they're slithered into a starved genre just as it feels at it's weakest, which is going to be a solid opportunity for publicity if this title manages to strike while the iron is hot. In fact, off the top of my head the only other title I can see challenging this would be Ubisoft's Splinter Cell remake which I think we're all expecting to be a total dumpster fire to line up alongside their Prince of Persia remake. (How long before they start remaking the first Assassin's Creed as an RPG?) God speed to Baby Robot and everyone else trying to resurrect the corpse of Stealth action for a modern age; you're doing the genre proud!