Ereban Shadow Legacy: Why This Indie Puts AAA Stealth to Shame
Ereban Shadow Legacy is a third-person stealth action game where you play as Ayana, the last of a forgotten race with the power to merge with the shadows. You’ll be navigating huge environments to uncover the truth about your past while avoiding or eliminating the robotic forces of the Helios corporation. It’s an indie title focused on creative movement and tactical shadow-shifting in a world where light and dark dictate your survival.
Specs & HUD | Gameplay Review | Performance & Fidelity | Settings & Customisation
Ereban Shadow Legacy PS5 Review: Specs & HUD
- 6.97GB download size.
- Platinum trophy with 27 trophies.
- 3 save slots.
- Opening the tutorial area with ongoing pop-ups and a help menu.
- Third-person view on a full 3D game world, and you have 360-degree camera control.
- The sensor will scan the area around you and will highlight the enemy, and the light of sight for enemies is clearly shown.
- Button prompts show when needed, platforms you can climb will have colouring in them, and ledges will have a shine to them where you can grab on regardless of light or dark.
- The radial menu makes it easier to swap between abilities as you can only have one equipped at a time.
- End of level breakdown showing time taken, deaths, stealth progress, and any collectables found, along with an overall rank.
Gameplay Review & Mechanics Breakdown
Stealth action gameplay is the core here. The gimmick of the game is that you can turn into an orb in the dark and shadows, which allows you to climb walls, go through grates, etc., as long as it’s dark. Stamina dictates how long you can stay as an orb, and running out has you turning back into the human-like form. I really like the game. The opening section was not great and put me on a bad foot, but once you get out into the world and play how you want, it opens up, and I love just taking Syms out and finding loot and new locations. The locations are huge, and you can have a lot of say in how and what you do in the world. New abilities open up the game a lot, especially when you can lay mines and disintegrate bodies. Until you do it yourself, you don’t understand how badass it is when you either clear a whole area out of Syms or when you do an aerial take down!
There is an element of puzzle to it all as you have to work out the best route, when is best to kill this guy so you can take out this guy, etc. You can stealth kill enemies easily. The enemy known as Syms will patrol and will go into alert if they spot you or a Sym you took out. New Sym types come into play as you progress, like snipers and lasers, which mix it all up. Sometimes you can loot enemies for materials, and again you get a button prompt, and the central body part flashes. Shadow dust is the item you find in the world and is used for shadow powers and getting new abilities. You find collectables, and some are items used for crafting new abilities and upgrades. Special abilities you unlock only have a set amount of uses, and then you have to craft new ones with materials you find in the world. It’s fine, but it can be frustrating early on, as you cannot always play how you want. Go in thinking of a good indie game and not a highly polished triple-A game, and you will have a brilliant time. This isn’t shade or hate, it’s just setting expectations.
One thing I cannot deny is that this is some of the best level design I have seen in a game; the way they use lighting to make new accessibility options is just insane. In-game cutscenes and character interactions which can be skipped. At times, the game will lock you into an area until you speak to someone or trigger a switch, which can be annoying. Being as open as the game world locations are can result in you getting lost or losing track of an objective. Multiple endings for a dark and light ending. There is replay value for doing the harder difficulties, but it is more for the trophies than for in-game.
Ereban Shadow Legacy PS5 Review: Performance & Fidelity
- Decent graphics.
- Performance-wise, it does hitch more than it should and is more noticeable when going from Dark to light, but it’s very noticeable.
- Later levels tank the frame rate a lot compared to the opening few, and it is unplayable in places as it messes up timing, not to mention your eyes do not like it.
- Honestly, the performance is the only real letdown here; the scope and gameplay are top-notch, but it just stutters along and takes the fun out of it.
- The Syms talk, and for some reason, they say all the mannerisms and movements like nod gestures, then talk normally. It ruins the atmosphere.
- I am not a huge fan of the main character or her performance. On the whole, it just feels a bit flat and lifeless.
- Checkpoints trigger, and the pause screen does show how many minutes ago you hit the checkpoint, but checkpoints are quite far apart.
- Never felt confident in knowing if the game was saved before quitting or when it was last saved.
Settings, Customisation & Control Details
- Camera settings – Invert axis and sensitivity sliders.
- Audio sliders for – voice, music, SFX, master volume, and a mute option.
- Accessibility options – font size, opaque text background, and subtitles.
- No Colourblind support, so hopefully you can see the markers and everything as you need them to help.
- General settings – path guides, display hints, brightness, and language.
- Vibration can be toggled on and off.
- You can remap the controls.
- Three game difficulties – Easy, default, and hard.
- When coming out of stealth to run the game doesn’t put you back into the stealth position.
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Ereban Shadow Legacy
Summary
THE GOOD STUFF
I really like the game. The opening section was not great and put me on a bad foot, but once you get out into the world and play how you want, it opens up, and I love just taking Syms out and finding loot and new locations. The locations are huge, and you can have a lot of say in how and what you do in the world. New abilities open up the game a lot, especially when you can lay mines and disintegrate bodies. Until you do it yourself, you don’t understand how badass it is when you either clear a whole area out of Syms or when you do an aerial take down! One thing I cannot deny is that this is some of the best level design I have seen in a game; the way they use lighting to make new accessibility options is just insane.
THE BAD STUFF
Performance-wise, it does hitch and slow down more than it should and is more noticeable when going from Dark to light, but it’s very noticeable. Later levels tank the frame rate a lot compared to the opening few, and it is unplayable in places as it messes up timing, not to mention your eyes do not like it. The Syms talk, and for some reason, they say all the mannerisms and movements like nod gestures, then talk normally. It ruins the atmosphere. Being as open as the game world locations are can result in you getting lost or losing track of an objective. Checkpoints are quite far apart, and I never felt confident in knowing if the game saved before quitting or when it last saved. I am not a huge fan of the main character or her performance; on the whole, it just feels a bit flat and lifeless.
OVERALL VERDICT
Go in thinking of a good indie game and not a highly polished triple-A game, and you will have a brilliant time. This isn’t shade or hate, it’s just setting expectations. Honestly, the performance is the only real letdown here; the scope and gameplay are top-notch, but it just stutters along and takes the fun out of it. If you can handle the later levels tanking the frame rate, the shadow-shifting and level design make it a standout stealth title. This is my favourite game of the year so far.
