Eternal Threads Review

I rather enjoyed my time with Eternal Threads preview way back in April 2022, and eagerly awaited the full release on Xbox. Well, just over two years later I’ve gotten my wish; the game is here, and you know, I’m enjoying it just as much as I’d hoped.

Eternal Threads pits us as Operative 43, a time travelling agent who has been sent back to the North of England in 2015 to investigate a house fire in which the six occupants died. We’re here to figure out not just the cause but actually alter events so that as many people as possible – ideally all six – survive. We’re not able to directly interact with the housemates though.

Instead, we see echoes of the past spread out over the course of a week. Each range from a few seconds to over a minute long and delve into the interpersonal relationships between the various people, from loving couple doctor Ben and uni-student Jenny (yes, like the ice-cream), landlord Tom, fellow uni-goer’s Raquel and Neil, and the latter’s older sister Linda, here on a brief break from her marriage.

These are laid out on a timeline that we can scroll and explore at any time on our handheld device. Each one is set at a certain day and time, and once we’ve watched the scene are annotated with a brief title so we can easily and quickly find one should we so need again later on.

Selecting one gives us a location in the house to go to, at which point the echo will play out in front of us. We’re able to freely move while it does so, and while some are mostly exposition, there can be some hidden clues that can be spotted, such as the location of a spare key.

There are a large number of the scenes that can have a major impact on the fates of the people though, and these come with a choice to make. These range from the simple (whether to give someone their post) to far more major (to get back with an abusive ex). Each one can and will have ramifications for not just those directly involved but the entire house.

Pick either option and the rest of the timeline will change to reflect the butterfly effect we’ve just enacted. Certain scenes and options will then be locked out to us, and the final fate will update to show whether our choice has managed to save any of them. It can initially seem a bit daunting to try and keep track of, but Cosmonaut Studios have done a great job of keeping this simple enough in practice. The timeline can be explored fully at any time, and we can skip around scenes at will. This allows us to follow just one persons story, for example, or get a better idea of the outcome we’re aiming for and let us work backwards to achieve it. Holding the right trigger on key scenes lets us quickly skip to the next relevant scene too, and the decisions made can be quickly and easily reversed with a simple button press on the timeline rather watching the whole scene again.

What this means is it’s far less tedious than it could have been to experiment, changing decisions and trying stuff out with ease. After a few hours play I’d managed to get four of the housemates out alive, but there were still plenty of scenes and choices to make that could either undo my good work, or prove to be trickier to navigate. There’s also getting them all out alive, and getting them all out alive and still friends to contend with. Indeed, my first success saw some fractures in certain peoples relationships that could otherwise have been avoided.

Eternal Threads isn’t a horror game by any means, but the burnt out husk of the house, as well as a few light puzzles and mysteries involving locked off areas, still gives off a creepy, unsettling vibe throughout. We’re effectively invading these peoples privacy without their knowledge, and as such get a glimpse into more than they’d perhaps like to share. It can be eye opening to discover some of their secrets, to say the least.

All of this is delivered with some witty English humour and some decent, if not standout, performances. It bodes well that even on repeat viewings I was quite happy to watch and listen again, even with a few stilted interactions between the crew. And while the grainy holographic visuals might not vary too much, that we’re constantly moving about the house helps keep things feeling that bit more interesting to watch.

An abridged version is available for those looking to get through things a bit quicker (at the cost of the full story and outcomes) but stick to the main story and there are 190+ scenes and over 50 choices to get through. Again, not all will be available on one timeline but that we can alter it at will means we can see it all and really delve into the backstories as much as we’d like to.

Conclusion

Eternal Threads folds an interesting butterfly-effect narrative into a well put together puzzle, letting us delve as deep into the mystery as we see fit. Consistently intriguing enough to see us through just one more scene, and letting us change our story at will means it’s a game that had us hooked throughout.