Eternal Hope Review for PC: An indie game about love and loss

Eternal Hope is a wonderfully one-of-a-kind indie title for PC about the loss of a loved one, inspired by games like Limbo and Hollow Knight. You can read whether hope reached us in our test of the game.

Doublehit Games, the developer of Eternal Hope, previously announced that Studio Ghibli's films were an inspiration for the game, but that description doesn't exactly do it justice. Instead, Eternal Hope has the stylistic aesthetic of games like Hollow Knight combined with the gameplay and story of Limbo. Eternal Hope is a very dark, terrifying story, and ironically there's very little hope here - but it's still a very moving and deeply satisfying game that left us shedding a tear or two.

A nice but monotonous experience

Eternal Hope puts the player in the position of a boy named Ti'bi, who falls in love with a girl. The couple hang around under the tree they first met under each day, and Ti'bi makes his way to that tree every morning. One morning a terrible storm blows through preventing Ti'bi from getting to the tree, and when he gets there, a rogue lightning strike throws his girlfriend off the cliff to her death. After mourning the loss of his love, Ti'bi is visited by death itself, who gives him the power to switch between the world of the living and the world of the spirits. From here, Ti'bi embarks on a journey to collect the soul parts of his girlfriend and to bring her back to life. The story is told charmingly in beautifully drawn slides.

The gameplay in Eternal Hope will likely remind players a lot of Limbo. It is a simple puzzle platform game that requires players to slide objects around, climb onto different platforms, or use different aspects of the environment to advance further. Players will not have weapons at their disposal, but will face many dangerous dangers and creatures on their journey. Each new area presents the players with an environmental puzzle that must also be solved before they can move on to the next area. Anyone who has played Limbo could be disappointed, because the puzzles and puzzle passages unfortunately offer little variation and quickly appear monotonous.

We walk between the worlds - "beautiful" sad

The most interesting gameplay mechanic in Eternal Hope is the ability to switch between the living and the spiritual world. By pushing a button you switch to another dimension that allows you to see secret objects or paths of progress that do not exist in the living world. There are also helpful shadow creatures who are also in this dimension and help the players to reach platforms or otherwise help them in solving various puzzles.

While the first few moments of Eternal Hope are sad, for the most part the game is quite charming. It takes a dire turn towards the end, however, and it's a well-managed move that pulls the player back under its spell. The further you progress on Eternal Hope's journey, the more dangerous - not to say more mysterious - the world becomes. Things take a turn for the worse very quickly as the enemies go from normal animals or trolls to monstrous shadow creatures that relentlessly pursue the player. Ti'bi is quickly confronted with elements he did not expect and ultimately with results he could not have foreseen, and the final moments of the game are as memorable as they are moving.

Eternal Hope is an interesting but short game. Players can finish it off in a single pass if they choose, but it's more than worth it. Ti'bi's quest to save the love of his life is a noble endeavor, and it is difficult to see how far he is willing to go to make his dream a reality. Eternal Hope is a wonderful indie title that players will think about for days after it ends.

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Conclusion

Eternal Hope has its ups and downs that is for sure. One recognizes the beginnings of big indie hits like Limbo and Hollow Knight but not quite their finesse. The puzzles and riddles unfortunately quickly become monotonous and often have the same effect. Nevertheless, we liked the feature of the world change very much, because it brought something to the dreary puzzles.

All in all, Eternal Hope is a successful, charming and definitely emotionally gripping, indie title. In the end, it's not enough to be an indie hit. Eternal Hope is not made for everyone, possibly not even intended. Anyone expecting tough indie action will be disappointed here. But for those looking for an emotional, somewhat dark and compassionate trip, Eternal Hope is an entertaining title on offer. Ultimately, the price-performance ratio also counts and that fits: For just 8,19 euros you can't go wrong with Eternal Hope.

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