Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is an atmospheric, puzzle-heavy stealth adventure that demands precision, patience, and a love for beautifully miserable cities.
In a world full of stealth games that try to change the wheel or at least make it look different, Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is a welcome addition that sticks to the basics. This independent game was made by River End Games and published by Nordcurrent Labs. It came out quietly and without much fanfare.
Don’t get the wrong idea, though—this isn’t just another stealth game thrown together to fill time. Before, Nordcurrent Labs put out Chains of Freedom, a rough-and-tumble story game like XCOM that didn’t get much attention but got good reviews for its heart. That same ability to see possibilities seems to have paid off once more.
Riverend Games doesn’t have a well-known history, but their first game here says a lot. Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream doesn’t sound like the work of a freshman; it sounds mature, well-thought-out, and dedicated to a clear tone and style. Nordcurrent Labs appears to be a publisher that sets trends, which people will want to keep an eye on, in a market that is already very crowded.
You play as Hanna, a thin, careful young woman who wakes up after getting better from the Heartpox, a scary disease that seems to have spread through her community like rabies. She lives with her younger brother in an industrial city that is falling apart and covered in moss. Her brother goes to work and then disappears.
Soon, the police show up looking for her, and The Stolen Dream becomes a story of running away, desperation, and sisterly determination. It’s not exposition dumps or big cinematic reveals that make the story go. It’s how people around you treat you—whisper Hanna’s name as she walks by, and you can hear people talking as you hide behind boxes or walk through back alleys.
There aren’t any dialogue trees or moral alignment meters. Just a world that feels alive, with bits of real people talking to each other. You’re not a chosen one or a hero who was meant to be. You’re just a girl looking for her brother in a city that wants to forget about you.
And Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream never plays its hand too much. Deeper systems, maybe even supernatural ones, are hinted at, but they stay in the background. There is a “lady in the mines” that people are afraid of, you are told. But is it real? That slow-building mystery makes me think of movies like Alien or The Thing, where the buildup is more important than the ending. It’s quiet, creepy, and perfectly understated.
You’re wrong to think that Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is just a copy of the Commandos. It draws inspiration from isometric DNA, refining it by making it smoother. You have full control over the camera, which lets you look around, see where patrols are going, and carefully plan your next move. This is not a fighting game. It’s a stealth simulator at its core, one that stresses patience, listening, and being aware of your surroundings.
To get through urban mazes, you’re always using sight lines, sound, and timing. Your steps will be heard through metal grates. Guards will show up if you slam doors. Steam machines can hide the way you move. When NPCs talk, they often leave hints about safe paths or hidden items to find.
There is a reason for everything in the world of Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream, from the birds you can scare to keep your enemies busy to the conversations you hear—no room for brute force or making things up on the spot. The game has a speed that you have to keep up with.
You can only walk, crouch, and run (not too fast), and you don’t need many tools to move around. It might sound like this limits you, but the magic is in how you use those limits to change the world around you. There is no real combat in Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream. When things go wrong, there’s no plan B. You are not sneaking around with a dagger or getting ready for a sudden fight. Either no one sees you, or you fail. Always.
Instead, puzzles are what make your progress interesting. These aren’t abstract very often; they’re built into the environments. In one puzzle, for instance, a steam-powered crate loader had to be used as a temporary moving cover. In another scenario, a door had to be opened simultaneously with a guard’s patrol, and the chugging of a machine could be used to conceal your footsteps. It’s all about timing and paying attention.
You get tools like a poison dart, but it’s not an “easy win” item that you can use over and over again. It makes noise. You’ll only get a few seconds. The bad guys wake up quickly. It becomes a surgical choice rather than a primary mechanic. People have to be moved and hidden, and you have to be careful not to set off the alarm birds. Sometimes you just have to wait for a few minutes until the right window opens.
The clean design is what makes it work in Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream. Everything helps with the stealth game. Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is more of a “puzzler” than a “sandbox,” so each challenge feels like it was meant to be there. You’re not making up plans as you go along to get out of trouble; you’re studying the level and following through with them.
But here’s the catch: Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream doesn’t forgive. If you get caught once, you have to go back to the checkpoint. You can’t get another chance. There is no way to hide. No “save” button. Hitman and Metal Gear Solid let you make mistakes, but this feels rigid.
For stealth purists, that rigidity might be appealing, but it can get old after a while. Even more so when you have to play the same minute of the game over and over because of a single mistake. Rats were used to spice up even “A Plague Tale.”
The puzzles’ level of difficulty is fun, but if there aren’t any tricks, Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream could become too one-note throughout a campaign. If later chapters don’t introduce new elements to the formula, such as multiple objectives, environmental hazards, or increased verticality, players might become bored with the repetitive gameplay.
Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream doesn’t have an XP system, leveling up, or gear trees. Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream isn’t like that one. Environment and story are the only ways to make progress. You only get smarter; you don’t get stronger. Because of that, every win feels like it was earned, and every failure feels like it was your fault.
There’s no way around it: Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is beautiful. Built in Unreal Engine 5, Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream uses Lumen lighting and Metahuman facial technology in ways that will blow your mind. Care has been taken to show every cobblestone, damp alley, and flickering lantern. The wind makes the textures of fabrics move. Little bits of dust catch light like film spools.
Need to be able to see every wrinkle in a jacket from 20 feet away? Most likely not. I mean, damn if it’s not impressive. The setting, a made-up city in the style of Nordic countries during the Industrial Revolution, is beautiful to look at. Iron gates, moss-covered bricks, rusting pipes, and tall church towers make for a great atmosphere.
The Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream ran smoothly on high-end computers, but there were times when the framerate dropped. If your PC is average or less, you might want to keep an eye on patches that make it run better when they come out. The graphics are pushing the hardware.
The sound design is also thought out. Sound is an important part of Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream. From the sound of boots on cobblestones to the hiss of a steam valve, everything sounds important. But what’s the real deal? The voice work.
Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream puts a lot of faith in its British cast, and it pays off in a big way. The pattern sounds good. The accents sound like they’ve been used for a while. Hanna is called by name by other characters. Saying “Oh hey, Jonno” as a casual greeting sounds natural, friendly, and real. The voices aren’t too Americanized like they are in most games, which is nice.
The script is short, but the game is written very well. This doesn’t have any over-the-top melodrama. Instead, it has small, believable moments that add flavor without filling you up. There’s no need for monologues in this world. The Stolen Dream is a unique type of stealth game that relies on you to be careful, patient, and alert. It doesn’t give you a lot of tools or treat failure like any other machine. You know when you’ve done something wrong. And you’ll know you did well because you paid attention.
Not everyone will enjoy Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream. This process is slow, methodical, and sometimes annoying. But for people who love pure stealth and puzzle games, it’s a dream come true—as long as they don’t mind starting over twenty times because they stepped on the wrong piece of metal flooring.
With its beautiful graphics, creepy setting, simple but effective story, and tight gameplay, Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream creates a tight, gripping experience. It doesn’t completely change the genre, but it does make it better than ever. It remains to be seen whether Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream can keep up that level of tension for the whole thing; it’s already one of the most exciting stealth games in recent memory.
