Have you ever walked past a corporate building and wondered what’s inside? After curiosity strikes, Ayana lines herself up for an interview with tech firm Helios. They’re heralded as the saviour of mankind after creating an unlimited energy source that now provides the entire planet. This evaluation to become a Helios agent goes incredibly well, which is no surprise considering Ayana isn’t a regular being – she’s the last of a race known as the Ereban. When Helios learns of this, the evaluation abruptly ends, leading to a frantic escape. What then ensues is a quest to discover if Helios was somehow involved in the Ereban vanishing.
The events within the opening form the tutorial, making for one more engaging than most by establishing basic plot elements while detailing Ayana’s skills. Our mysteriously masked heroine can merge with shadows and travel within them, turning into a shadowy pulsating mass for around ten seconds. This includes along walls and ceilings, leaping from one to another. She’s quite the asset, able to cross stretches of ground undetected and even able to warp through meshed gates. As soon as hit by light, Ayana comes exposed, with just a second or two of tolerance granted. Knowing this, Helio’s robotic guards quickly adapt by carrying spotlights.
If a guard manages to grab hold of her, this leads to a swift one hit death. As such, it’s essential to only engage robotic foes from behind, using a precise blow with an electrified blade to take them down. Indeed, this is a stealth game foremost, with combat reduced to just a couple of animations that play out when attacking either from behind or above. Enforcing this further, only one weapon (if you will) features throughout – an electric mine that can be thrown directly at enemies. So, definitely don’t expect to pull out a pistol if you’re ever detected. While somewhat dim – complaining of rust and having to work all the time – Helios’ patrols still have the capacity to surprise, reviving one another and using teleports to switch locations in a matter of seconds.
Ayana’s quest is spread across eight semi-open stages, each peppered with linear sections to retain focus. It isn’t averse to featuring larger well-lit outdoor environs to run around freely in either. The second chapter wastes no time propelling the storyline along while giving a good idea of what challenges lie ahead, set in an open desert with a handful of missions. It’s here that Ayana meets a group of like-minded rebels out to expose Helios, with key members tagging along for the next few chapters. You’ll also start to accumulate scrap, used to craft and improve gadgets of varying use, including a visor to scout ahead. Later, Ayana can temporarily control enemies too, marching them out of her path.
Stages are designed with Anyana’s unique skills in mind. Traversal includes finding and even creating shadowy paths to follow, such as stopping machinery so it casts a shadow on the wall, or travelling through shadows cast by a conveyor belt. Sometimes you’ll have to scout for a pillar or similar that’s only partly in darkness, or fall through floor panels to access lower areas. To help navigate the more complex locations, there are a few pointers such as purple paint splats (which can be made less obvious, if you prefer) and important locations are often marked with purple lights. This helps keep things on track and progress swift. During a temple-set chapter more puzzle elements feature, mostly involving hitting buttons in increasingly elaborate sequences while in shadow form.
The best way to describe Ereban: Shadow Legacy is lean and focused. It’s driven heavily by its story, with each chapter containing a new revelation, and is largely focused on offering a handful of ideas done well, rather than having a bloated feature list. It has a runtime of around six hours and is designed to be replayed, with ‘S’ ranks to gain and harder difficulties to tackle. It does a very good job of tracking your performance, including the number of times seen by enemies and the total of human casualties. It’s safe to say it can be completed without ever being seen. Adding to the replay value are the three possible endings, which you’ll need to play through the last chapter entirely to discover. It recalls Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, in that while short you’ll need to replay it a few times to see and gain everything. Some of the upgrade tokens are very well hidden, and the more open locations often have several rooms to explore.
It’s presented quite nicely too, using a bold cel-shaded art style that, when in the right light, lends it a comic-book feel. A few scrappy textures, mostly found within the larger environments, are the only things that let it slide. In keeping with the comic book feel, the dialogue is goofier than expected with a few modern mannerisms present. Still, the storyline’s fast pace, along with the intrigue surrounding the Ereban, makes for something that engages instantly. By the time the second, more open, chapter ends you’ll have a firm grasp of what Ayana is capable of and will be well on your way to augmenting select skills further, shaping her as you see fit. These smart design choices make for something rather compelling, even if Anaya is never fully able to get her hands dirty.
Baby Robot Games’ Ereban: Shadow Legacy is out 16th April on PS5 and Xbox Series. Published by Selecta Play. A PC version launched in 2024.