Ereban: Shadow Legacy in the test – stealth action in the dark is a thing of the past, because here you are the shadow yourself

Stealth action rarely evolves. There are always interesting ideas, but in the end you often end up waiting in the shadows until the guards have sneaked past, then hit them over the head with a club from behind or move on unnoticed. “So why not make a virtue out of necessity,” the developers of Ereban: Shadow Legacy may have thought, “and simply give the heroine a shadow herself?”

Yikes, sorry: “Let it become a shadow,” is what I meant, of course. Ayana is supposedly the last of her kind, called Ereban. And as such, not only can she hide in the dark, but she also blends into whatever a shadow falls on, as if she were a part of it. It then virtually disappears into the ground or into a wall and cannot be seen by anyone, even at close range.

The guards in Ereban: Shadow Legacy are two-meter-tall robots from the Helios Corporation. This is a corporation that saved the planet from a catastrophic energy crisis and now rules it with an iron hand. Of course, the group of rebels that Ayana joins don't like it as much. She does this rather involuntarily and unfortunately makes this known, especially at the beginning, with unnecessarily snarky comments – all the more surprising that she and other characters still come across as likeable at the end of the day.

In terms of narrative, the adventure remains quite superficial, as the characters and story only serve the purpose of sending Ayana on her journey and describing her surroundings. However, the motives and ambitions of those involved are clearly recognizable (or not, if they are kept ambivalent) and it is also due to the good speaker that Ayana works as a heroine with heart despite her uncomfortable nature.

In any case, her goals are not the same as those of the rebels, because the shadow lady is primarily on the trail of the secret of her origins, which is why she sneaks through a series of levels for almost ten hours, most of which are straight sections acts, but in which different paths often lead to the goal or past numerous guards. She can usually also find and complete one or two side missions, so it's worth exploring carefully.

In general, you should look closely anyway, because in the spirit of good stealth action, Ayana can't rush past the robots, but she should think beforehand about which shadows she should use, whether she might distract opponents with a hologram, taking a detour over the roofs or sneaking up on them one at a time to turn off their power from behind. She can't fight, only blind and distract, but the classic knocking out works here too.

Apart from that, hidden in numerous corners are notes that tell you a little about the world and its state, as well as materials that can be used to improve Ayana's skills and gadgets. This means it creeps quieter than at the beginning and not only unlocks additional tools, but also improves the existing ones. The hologram can later blind the lured guards for a few seconds.

Now there aren't that many gadgets, so unlocking and improving them is a rather idle process. I even experienced being rewarded with a resource in one of the first side missions that I couldn't use for several levels. The character development is therefore not particularly motivating.

The same applies to their most striking feature: merging with the shadows. Because in principle it's of course great and gives the movement a whole new level. After all, you definitely have to rethink when Ayana can calmly cross a room full of robots as long as she is virtually invisible. You just shouldn't come into a searchlight, because any light will immediately cancel the merger.

In return, you have probably already figured out what a great strength of this shadow existence is: Dark corners are not only found on horizontal ground and so Ayana can also merge with the shadows on walls. It only doesn't work on ceilings – certainly because the developers needed a way to at least somewhat control the range of motion in the interests of challenging level design.

In any case, the fact that you can immerse yourself in a shadow on walls is great. In this way you not only hide the heroine, but also overcome larger abysses. There just has to be a shadow on the wall next to it. Or, for example, the shadow from a wind turbine has to run along this wall in such a way that she can use it as a path with good timing.

However, Ayana can't walk along bars and that's a good thing. Because it can easily get through bars if they are in the shade, it can get into locked rooms via such paths. Your coolest move? When she moves up a wall to crawl through one of those horizontal gratings that are sometimes in the ground, thus reaching a higher level. You just have options that don't exist otherwise. And when you use it to find ways past guards, it feels really good.

Unfortunately, the indie studio Baby Robot Games doesn't fully exploit the possibilities of its strong concept. One of the reasons is that, in my opinion, Ereban would be much stronger if it were a platformer based on tricky pathfinding. A few more puzzles would have been good – and the ability to manipulate objects in the environment much more often.

A huge incentive, for example, could be to make objects move or move them so that their shadows create new paths. And how cool would it be if Ayana could at least deactivate or move a light every now and then. But all of this practically does not exist in Ereban. The fact that you occasionally destroy a terminal in order to make a previously lit grid “passable” is the ultimate feeling and is basically just a normal door opener so that you don't have to take the same detour again next time.

The actual stealth action is also ultimately manageable, as moving around the guards and occasionally distracting or disabling them is always the same and, due to the few gadgets, you rarely experience a dynamic cat-and-mouse game, as is the case in comparable adventures.

At least Ayana can flee if she is discovered, blind guards and trigger a shield that briefly stops an opponent. It's just a shame that switching between tools and skills is relatively complicated, especially in hectic situations, as you always have to select the one you want via the menu to trigger them. The alternative handling using the digital cross is far too imprecise if things have to be done quickly.

Now it all works well on a small scale because you can not only attract the robots with the hologram, but also by Ayana clapping her hands. You could then avoid them in the shade. Basically, there is a lot in it that should bring good classic stealth action. In addition, employees of the Helios Group are present in some of the levels. Although they sound the alarm as soon as they discover the intruder, they are essentially innocent parties.

So don't turn off the Ayana, because there is even a moral value and different endings. Oh, and similar to the last Splinter Cell (it was far too long ago!), after each level you are also assessed whether you were a pacifist, a complete stealth or a nasty robo-terror. You can even repeat the individual sections later in order to complete unfinished tasks, find overlooked secrets or enter the top grade for a perfect run in your account.

Ereban: Shadow Legacy in the test – conclusion

The adventure with the special shadow is really fun on a small scale. In terms of game mechanics, it's so manageable that as a big fan of complex stealth action I'm definitely disappointed – but that's also because Ereban: Shadow Legacy doesn't even exploit the potential of its unique selling point. As cool as it is to disappear into the shadows and find unusual ways, it's not really necessary for simple sneaking. You certainly don't have to complete tricky platform passages, although that is part of the challenge in some places.

Manipulating the light in particular would have benefited this game, but that's practically not part of it. The fact that I still enjoyed playing Ereban is mainly due to the likeable scenario and a straightforward, but pleasantly open level design with many small hiding places and occasional side missions. The bottom line is that you'll have an entertaining ten hours – or a little less if you're just looking for the next exit.