Built by River End Games, a Swedish indie studio comprising former Battlefield, Battlefront, and Mirror’s Edge developers, stealth-led strategy game Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is one that has very much caught our eye, and now we know when it’ll be playable. It follows three people forced into the shadows by mysterious events, set on a path that will see them uncover dark powers at play as they search for a missing companion. With hints of PC strategy classics like Commandos and confirmed for July at the Future Games Show, this is certainly one for your Steam wishlist.
Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream takes place in the eponymous city, inspired by early 1900s Scandinavia, where a plague-like disease called Heartpox has been ravaging the streets. When Hanna’s brother Herman disappears and a police chief comes knocking, she ducks out of sight and finds herself slipping unwillingly down the slope to a deadly adventure. Lauren recently had a chance to get hands-on with the sneaky new strategy game, and hailed it as one to watch in her Eriksholm preview, citing intriguing narrative beats and worldbuilding that could make it a surprise winner in the vein of Clair Obscur Expedition 33.
Portrayed from an isometric perspective, your journey across Eriksholm feels akin to other such stealth games as Commandos, Shadow Tactics, and Mutant Year Zero. The goal here is very much evasion, however; your crew are not equipped to take on fights directly, so you’ll need to make careful use of each character’s abilities to stay alive. While you can opt to take guards out of action, being caught will mean a restart, although you’re never pushed back so far as to become frustrating.
Hanna can dive into ducts or knock out enemies with her sleep-dart blowpipe, while her friend Alva is more nimble and capable of climbing drainpipes or tossing pebbles to create distractions. This toolkit, combined with the environments you encounter, opens up plenty of potential for creativity. “It takes me five or six attempts to complete each section,” Lauren notes in her preview, “and as I sit here writing this, I’m already realizing what I could have done differently – it makes me want to go back and try it all over again.”
Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream launches on Steam and the Epic Games Store on Tuesday July 15, 2025. You can wishlist it now if you’ve got what it takes to uncover the city’s dark secrets.
For plenty more engaging, narrative-driven adventures, take a look through our pick of the best single-player games and the best story games on PC in 2025.
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