Anders Hejdenberg, Creative Director at River End Games, Details How ‘Eriksholm’ Blends Stealth and Story Into One Beautiful Package (Interview)

From the moment I first saw Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream, I had to convince myself I wasn’t watching a CGI movie or something. The cutscene quality is impeccable, and the gameplay itself looks like a dream come true. Especially for someone as big into the stealth genre as I am. I had the opportunity to chat with Anders Hejdenberg, Creative Director at River End Games, about the upcoming title.

What Exactly Is ‘Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream’?

Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is an isometric stealth game. But what makes it shine are the detailed and stunning cutscenes. Unlike other MetaHuman projects, Eriksholm is pushing the boundaries of photorealism. What’s even more impressive, however, is the size of the team. It’s an indie game. And it’s producing some of the most stunning visuals both inside and outside of cutscenes.

When I saw the cutscenes in ‘Eriksholm’ for the first time, the only way I could describe myself was “Speechless”. What went into making them as stunning as they are?

Well, first of all — thank you! We’re a very small team of 17 people, and we’re doing these cinematics in-house. So, it means a lot to hear there’s appreciation for the effort we’ve put into them. But I’d say that even though we have some very talented people working on them (not to mention some really cool tech from Epic with MetaHuman, MetaHuman Animator, and Lumen), we could never have achieved these results without a great script and great performances from the actors.

If you’re interested in learning more, we did a presentation for Inside Unreal where we go into great detail about the whole process of creating the cinematics for Eriksholm.

The stealth gameplay of ‘Eriksholm’ is already looking fantastic, but what sets it apart from other giants in the genre?

The game has three playable characters. Each with their own unique skill set. And the gameplay revolves around using them together in a cooperative fashion to overcome obstacles. But, I think what sets Eriksholm apart is the process we went through in creating it, and what that led to.

For our first level (and the first hour of the game), I said to the level designers that there would only be one playable character — and she wouldn’t have any abilities at all. Their response was basically, “What the hell are we supposed to do with that?!”. And I said, “I have no idea, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be something that’s different. Because I don’t think there are many people out there who’d be stupid enough to try something like that.”

It was a very interesting process, but it actually worked. When we couldn’t rely as much on pure gameplay mechanics, we had to take a different approach — which led to a much more story-driven and puzzle-oriented approach than many other stealth games. We put a lot of effort into creating a world filled with story, characters, and visual themes that were interesting to explore — and our enemies can often feel a lot more like characters than AI enemies in the classic sense.

Feeling Fresh in the Stealth Genre Isn’t The Easiest Task, But ‘Eriksholm’ Makes It Happen

When we could finally playtest the first level with outsiders, the first thing they said was that it felt different, and well… fresh. A comment we heard from many of our playtesters was that it almost felt like playing a movie — but in a good way. Others said it felt like we had taken the stealth genre and opened it up to the public. One tester even went so far as saying, “Eriksholm does for the stealth genre what Limbo and Inside did for the platformer genre.” I can only say that we’re very humbled by comments like that.

For me personally, having your game described as “fresh” is pretty much the greatest badge of honor you can get as a designer. For me, “fresh” is the carefully balanced sweet spot between the familiar and the new. It’s relatable, but it feels different in a good way.

The world design looks utterly brilliant so far. Were there any real-life inspirations that you pulled from when creating the world of ‘Eriksholm’?

The world where the game takes place is very much inspired by Scandinavian cities and architecture in the early 1900s. I remember watching the movie Kiki’s Delivery Service many years ago. And I was really drawn into its world and aesthetic. Many aspects of their world were inspired by Swedish cities. But even though I am Swedish, their world still had a captivating and almost dreamlike quality.

I wondered if my reaction was due to having grown up in Sweden and having visited the cities that they’d used as inspiration. But when talking to people from other countries, I realized the appeal was actually quite universal. So, that sparked the idea that maybe it could actually be pretty interesting to create a world inspired by Scandinavian aesthetics — but in a larger-than-life kind of way. And it certainly doesn’t hurt to have all the references you’ll ever need right outside your doorstep.

Some stealth games will come to a halt if the main character is spotted, and some will allow you to get a little more… hands-on with enemies. Which type of game is ‘Eriksholm’ going to be?

This was an important question to consider for us — and a difficult one to answer. We were creating a stealth game where each encounter with the enemy is very much a hand-crafted situation with custom reactions to the player’s actions, custom dialogue, and custom animation that we put a lot of effort into. But what happens if the player gets spotted and then just starts running?

It becomes a competition between two very different ways of playing. Sure, it can be nice if the game isn’t over just because you’re spotted. But if it isn’t as fun after that, isn’t that worse?

Our answer was to create each encounter so that if you’re spotted at any time, you’ll get a very quick fade and then you’re immediately back to where you were — right before it happened. You screwed up in some way, but you’re not really punished since you immediately get to try again the very next moment.

The Illusion of Choice Can Be A Difficult Thing TO Come To Terms With

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have any hesitations about this choice and that I wasn’t nervous the first time we tried this on playtesters outside of our office. But the reaction from the playtesters was unanimous — and it was something along the lines of “Shit. He spotted me,” and then a moment later, “Ah, nice,” as they realized they were back right before it happened and could have another go at it.

In retrospect, I think it was a very good direction for both the player and for us as a team. We’re a very small studio, and this direction allowed us to put more effort and care into each encounter. From the player’s perspective, it’s a great feeling when you manage to cleverly outmaneuver your opponents without detection — and the game’s puzzle-oriented approach to the level design lends itself really well to that. So, by giving the player another shot if something goes wrong, they can still get that experience and that feeling.

Would you consider ‘Eriksholm’ to be more of a linear adventure? Or can fans look forward to exploration throughout these beautiful vistas?

I’d say that it’s more of a linear adventure. Especially in the beginning. But it doesn’t necessarily always feel like that when you’re playing. There are often multiple solutions to encounters with enemies. And you can often explore outside the beaten path (and maybe find a collectible or two).

As new playable characters become available along the way, the game opens up more and gives you more freedom. But it’s certainly not an open-world game or a sandbox game in any way.

Doubling back on the exploration question. Are we going to be leaving the town of ‘Eriksholm’ at any time? Or is this adventure confined to this location?

All of the locations in the game are either in, beneath, or around the city of Eriksholm since that’s the epicenter of the story. But each location can almost feel like a new city in its own right, because they all have a different backstory, culture, and visual theme.

I noticed in the trailers that we will be able to swap between multiple characters in ‘Eriksholm’. How does this affect the stealth sections, and can we swap between them at will?

You can swap between characters at any time. But the gameplay is very much about using your characters as a team to overcome obstacles together. Each character also has a unique “traversal skill”. Hanna can crawl through vents, Alva can climb drain pipes, and Sebastian can swim. This makes it easier for the player to read the environment and come up with clever ideas on how to outsmart the enemy based on how and where the characters can move.

When designing the characters and the story, did you take any inspiration from real-world people and events? If not, what went into creating the stories and lives of these characters?

We actually started with the world for this game. We came up with a world with its own history, culture, atmosphere, and aesthetic. That’s when we started to populate it with characters that we found interesting. After that, we picked out our favorite characters and wrote a story for them.

Stealth is a touchy mechanic in gaming that either hits the mark or completely misses. What makes the team confident that ‘Eriksholm’ will fall on the right side of the fence?

Playtesting. Lots of playtesting. I really can’t stress that enough. We’ve built the game one level at a time. Each level gets polished to a degree where it’s pretty much indistinguishable from the final product. And it’s not until then that we test it on outsiders. Testing a polished product makes it possible for us to trust player feedback in a way that’s not quite possible otherwise. It doesn’t take much to break an experience for a player. But with a polished product, there are no excuses. If the player doesn’t like it, there’s more work to be done.

We also make sure to only use testers who have first seen screenshots, trailers, or other marketing material and come to the conclusion that this is something they could see themselves purchasing if it was out now. This is really important so that we don’t get feedback from people who would never play this type of game. I’m personally not a big fan of musicals. So, if someone asks me to go see a musical and wants my feedback afterward — my feedback would probably be that there’s too much singing going on, which isn’t very helpful to anyone.

Going Hands-on with ‘Eriksholm’ Sounds Like A Great Experience, According to Testers

Our testers are also instructed to only play when they feel like playing. Sure, maybe they felt like it when they signed up. But that doesn’t mean they’ll feel like it when the day comes. So, we give them a time window and ask them to wait until they’re in the mood. And then play the game. The reason for this is that people generally only play games when they feel like it. Because they know they won’t have as much fun if they don’t. So, if the feedback is to correspond well to the real world after release, it’s an important thing to consider.

We ask our testers to do their best to not think about the fact that the game isn’t finished. We want them to play as if they had just bought the game and were simply looking to have a good time. It’s easy to get a skewed perspective if you feel like you’re supposed to find problems. Getting drawn into a world and a story — or getting captivated by gameplay — is, in many ways, a state where you’re letting go and allowing yourself to be moved by an experience. Looking for bugs or trying to find faults is more of a critical mindset that is pretty much the opposite of that. And, once again, not the way most people play a new game they’ve just purchased.

But What Makes A Game like this Purr?

Finally, it’s definitely an art form to analyze playthrough videos and player feedback and decide what to do. Every part of the game contributes to the experience. So, if something doesn’t quite work or is frustrating somewhere — then that emotion can linger. This means that you may come into a part of a level that’s actually very nice. But you’re already irritated by something that happened earlier. Which makes you have trouble enjoying the part that’s actually very nice. I don’t know how many times we’ve received negative feedback on a certain part of a level that we could later trace back to a prior experience in the same level. Once the original issue was found and resolved, and we tested the level on new people — suddenly, it was all great.

So, yeah, you don’t really know what you have until you’ve tested it on a lot of people. But, how you perform those tests — and with who — is just as important.

This is a big project; is there anything in particular you’d love to take a moment to reflect on and maybe even brag about? 

We’re really proud of what we’ve managed to create so far with such a small team, and truly humbled by how well it has been received by our playtesters. We dreamed big and worked hard, but now, we’re nearing the finish line. It’s been a long and exhausting journey, but by the looks of it, I think this game is going to be a memorable experience for a lot of people. And in the end, that’s what matters most to us. That feeling is hard to beat.

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I would like to thank Anders Hejdenberg and the team at River End Games for taking the time out of their schedule to chat with me about Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream. Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream will be available in 2025 on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC.