Cooking Up Chaos: Eternal Strands Parasite Cosmetics Free DLC

The responsive world of Eternal Strands enchanted gamers on its release earlier this year, with a stunningly realized quest through a landscape like no other. You play as Brynn, a warrior and a Weaver—not of cloth, but of the elements. You manipulate your environment through magic—you can use ice to slow your enemies, or fire to surround them, you can uproot trees and hurl them, or even freeze a dragon’s breath. The meticulously crafted world you adventure through is so much more than a backdrop; in your magical hands, it is itself a weapon. The homeland of the Weavers, the Enclave, has been behind a mysterious, mystical veil—but is it to keep danger out, or in? As Brynn, you are tasked with investigating…

The first free DLC, Stargazer, which dropped in April, built on the game’s layered, intuitive approach to making your world your arsenal, and featured original content co-developed with Creative Studio III’s Yusuke Mogi. Not three months later, Yellow Brick Games—the newish studio full of veteran talent that developed Eternal Strands—has blessed us again with the Parasite Cosmetics DLC. Stand by for new weapon recipes, a new heavy armor set, bug fixes, and a graphics update that makes this woven world really sing. A world this alive deserves nothing less.

 If you’re not familiar, Yellow Brick Games was founded in 2020 by Thomas Giroux (CEO), Jeff Skalski (COO, executive producer), Mike Laidlaw (Chief Creative Officer) and Frédéric St-Laurent B. (Game Director). We’ll let them introduce themselves. “An independent studio dedicated to creating high-quality original titles, combining innovative gameplay and intriguing new worlds. The studio leverages the founders’ vast experience in the production of world-renowned franchises through an agile and human approach, which brings game production back to the pure and simple pleasures of crafting original and exciting experiences for the most demanding players.” This is who you want in charge.

After their collab with Yusuke Mogi, Yellow Brick Games continues their run of heavy hitters by teaming up this time with Suda51 and Tadayuki Nomaru from Grasshopper Manufacture—home to the No More Heroes series and the upcoming Romeo Is a Dead Man—to co-develop the punk-influenced Gallant heavy armor set and Parasite weapon recipes. Yellow Brick Games describes the armor set as “custom-forged for chaos,” with the new collaboration content bringing “a unique labyrinth-like twist to Brynn’s attire and arsenal, with the recipes scattered across the various regions of the Enclave.” If you’re used to handling Brynn’s signature Kinetic Bow, don’t fret—the recipes reskin this iconic weapon, as well as the Frost sword and shield, and the Flame two-hander.

At the time of Eternal Strands’ release, Jeff Skalski told Intel Gaming Access that what really excited the team was to finally see the reception the game received, after five years of painstaking work: “We put everything we had into this one and we hope to be able to continue to work on it,” he said. It should come as no surprise then that the free updates include bug fixes and quality of life enhancements in response to community feedback. When you put this much heart into a game, you’re going to listen to the players that loved it too, and react. Among the enhancements, Brynn loses less stamina when clinging to attacking Epics, walking on bridges made with Ice Wall is improved, and bow weapon abilities can now be used when in Magic casting stance. The bug fixes are minor yet various—tweaks to the Frost Bow targeting, air attacks with the Two-Hander weapon, issues with the Frost sword and shield in Story mode—and all reflect the developer’s attention to detail.

This brilliant world just needs to shine, and removing as many barriers to that as possible is a big part of the DLC. The integration of IntelⓇ Super Sampling 2 (XeSS 2) introduces Intel’s XeSS-FG, increasing visual fluidity with generated frames, and XeSS-XeLL for low latency to combat lag. With this “punk” update, the chaos levels are higher, which conversely means the need for more control. Brynn, in her Gallant armor, is the bringer of chaos—you need the game itself to run smooth to make the most of this. That’s where we come in. The update is a visual delight, but we’re also about the under-the-skin improvements that keep the body of the game at peak performance.

Yellow Brick Games are augmenting and advancing their labor of love, and you the player can only benefit. Your powers grow, your skills are heightened, the breakable environments put everything at your fingertips, ready to be transfigured. Burn it, freeze it, uproot and hurl it—this world is your ammunition, and you can rely on XeSS 2 to keep it moving.

Purchase Eternal Strands on Steam