Eternal Strands has been confirmed as a day-one Xbox Game Pass release. This upcoming arrival promises to strengthen the selection of compelling action adventures on Xbox Game Pass.Eternal Strands was officially unveiled in April 2024, following some four years’ worth of development. It is the debut title from Yellow Brick Games, a Quebec-based studio founded by former BioWare developer and Dragon Age director Mike Laidlaw and several ex-Ubisoft Quebec staffers. The game itself puts players in the shoes of Brynn, a young magic “weaver” on a quest to reclaim the cultural homeland of her people. It is in development for the Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Related Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Adds Day-One Game and One Returning Title Xbox Game Pass Ultimate adds an action-packed day-one game and one returning title that offers something completely different. Eternal Strands has now been confirmed as a day-one addition to the Xbox Game Pass catalog. Its arrival on the service, which is planned for early 2025, was announced via a new trailer that debuted during the latest Xbox Partner Preview event. The October 17 video also features over a minute’s worth of gameplay footage, including glimpses of boss fights with giant enemies called Ark of the Forge and Ark of the Living Flame. Eternal Strands Promises Endless Experimentation Opportunities The trailer highlights the fact that experimenting with the Eternal Strands magic system will be an important part of its gameplay loop. These mechanics will allow players to do things like burn grass for crowd control, freeze enemy limbs to stop them in place, create ice bridges, turn anything into a projectile, and combine any such two spells with one another. “The world is your weapon,” states the trailer at one point, in reference to this so-called “cast and combine” system. Close Eternal Strands Will Have Open Levels Rather Than an Open World In a recent blog post, Yellow Brick cited the ability to pin drakes to the ground, trap enemies in “forcefield bubbles” created with a bow and arrow, and cool flaming creatures with an ice wall stuck to them with a gravity spell as some of the examples of this system in action. If such a level of freedom sounds reminiscent of Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild, it’s not the only thing that the recent Zelda games have in common with Eternal Strands. They also share the ability to climb any surface. However, Eternal Strands will not be an open-world game, but rather a varied collection of open levels.Eternal Strands is not the only 2025 title that was confirmed as a day-one Xbox Game Pass release during the mid-October Xbox Partner Preview broadcast. The same goes for FBC: Firebreak, Remedy Entertainment’s first-ever multiplayer game set in the Control universe. Overall, 2025 is already shaping up to be a strong year for Xbox Game Pass, with the service being expected to add titles like Avowed, Fable, South of Midnight, and Doom: The Dark Ages, among other day-one releases.