[Editors note: As the one reviewing this game I’d be wrong not to disclose that I backed Eiyuden Chronicle 100 Heroes on Kickstarter. I do my best to review games with a subjective lens but be aware that I have donated money that contributed to the completion of this game.]
Author: Rich Meister
If you’ve absorbed any content on this website before, you probably know that I’m a big fan of the Suikoden series of JRPGs. I bought in on day one when Rabbit and Bear studios launched a Kickstarter campaign for Eiyuden Chronicle: 100 Heroes, a spiritual successor to that phenomenal series.
Born from the success of that Kickstarter was Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, a prequel action RPG that sets up the world of 100 Heroes. What Rabbit and Bear craft here is a great action game with beautiful artwork that doesn’t feel beholden to being the appetizer for a bigger adventure, and I couldn’t help but explore every inch of the city of Nevaeh.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising(PC [reviewed], Switch, PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, included as a part of Gamepass)
Developer: Rabbit and Bear Studios, Natsume Atari
Publisher: 505 Games
Release Date: May 10, 2022
MSRP: $14.99
Rising begins with you playing as CJ, a self-proclaimed “Honorable Scavenger,” on a rite of passage for her family. In CJ’s long line of treasure hunters, it's tradition to leave home and not return until you’ve found a treasure bigger than one claimed by your parents. In this case, CJ is looking for a massive rune lens, a sort of gem used by people in the world of Eiyuden to channel and use magical runes in combat.
Along the way, CJ will team up with Garoo, a kangaroo Beastman wielding a massive sword, and Isha, a mysterious girl who can use magic without a rune lens who happens to be acting mayor of Nevaeh, the hub town this game is set in(spoiler alert, its heaven spelled backward).
CJ and the crew have different goals, but their objectives follow a similar path into the forest's quarries and ruins around this village. These areas act as dungeons that you’ll return to throughout your journey while tracking quests leads or farming materials to help improve the town. That’s right; this is also a city builder. Through a system implemented by acting mayor Isha, travelers who came to Nevaeh to plunder the ruins of the Rune Barrows earn stamps for helping citizens. While these stamps are initially used to help you earn passage into the Rune Barrows, they become CJ’s motivation for improving the tiny mining town.
As you progress, you’ll watch the tiny village prosper into a hub of commerce, attracting travelers and warriors from all over the continent. Things like increased crowd size moving in the backgrounds of Rising’s amazing artwork convey these changes subtly as the story progresses.
Eiyuden’s gameplay borrows from a few different types of games. The combo-based action feels gratifying and easy to master. Each of the three main characters is assigned to a different action button. While you’ll usually be playing as CJ, the characters will swap out as you press these face buttons performing powerful link attacks they can chain together. As you increase the growth of Nevaeh, the effectiveness of these attacks increases. You can also upgrade each character's armor and weapons at vendors in town to boost stats beyond what the standard leveling system does. If the combo system feels overwhelming, you can set things down to a simple mode that auto combos for you with a single button press.
The accessibility is nice, but this combat won’t present much of a challenger for most players. Bosses in Rising are meant to be fought multiple times, and once you have a feel for it, things become simple enough to take down even large bosses in one or two combos.
When you’re not bashing monster and bandit brains in, you’ll mostly be platforming through dungeons and using some lite Metroidvania elements to access new areas in each of them. While there are only a handful of environments to explore, side quests and resource gathering have you retreading old ground a lot. That might not sound super appealing, but the fast-paced combat keeps things fresh and engaging. I never felt bored, no matter how many trips I made back to the lava caverns.
Outside of the main quest, the town is littered with side quests in the form of errands to run for villagers and traders alike. While most of these quests can be boiled down to simple fetch quests, they add layers to both the main cast and these vendor and villager characters. Everyone from Mellore the Magical girl themed explorer to Squash the accessory vendor is memorable, and I hope to see them return in 100 Heroes.
Whenever you enter a dungeon the amount of loot you can carry is restrained by a loot bag that can later be upgraded and anything you leave with is transferred to a storehouse in the village. These materials are used to upgrade the village, your weapons, and armor, and even prepare meals at the tavern that offers buffs to the party. If you’re concerned about spending hours grinding out material drops don’t be. If you’re engaging with the side content you’ll be doing enough dungeon diving that you’ll likely never need to resort to farming low-level slimes for materials to progress the main story.
While this is a prequel or prelude game, it's important to note that the story doesn’t feel restrained by it. While it's clear the main cast of Rising’s narrative isn’t at an end, they get an interesting resolution with an unclear future, and the events of Rising successfully introduce larger threats that will clearly come to be further expanded in 100 Heroes. Those looking to play 100 Heroes shouldn’t have to see this as required reading though it is worth their time. A few elements from clear data will even carry over into 100 Heroes when it releases next year. Most of these are simply item names chosen by the player in Rising, but the personalized connective tissue is a great touch.
As is usually the case with HD 2D art style, Rising is a marvel to behold. 3D lighting effects and expansive backgrounds make these fantastic character sprites pop right off the screen. The village on Nevaeh and the surrounding dungeons all have unique looks, and the more detailed character portraits offer a nice juxtaposition to the character sprites.
The soundtrack is just what you would expect from a series looking to evoke PSone-era RPGs like Suikoden, and I’m all about it. This should come as no surprise with people like Michiko Naruke, who composed for Wild Arms, and Motoi Sakuraba, who is known for his work on the Tales games.
Verdict: Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising bills itself as a companion or prequel game but delivers much more than that. It serves as an introduction to a small part of a world we’re sure to see a lot of in 2023 but also builds a community of well-fleshed-out characters who draw you in even when some of the content starts to feel repetitive. I expected Rising to be a fun adventure to get me excited for next year's 100 Heroes, but it's easily one of the best things I’ve played this year.
Buy it
[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher]