Get on your nostalgia goggles for Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes a modern take on an old-school-inspired RPG helmed by Yoshitaka Murayama, the Creator of the Suikoden series. He is supported by Rabbit and Bear Studios doing the development work, alongside 505 the publisher, and a loyal fan base as all of this was fully funded through Kickstarter. Although Eiyuden is not a Suikoden game, it has been cited as a spiritual successor to the series, in the same way that Bloodstained was a spiritual successor to Castlevania. As a fan of both series, I was eager to see how Eiyuden held up.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes tale begins in a small corner of Allraan, a world that is crafted and built with various nations all with their own diverse cultures and values. Its history has been shaped by the alliances and conflicts between the humans, beastmen, elves, and desert people. You take on the role of Nowa, a small village boy with dreams of joining the watch.
During his first mission, he and his small band take on a task with Seign Kesling who is a gifted imperial officer. Throughout this mission, they become fast friends, but unfortunately, due to the nature of war and a twist of fate, they are both forced to make hard choices and re-evaluate everything. The world falls into chaos as The Galdean Empire finds a way to amplify the magic within “rune lenses”, and they begin their conquest of Allraan. Nowa and crew are then left no choice but to fight back by reconnecting the nations and bringing them together.
Eiyuden Chronicles is exactly what I envisioned when anything says it’s “a modern take on classic RPGs of yesteryear“. The combat uses a turn-based system that has an order queue. You can use it to better strategize and focus on an enemy to remove them from combat faster, heal the party members who are on their knees, and watch for upcoming boss gimmicks for you to select the right characters to react to that specific boss quirk.
The boss battle quirks are one of my personal favourite touches to the combat system. These can range from seeing a boss rear up and hiding behind the environment to altering an enemy’s plan. It really made me stop and think about the turn order and what actions to take to ensure my victory.
As is par for the course in RPGs, you will also be dealing with random encounters. There are none of these new-age random encounters where you see the enemy on the overworld, however. This retro game comes complete with a screen transition to the battle grid, so get ready for grinding and a lot of exploring.
An interesting thing to note is that despite the Eiyuden Chronicle being an RPG at its core and heart, it also throws new things and gameplay additions such as a town-building system. Well, I say town building. If we were to strip it down, it’s a resource management and allocation screen where the allies you recruit along the journey (and resources you collect) will be effectively ‘spent’. You purchase things on this menu screen to further your base and send your roster of allies to gather resources, conduct trade, and construct new facilities to build your home base up into its own thriving nation.
And did I mention the amount of heroes you can recruit?
If you haven’t guessed by the title, it’s over one hundred. This may sound daunting, but if you ever played a monster-catching game, you can kind of think of it like that. Each ally plays differently, some being for combat, some being purely for support and even some that are purely there to be recruited to the continuation of your stronghold.
Fret not dear old-school RPG players, there are indeed mini-games as well to boot, such as a card game and a Beyblade-style game. These aren’t just small distractions either, by looking at the trophies there are over one hundred different card game opponents alone, so if you enjoy mini-games being fleshed out, Eiyuden has got you covered.
Eiyuden’s art style is a very interesting blend of sprite work for the characters (playable and foes), and some enemies. Other enemies found within Eiyuden are done in full 3D art, along with the overworld itself, which almost gives the game a playable diorama. While being an interesting art direction, it works so well and is an absolute treat to the eyes. The sprite work involved is extremely detailed with all movements looking smooth, while the 3D backgrounds really pop in comparison.
The musical score takes me right back to being a young lad and experiencing an RPG for the first time, ranging from big dramatic scores to quaint low-intensity calming music and everything in between. It’s a truly beautiful mix of melodies that accompany the visuals while hitting the correct tones in the right way.
On top of the above, nearly everything is voice-acted except for random NPC’s dialogues, shops or small chit-chat between the plentiful cast of characters. Remembering as I previously mentioned, there are over a hundred characters, all of which are also voice-acted. They also take part in story sections with interchangeable dialogue that doesn’t feel out of place which is quite the feat to not make them feel disjointed.
Now all said and done, as much as I’ve truly enjoyed Eiyuden Chronicle (and you can bet I’ll be playing more of the Beyblade-esque mini-game) that isn’t to say I didn’t have some minor teething problems. First and foremost, the map screen only tracks your main objectives. This means that if you’ve accepted side quests, you have to remember where that person is or what you were meant to be doing as this doesn’t track at all. This is doubly frustrating as most side quests are tied to gaining new allies.
Secondly, not all side quests are obvious in where to accept them and someone you may have spoken to before who did nothing, may now offer a quest when you’ve completed a story section or two. This could be easily rectified with a little quest icon above their respective heads.
Lastly, there’s the battle speed. Now this may be me being spoiled by other RPGs having a speed mode for battles, but I’ve grown quite accustomed to them. When grinding for levels or items, not having the option to “speed up” the gameplay is kind of a let-down. Although, these are very small issues in the grand scheme of the game.
Eiyuden Chronicle is a fantastic RPG, with a tight combat system and an engaging story and beautiful art and music. Do not pass this up if you are a fan of RPGs, especially those of an old-school nature.
Platforms: PS4/5, XBOX, Switch, PC
Developer: Rabbit and Bear Studios
Publisher: 505 Games
If people have Game pass it’s well worth a download!!