Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes – A Nostalgic Journey into JRPGs
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is another example of the current era in the video game industry, where a team with limited financial power can bring their dream to life with the help of players. Conceived as a spiritual successor to Suikoden, Eiyuden Chronicle was envisioned by the key creatives behind that lesser-known series from the Japanese producer. The team led by the late Yoshitaka Murayama doesn’t hide the humility of the project, but they can walk with their heads held high because they’ve created something very interesting.
A Journey Back to the Golden Age of JRPGs
From the very beginning, you can tell that Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is an “indie” project, a humble game that can’t hide its technical flaws. On the other hand, it also doesn’t shy away from being a journey focused on nostalgia, a turn-based JRPG that could proudly carry the Suikoden name without any issues, conveying a sense of a “time capsule,” playing a title from that golden era of JRPGs when we had huge variety and diversity, with many companies taking risks and trying new things in the genre.
You have a 3D world map that harkens back to what was done back then (2D sprites traversing through 3D environments), turn-based battles, and a narrative that is probably too complicated for its own good. In addition to this, you have the hallmark features of Suikoden: character recruitment as a fundamental part of progression and extra missions or secrets, the ability to perform combined attacks between characters, war phases where you control battalions of soldiers, and of course, tasks to improve the base to strengthen your army.
The Charm of Eiyuden Chronicle
By aiming to create a new Suikoden reminiscent of the first two games, Rabbit and Bear managed to create a very specific JRPG in 2024, with enough unique ingredients to set it apart from the rest. Along with its charm, that’s its main triumph. This is probably what will make you overlook all the flaws in design and pacing.
A large part of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes focuses on recruiting new members for the army, which means wandering through locations and the world map in search of NPCs that stand out to talk to them. Some join immediately, others challenge you to tasks like killing a certain number of enemies, and others require a certain level, for instance. It’s pure Suikoden and it’s different, it’s part of its appeal, but it’s done in a way that often hinders the progression pace.
The best of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is when you’re in battle or in a dungeon discovering its secrets and puzzles. It’s when you’re uncovering another essential part of its political plot, just like in the original. That’s where the charm of this JRPG lies, but you’ll have to tolerate some issues and inconsistencies.
As for the combat system, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is very well done. The turn-based battles are super fun, especially with the depth of character management (the system that allows you to define specific parameters for their behavior), Hero Combos that emulate the best of Suikoden with special partnership moves, and the skill system that forces you to accumulate points before using them. It’s a simple and easy-to-learn system, but due to these elements, it achieves depth. Additionally, you can set battles to automatic to facilitate grinding, which, combined with the detailed assigned orders, greatly helps you appreciate what’s being done here.
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The character, boss, and scenario design is also a great example of an inconsistent experience, where there is much that is attractive, but an equal amount that is not up to par. Whether in dungeons, characters, graphic quality, battles, or out of them, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a game that can captivate you, only to disappoint you the next moment. Playing on the Switch or a device like the Deck will be more enticing.
Classic Dungeons with Puzzles
– Visual quality inconsistent
– Progression pace
– Overall, the narrative doesn’t quite hit the mark
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