Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising Review

In 2020, a spiritual successor to the Suikoden series known as Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes was successfully crowdfunded on Kickstarter within just two hours. Due to the wildly successful campaign, a shorter prequel title was announced: Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, a fast-paced action role-playing game (not a turn-based RPG like its predecessor will be) developed by Natsume Atari. Does this title do enough to hype us up for the main game due for release next year? Let’s take a look!

The story begins with CJ, a scavenger on the hunt for treasure, making her way to the town of New Nevaeh to enter the newly uncovered ruins of the Runebarrows. It isn’t quite as simple for CJ to just walk straight into them and uncover hidden treasure, as the town's mayor requires anyone wishing to explore these ruins must purchase an adventurer's licence. The town is in a state of disrepair and CJ uses this as an opportunity to aid the locals in repairing New Nevaeh, whilst working towards earning a licence.

At first glance, this is far from the most engaging RPG narrative, the first hour or so is particularly slow, and it can become quite a slog of generic non-playable characters handing out quests with mostly meaningless story beats to fill the gaps. Push past the initial tedium however and you will find a charming, well-written story that certainly redeems the opening portion, particularly once you’ve recruited your other two party members who are both equally as likeable as CJ.

I instantly fell in love with the art style of Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising. Everything from the gorgeous pixel art characters to the watercolour backgrounds was superb. It has a retro look with a modern sheen, similar to games such as OCTOPATH TRAVELER, and was an absolute joy to look at. The way depth is used to create almost 3D like environments was also impressive, and gave the game a bigger sense of scale considering you’re always travelling left or right on a 2D plane. On the technical side of things, everything ran smoothly and animations (aside from a few odd-looking running ones) were solid, with some lovely special effects, particularly when using certain attacks when in battle.

The music, whilst not as stunning as the visuals, was still rather good. It’s the classic JRPG style you’d expect: cheerful beats in areas where you aren’t at risk of a monster attacking you, and slow orchestral pieces for when you’re traversing dungeons. The overall package, considering this is a game that only came into existence because of a successful stretch goal of a larger title, is one of the best looking and sounding games of the year so far.

Whilst the overall gameplay loop of receiving a quest, exploring an area, returning to town, rinse and repeat can get quite stale, there is more to Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising that makes it an enjoyable game to play. Rebuilding New Nevaeh felt rewarding, and not entirely tied to the main plot, as side missions allow you to unlock more shops and structures if you want. These tasks, unfortunately, become a bit of a chore, however, as you’ll be constantly revisiting locations to gather up materials to complete these quests.

Exploring outside of town consists of roaming areas, fighting enemies, and collecting materials for the townsfolk. I was surprised to find a slight metroidvania aspect, with certain abilities needing to be unlocked (which is done by upgrading your weapons) to uncover every secret an area has to offer.

Combat is very simplistic, although entertaining and flashy enough that I didn’t grow tired of it. Again, once you get past the first hours of tedium and gain control of the other two party members Garoo and Isha, combat flows much better, allowing you to switch characters on the fly. Although basic and almost never poses a challenge, hitting huge combos on enemies with all three protagonists was rather satisfying, with each character having different abilities and strengths.

Overall, I enjoyed Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising. It’s on the short side for an RPG, although I appreciated this due to its repetitive nature and found that it was over before it became a chore. An absolutely stunning game to look at, with a charming plot that has made me want to know more about this world. I’m now firmly aboard the hype train for the upcoming release of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes.