Kickstarter titles are always interesting when it comes to games. They can be fresh new talent looking to get their footing or established talent looking to be independent. That’s precisely what Rabbit and Bear Studios set out to do: capture the magic of a long-dormant series, Suikoden. Being headed by Osamu Komuta, who famously worked on the Suikoden series and funded by a crowd ready for more of a beloved franchise, Eiyuden Chronicle was born. In 2022, the studio released a prequel, Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising. Rising was created as a stretch goal for the Kickstarter. While the prequel was a side-scroller with RPG elements, it did an excellent job setting up the world where Eiyuden takes place. Now Hundred Heroes has landed. Did Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes live up to its lofty ambitions? In many ways, yes, and in a few ways, no.
Taking place a while after the events of Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, Hundred Heroes introduces you to a new protagonist, Nowa. Starting his first day in The Watch, he is about to begin a joint venture with the Golden Empire. A new set of ruins known as Rune Barrows has been discovered. We then meet our secondary protagonist, Seign. While turbulent, things ultimately turn out ok. Cut to several months later, and tensions are at an all-time high. War is brewing. And it seems Nowa is about to get caught right in the middle. It’s a pretty typical story. A local boy becomes a leader in a war thrust upon him. Unfortunately, that is about the ultimate depth of the story. To me, the story was a tad disappointing. The world set up in Rising was rife with exciting storytelling possibilities. There is more than just the war story; the political thrill never reaches more than a dull roar. I’m also VERY mixed on the cast, both the leading three and the recruitable cast. On the one hand, the characters are all very well-voiced and do not lack personality. Many are tropey, but it’s leaned into with enthusiasm. Since there are so many heroes, there’s also a metric TON of voice acting. The characters required to be in the story are likable but don’t go much further than that. Nowa is the typical meddling hero who can’t help but get involved. Seign is the heir to a famous bloodline and questions his position. And then you have Marisa, a guardian of the forest and keeper of the Rune Barrows. All of them are enjoyable but a little flat. Unfortunately, the mixed feeling bleeds into both the gameplay and presentation.
Hundred Heroes attempts to use a “High Definition 2.5D style”. The backgrounds are rendered in 3D, and the characters and enemies are sprites. The sprites are the best part of the visual presentation. The sheer variety of character designs is astonishing. Nowa, Seign, and Marisa are the most striking, but I thought many recruitable characters were also great. When it comes to the backgrounds, however, I find that is where things end in the “mixed” area again. In places like towns and villages, the game looks great. Individual rooms are very detailed, and some towns look like lovely places to live. The Run Barrow segments also look very cool and have a captivating design. The graphical detail takes a nosedive when you get to the more natural environments, the open fields, forests, and the like. The world looks very plasticy and empty. It then clashes with the sprites. I also feel that the gameplay has potential again, but it just doesn’t have the muscle it needs to lift this game to the station it desires.
You will do four main things during the runtime for Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes. During certain story moments, you are given free rein to wander around the world and recruit allies. The world starts to open up gradually, and you can explore it. You’ll randomly encounter enemies during this exploration or in the game’s dungeons. Unlike in Rising, where encounters happen in real-time, Hundred Heroes goes the classic turn-based route. Turn order is determined based on the speed stat of each unit in play, and turns are queued up for all before they are enacted. Having almost a hundred heroes to recruit, you would think you have a massive variety in strategy and team building. Sadly, no. While many of the heroes recruitable are visually diverse, most fall under one of a couple of categories, and moves are pretty limited. I was surprised at how expensive it is to cast spells in this game. The ability to use healing, damaging spells, or buffs: most casters are tapped out after two or three casts in the earlier half of the game. Hundred Heroes doesn’t offer items to recover mp often, so you must be VERY sparse when using them. Some fights also have ”gimmicks” that allow for significant damage or optional treasure. Some of these are based on pure luck and cause you to waste a character’s turn. During certain story moments, you may have a duel between two characters. The main goal is to weaken the opponent past a certain health threshold, allowing you to deliver the final blow. You can attempt to go on the offensive, or you can choose to try and counter and inflict significantly higher damage. The issue is that there’s no telling what the other side may do, so you must guess. I wish both the standard battles and the duels had more thought and time put into them. The duels have some great moments that look fantastic, but they are so fleeting.
Eiyuden Chronicle Hundred Hero has the makings of a great game, but that ambition ultimately brings this game to a mediocre standing. The characters look great, but their world feels empty and plastic. The narrative and gameplay elements meet a certain baseline, but nothing goes beyond that. The combat system is serviceable but lacks the elements to make it enticing.
