A Suikoden spiritual successor?! Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising combines the fast paced 2D side scroller action RPG gameplay with beautifully crafted 3D environments in a nice throwback retro art style. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is a sight for sore eyes and preparing us for what’s to come with this promising new action RPG!
Upon immediately seeing Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising I was immediately reminded of the series called Suikoden. The upcoming Eiyuden Chronicles is made by the original Suikoden team which could be a reason as to why it seems so similar. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising was developed by Natsume Atari and R&B and published by 505 Games. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is a prelude to an upcoming game that’s slated for release in 2023 called Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. Rising is already set up for cross connectivity and cross-content for when the game releases!
You begin as a young girl named CJ who looking to complete her family’s rite of passage. This takes her to a town called New Nevaeh but in order to complete the rite, she needs to explore the local ruins called the Barrows. Once in New Nevaeh she discovers that it’s not as easy as it seems. In this ruined town she meets the young mayor, Isha, who informs her that she needs to purchase a license in order to mine dig anywhere in the Barrows.
Being short of money, Isha gives CJ another way to get the license – by helping the people of New Nevaeh and receiving stamps. Once she collects enough stamps she will be granted access to the Barrows. It is important to note that these may be side quests but they are important to the main quest. These early quests have you gathering materials to rebuild the town to help you progress through the main story. It’s up to CJ, Isha, and their ally Garoo to discover what secrets lie beneath the Barrows.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is a 2D side scroller, action RPG that has no voice acting. It is about 10-16 hours long depending on your gameplay style. The game has a beautiful combination of 2D stages with 3D-like environments paired with a homage to the retro art style. Though the stages are 2D the environment gives you the feeling that the stage is much bigger than what you’re actually allowed to travel. Of course, there are some areas where it doesn’t look great, but it doesn’t look bad either. I mentioned that the 3D environment gives you the feeling of the extensiveness of the stage and that also applies to other places outside of the exploration stages such as the Plaza, the Residential district, Outlander Lane, all the way to the pasturage. The background image works very well with the environments that give you that perfect depth.
In addition to the amazingly done 3D-like environments, you will notice that there are not only human characters in the game but also beast-men. The first NPC you come across is a lizardman and later on, you’ll see more diverse characters which is a plus! Also, the NPCs in New Nevaeh are diverse as well ranging from old, young, drunk, etc. One other fun detail I noticed is that emoticons are used to show how the characters are feeling which I thought was fun, especially for the gentleman who is a bit inebriated.
When you first start the game, you have your first tutorial and realize that the controls are very easy to pick up. All of what you first experienced in that tutorial will be what gets you through the first few stages of the game. When you start exploring you will get a quick handle of the dungeons. I personally haven’t found any of the dungeons too difficult and they are pretty straightforward. If you are completing a specific task, the map will let you know where your target is a marker or while running and you’ll see a small marker on the stage itself.
Each of the stages has various enemies and with some reskinned but with different abilities – i.e., a regular gargoyle compared to an ice version that can cause freezing upon hit. You can run through an enemy fairly quickly by chain attacking with your team. Once your team grows, you will be able to switch between them with ease to combine different attacks with chain attacks to do more damage. The more enemies you encounter the sooner you’ll realize that chain combos are super important in dealing damage to an enemy as quickly as possible.
Also, it’s super important to upgrade your weapons and armor. By doing this you will actually learn more abilities and attacks for the characters to use on the field. One thing I found interesting is that in certain areas you can be ambushed, meaning more than one to two enemies will show up. Sometimes these instances can be easy but if you’re not careful you can be taken out pretty easily. There were a few times where I got the controls of the three characters mixed up, but it wasn’t anything too detrimental to the gameplay. Some of the enemies can be tough but nothing but can be handled fairly easily once you pick up the mechanic and upgrade your gear.
The story is straightforward at first. It’s mostly about rebuilding a town to its former glory and in return, you gain access to your main goal. You also learn that there is more to the characters than what you are shown in the beginning. It’s clear that CJ knows more than she’s letting on, that Isha has her own issues that are partially solved, and Garoo is along for the ride and money.Â
Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is super enjoyable and everything moves very quickly, even the story and side quests. I was also very amazed at how quickly fast travel was available as soon as you open an area. You’re able to fast travel to and from areas and even dungeons. I wasn’t a fan of all of the fetch quests for the townspeople but given how quickly you move through the game it wasn’t too bad.
If you’re looking for something reminiscent to an amazing RPG that was lost to the times, I highly recommend picking up Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising!
