Again in July 2020, a gaggle consisting of veteran builders who created the basic JRPG franchise Suikoden, got here collectively to announce a Kickstarter-backed non secular successor known as Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. This sport units out to pay tribute to Suikoden in addition to different JRPGs from the PlayStation One-era with a conventional turn-based fight system, polished retro graphics, a deep story stuffed with journey, struggle, and a forged of over 100 memorable characters.
Quick ahead 4 years and Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is now full and able to launch on April 23, 2024, for house consoles, Xbox Sport Cross, and PCs. I personally haven’t performed any of the Suikoden video games rising up, nor have I performed Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes’ prequel, Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising which we reviewed in 2022.
With that in thoughts, I used to be going into this evaluation for the PC model by way of Steam utterly blind and I used to be glad I did as a result of this sport, whereas flawed, was an entertaining journey, and a homage to one of the best JRPGs on the market.
This evaluation was made doable due to a evaluation code supplied by 505 Video games. The corporate didn’t see the contents of this evaluation earlier than it was revealed.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes – Artwork and efficiency
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
Value: $49.99 at GreenManGaming | $49.99 at Xbox | $35.29 at CDKeysDeveloper: Rabbit & Bear StudiosPublisher: 505 GamesGenre: JRPGPlaytime: 60 hoursRelease date: April 23, 2024Platforms: Xbox Sequence X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Change, PC (Microsoft Retailer & Steam)Reviewed on: PC (Steam)Xbox Sport Cross: Sure
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes’ presentation blends gorgeously detailed 2D sprite animations set towards lush and vibrant 3D backgrounds to create a resplendent-looking sport oozing with retro attraction. The presentation is enhanced additional through the turn-based battles and Twin mini-games, which characteristic dynamic camerawork each time characters carry out particular strikes to intensify the cinematic motion and excite you throughout fight.
The audio presentation is equally as top-notch as Eiyuden’s visuals. The soundtrack options a variety of calm melodies and sweeping orchestral scores to intensify the emotional influence of the story and in-game battles.
As well as, the sound results add further punch to the sport’s ambiance and motion with crisp, immersion-boosting high-fidelity. The sound results of metal clashing, punches thrown, and explosive magical powers are delivered with crystal-clear precision, making you’re feeling such as you’re actually there because the motion unfolds, particularly when carrying headphones.
Additionally, Eiyuden options well-done voiceover performing in each English and Japanese, with stellar performances respiratory life into the characters and making them extra endearing.
Efficiency-wise, the PC model of Eiyuden is stable as it could run persistently at a 60FPS body price and 1080p decision with no framerate drops. There are a few cutscenes that run at 30fps however they’re a uncommon incidence and solely accomplish that for particular cinematic moments within the story to emphasise their significance.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes – Story
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes takes place on Allraan, a continent stuffed with a various vary of cultures, species, and nations. Inside this land, there exist mysterious artifacts known as rune-lenses which permit particular people to wield highly effective magic that might trigger mass destruction in the event that they fell into the improper arms.
One such pair of arms is the Galdean Empire, which is aggressively increasing its borders throughout Allraan to hunt out the rune-lenses and exploit their energy for their very own nefarious functions. The one ones who can cease them is a band of resistance fighters known as the Alliance, led by the courageous warrior Nowa.
Nowa was as soon as a humble adventurer however via tragic circumstances, has now been burdened with the duty of gathering a military of heroes to cease the Galdean Empire’s hunt for the rune-lenses and free the conquered lands of Allraan from their tyranny.
The story is your basic story of ‘younger heroes rising as much as defeat the evil empire’ that whereas principally predictable continues to be a enjoyable experience stuffed with charming characters, thrilling motion, and humorous moments of levity. Sadly, with out spoiling it, the third act of the story stumbles a bit for me because the pacing feels rushed. The occasions of the third act go by so quick that there’s hardly any time for the participant to absorb and admire the climactic triumphs and heart-breaking tragedies.
Additionally, don’t go into this sport anticipating ground-breaking, deep character improvement. The vast majority of the forged’s personalities past the principle protagonist and his core cohort don’t change past their preliminary look, which is to be anticipated contemplating this sport has over 100 characters to maintain observe of. Fortunately, their endearing personalities, designs, and the aforementioned pleasant vocal performances, greater than make up for it.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes – Gameplay
The gameplay of Eiyuden follows the usual JRPG format of touring the world, visiting cities to buy gear and provides, exploring dungeons for hidden loot, and defeating enemies in turn-based fight to progress the story. Nevertheless, Eiyuden has some distinctive gameplay options that assist it stand out from the gang.
High Gaming Suggestions
Firstly, because the title suggests, this sport has over 100 characters to recruit into your military by exploring the world, advancing the story, and finishing dozens of hours’ price of sidequests.
The overwhelming majority of those characters will be outfitted with rune-lenses to realize new magical spells and particular strikes or improve their stats. As well as, sure characters when paired collectively can unleash highly effective combo assaults that can decimate opponents whereas additionally being cool to watch.
As you may think about, this enables gamers to experiment with dozens of playstyle choices and uncover which occasion composition fits their tastes for one of the best final result in battle. Talking of battle, turn-based fight is without doubt one of the core parts of Eiyuden and it’s my favourite a part of the sport.
The fight system is intuitive and options a whole lot of strategic depths to grasp. These embody positioning your frontline fighters to guard your weaker ranged fighters and planning your actions across the enemy’s turns in an effort to mitigate incoming injury whereas sustaining your offensive momentum.
Assembling a workforce whose skills complement every member’s strengths and pulling off strategic strikes to overwhelm the enemy forces is enjoyable and satisfying.
That is very true through the splendidly animated boss battles which will be troublesome for those who’re unprepared. These fights will take a look at your understanding of the fight system to its limits and require you to invent inventive methods to counteract them.
As well as, sure boss battles have particular gimmick actions the place you need to use the encompassing surroundings to realize the higher hand when timed accurately, including slightly bit extra strategic spice to the combination.
The third main element of Eiyuden’s gameplay is establishing a base of operations to your military, which is unlocked later within the sport. This hub space is the place your reserve occasion members will hang around and the place your non-combatant allies will assemble and handle varied services for those who assist collect the supplies they want. These services embody retailers, armories, scorching spring spas, farms, coaching grounds, and extra.
The extra you improve your city, the extra assets you’ll have at your disposal to assist future battles change into simpler and unlock secret allies you received’t discover in the principle story. To not point out it’s so rewarding to see your base develop from an deserted spoil to a sprawling medieval city fortress that may cope with the mightiest of enemy armies.
The icing on this sport’s gameplay cake is that Eiyuden has a plethora of mini-games to partake in. These vary from non-obligatory mini-games like card video games, racing video games, cooking competitions, and Beigoma and so forth, to obligatory mini-games which can be a part of the story like Duels and the Struggle battles.
Sadly, these mini-games are pretty simplistic and don’t require a lot technique past ensuring you’ve got greater stats than the enemy does or guessing the right reply to a query. Nonetheless, they function first rate breaks to the principle marketing campaign and add slightly selection to the gameplay loop. Plus a few of these mini-games will reward you with further allies for those who make investments time in them.
Nevertheless, Eiyuden isn’t all sunshine and rainbows as it is time I introduced up the elephant within the room: micro-management. With out revealing spoilers, this sport would require you, at sure factors within the story, to modify views between Nowa and a few of his closest allies main completely different groups to tackle a number of missions without delay. So, for those who haven’t been coaching and outfitting the vast majority of your military with the most recent gear, it can make future battles needlessly tougher.
Which means that you may be spending a whole lot of time switching allies, degree grinding, and micro-managing their gear so that you don’t hit a wall within the story, which is usually a laborious and tedious job, even with particular gadgets supplied by the sport to make it go sooner.
I personally didn’t thoughts this as a result of since this sport is all about gathering 100 occasion members, I absolutely anticipated to continuously change out occasion members and micro-manage their gear. Nevertheless, for those who’re not a fan of intense micro-management, this facet of Eiyuden could also be a deal breaker.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes – Closing ideas
You can purchase it if…
You should not purchase it if…
Total, I discovered Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes to be a pleasing shock and an amazing addition to the Xbox Sport Cross library regardless of its flaws. The fight system was participating, the characters had been easy but likable, the retro graphics had been pleasing to take a look at and the story was a enjoyable experience whereas it lasted. Whereas the sport does have a “Amount over High quality” strategy, the standard of Eiyuden’s gameplay lives as much as the amount of content material put into it for essentially the most half.
It might not be the most effective Xbox JRPGs nevertheless it’s nonetheless a stable title that I really feel followers of old-school JRPGs from the PlayStation One and even early PlayStation 2-era will get pleasure from vastly, supplied they don’t thoughts an excessive amount of micro-management.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes shall be launched on April 23, 2024, for Xbox Sequence X, Xbox Sequence S, Xbox One, Xbox Sport Cross, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC by way of the Microsoft Retailer & Steam.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
Whereas it might have micro-management and pacing points, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is an enthralling throwback to retro JRPGs full of an enormous forged of likable characters, an entertaining story, tons of enjoyable sidequests, and an in-depth fight system.
Purchase at: $49.99 GreenManGaming (PC) | $49.99 Xbox | $35.29 CDKeys (PC)