Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes PC Review

Created by Rabbit and Bear Studios and headed by former members of the team behind the much beloved Suikoden series, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a modern take on the classic JRPG formula.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes originally started life on Kickstarter, where it raised over $4.5 million, over nine times more than it initially set out to raise to be made. This propelled it into third place in the standings for most funding raised for a game at the time.

Diving into the game, what’s most apparent from the get-go, is the mixture of art styles used to put the game together. The world is rendered in full 3D and is quite beautiful. Using a semi-realistic style, it does a wonderful job of portraying the locales of the game. Party members and all the NPCs of the game are 2D sprites. These sprites are incredibly detailed, and while many of their animations are simplistic, they generally all look fantastic.

Normally I’d say that this mixture of high-definition 3D world and 2D pixel art typically don’t work well together, especially on modern displays at high resolutions, but Rabbit & Bear Studios have made it work really rather well. It’s a loving throwback to the days of the original PlayStation and games like Breath of Fire 3 and Grandia, where this mixing of art styles was far more common, and often necessary to get decent performance.

The world of Eiyuden Chronicle is incredibly vibrant and colourful, even areas such as an early mine manage to stand out despite having a lot of grey and brown in them.

Eiyuden Chronicle’s plot follows the story of Nowa and Seign, along with their many allies, in a quest to stop Dux Aldric and the Galdean Empire whose thirst for power threatens the entire world.

Gameplay is that of a traditional JRPG. Random, turn-based battles, an overworld map to explore, filled with towns and cities, dungeons, and a whole host of other locations. It pleasantly reminded me of Final Fantasy X in a lot of ways. Firstly, the many objectives that make up the story are structured similarly. They’re often relatively linear journeys from point A to B, with side quests and other distractions along the way.

Secondly, the combat. As mentioned before, Eiyuden Chronicle has turn-based battles, and these too are reminiscent of Final Fantasy X. Atop the screen there’s a turn order, with both the player’s party members and the enemies of that particular encounter. Players select their party members are the actions they will take, based on this party order. Unlike in FFX, however, turns play out in rapid succession.

An action isn’t performed as soon as it’s selected, rather once the whole party has made decisions, then everything is performed quickly, one after another. It speeds up the combat significantly as there’s a lot less waiting around for animations to play out and for the enemy to do their thing.

There’s even an auto-mode, where the party will act of their own accord based on a series of guidelines that can be set by the player. It’s similar to Final Fantasy XII’s Gambit system, though disappointingly nowhere near as expansive. That said, it’s still deep enough to handle the legions of fodder enemies that are to be fought through the course of the game. It isn’t recommended for the many bosses of the game, though.

Each of the many party members that can join you on your quest, has their own stats, abilities, and specialisations in combat. Close-range melee powerhouses, long-range archers, and mages, as well as backline jobs that provide healing for the party, and everything in between. Each character’s skills come from equipable Runes. There are dozens of these to be found in the world and can be slotted into characters to drastically change how they play.

As the title of the game might suggest, there are (over) one hundred heroes to recruit to your party. Not all of these fill battlefield roles, some are primarily used in the side activities of the game that the plot sets up. Each of them is fully voice-acted, and it’s mostly all surprisingly well done. There are some genuinely interesting and funny characters, and how they play off of one another is great to see and listen to. While discussing audio, it’s also worth noting that the soundtrack is fantastic, many of the tracks are memorable and a joy to listen to.

Managing all of these characters is surprisingly easy too. Any hero in your party that is below the highest level present, gains a significant exp boost in battle to help them quickly level up. It doesn’t take long to get everyone up to where the rest of your party is.

Progression throughout the campaign is frequently gated behind recruiting some of these heroes. Often dropping you into a plot relevant location and contriving some reason to prevent progress unless someone new joins your team. It’s more often than not a short detour, though, rather than any kind of real wall to progress.

The story of Eiyuden Chronicle also sets up several of the side activities that can be taken part in throughout the duration of the adventure. The most prevalent of them is the town building mechanic. A short while into the game, Nowa and co’ find themselves with a castle and accompanying town, both of which are in a rough state.

From this point materials found in the world and party members that have been recruited can be set to work and improve the area, this in turn opens up more shops and other buildings in what has become your base of operations.

Final Thoughts

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a joy to play. It doesn’t do anything particularly new or groundbreaking, but it doesn’t need to. It takes the formula set by JRPGs of old and brings them up to a modern standard, all the while still retaining almost everything that made them special in the first place.

The story is interesting and engaging, there’s lots to do and see in the game, especially if you want to recruit all 120 heroes and complete everything it has to offer. Fans of the genre owe it to themselves to check this one out.