‘Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes’ Review – The ‘Suikoden’ Sequel We Never Got But Always Deserved
Peter Pischke
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Filled with collect-em-all goodness, an epic story scale, and endless intricacies to its gameplay systems, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes feels like a lost treasure unearthed from the depths of gaming history.
The debut title from Rabbit and Bear Studios, a new studio founded by the original developers of the acclaimed Suikoden series, Hundred Heroes began life as a crowdfunding campaign, launching to Kickstarter in 2020 before going on to rake in over $4.5 million in support – a total which earned it the title of the platform’s third-highest funded game of all time behind Shenmue III and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
Given both the pedigree of its creators, whose ranks, up until his recent passing, even included Suikoden creator Yoshitaka Murayama, and the hype generated by its 2022 tie-in prequel sidescroller Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, it’s safe to say that in the years since its announcement, the expectations for Hundred Heroes proper have soared to astronomical heights.
And with its release, we finally have an answer to perhaps the most burning question surrounding the game: Does it live up to the hype?
In Hundred Heroes, you step into the shoes of Nowa, a young small-town kid with big dreams. Enlisting with the Watch—an informal mercenary and police outfit—Nowa works to protect the duchy of Eltisweiss, a tiny nation which stands united with several other small territories against the formidable Galdean Empire.
As events unfold, Nowa finds himself thrust into leading a counter-resistance movement and rallying the other sovereign nations into a final battle against the Empire and its evil military commander, Dux Aldric.
To end the Empire’s expansionist ambitions, Nowa must both assemble a formidable army, with the game offering over 106 potential allies for him to recruit to his cause (thanks to being set in a high fantasy world with some steampunk elements mixed in for flavor, far from just humans, Hundred Heroes‘ potential recruits run the gamut of fictional races, from tree people, to elves, to a unique animal-human hybrid race known as the ‘beastyn’), and learn how to master the use of Rune-Lens technology, which in turn will allow them to wield formidable magics.
Notably, while the protagonist, Nowa, takes center stage, the plot features branching tritagonists who each get their own smaller side stories.
To this end, the upcoming DLC promises to add new playable sections featuring the forest guardian Marisa (who is also seen in Rising) and Nowa’s imperial frenemy, Seign.
To strengthen their forces and take on the empire, players will split their time in-game between crawling through the story and engaging in typical RPG activities like combat, dungeon delving, and item collecting.
Like Suikoden before it, Hundred Heroes defines its combat with a snappy system involving a party of six (rather than the typical three or four seen in most JRPGs).
While admittedly there’s often a lack of reason to utilize magic beyond healing, and status effects don’t account for much, overall, by the 10-hour mark, I was fully engaged and loving the combat.
However, players should be warned that the game’s complexity and overall difficulty depend on both the player’s willingness to grind and their chosen difficulty mode (Normal or Hard). Don’t make the mistake of jumping to hard mode because those first few hours are too easy; there’s a big, difficulty jump once you get to your castle.
Speaking of your castle, this location will serve as your ‘home base’ from which you can establish and build your army (I named mine Griffin’s Reach) via the game’s aforementioned recruitment system.
Ranging from fellow fighters, back-up support, to town members who provide essential services – like the dwarf blacksmith or the Capybara father-son duo who run the hot springs – there’s no shortage of unique characters who players can attempt to recruit to their cause.
(And while players are encouraged to recruit every character in the game, it should be noted that you don’t have to, as about two-thirds of the recruitable heroes are considered optional in regards to finishing the game).
To this end, the heart of Hundred Heroes lies in its captivating characters. Every piece of dialogue, both in its JP and ENG dubs, is voiced and delivered by top-tier talent familiar to fans of anime and AAA games, adding depth to the narrative.
Further, the game is cleverly designed to encourage players to experiment with every combination of characters in battle and story sequences, as different groups of heroes will be prone to unique interactions. Sometimes, these results are subtle, but other times, they drastically change the dialogue and tone of a given exchange.
Recruiting these characters is so much fun and, honestly, rather addictive.
The game gives you subtle hints about where they are and how to do it, and in service of truly experiencing the ‘social’ nature of the system, I recommend playing without any guide and just finding these recruits on your own. Whether you stumble upon them in hidden nooks, engage in minigames, or collect unique items, the journey to assemble your dream team is rewarding and memorable.
Further, it doesn’t take much for the player to become quite attached to the game’s cast of characters. From my best boi bodyguard Yugo the Ronin, to the 6-year-old demon tamer Yume, to my gray-haired necromancer-in-training waifu Milana, the characters that are so personable and enjoyable that I think fans will be making fan art of them for years to come.
Combine each character’s unique personality with both a well-thought out backstory that is only unlocked through fostering a relationship with them and the fact that, after connecting with them, they can alter a specific minigame (more on that in a second) and it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll constantly be left hungry to spend more time with your favorites.
(Especially Carrie. Carrie is a paragon of perfection!)
In terms of its graphics, Hundred Heroes dazzles with a retro 2000s art style, its brilliant 3D backgrounds, reminiscent of PlayStation 2 classics, seamlessly blending together with its sprite-based character designs.
And while it does feature some minor graphical hiccups and occasional missing textures – Sometimes, a sprite might pop through an environment, or there’s aliasing on some stairs – the game’s visual splendor shines throughout the experience, its scenes filled with plenty of graphic effects like motion blur and auto-focusing mixed with fantastic ‘baked in’ and bloom lighting,
Further, its use of sprites enables the addition of custom animations and the use of what we would now call emojis for character reactions. It’s a great example of why I believe sprite work and lower graphical aesthetics can often produce more rewarding and visually meaningful games than ‘3D realism’.
Now, bear with me for this next part, as it’s a bit hard to describe, but like the best series the Shonen genre can offer – Naruto, Bleach, or even One Piece – Hundred Heroes has an epic sense of scale, offering levels of emotional depth and character work that you wouldn’t normally expect from an RPG with so many characters to manage at once.
One standout scene occurs at the end of the early game: Unfolding on a bridge to an operatic crescendo, following a battle against a horde of enemies, you find yourself in a one-on-one duel with your rival, fighting to your very last breath as your comrades follow suit.
It’s so well orchestrated and such a perfect payoff to the investment you’ve put into the characters thus far that, honestly, it brought tears to my eyes – A testament to the game’s brilliant use of set pieces.
While the story may not have been my overall favorite, thanks to the care in its presentation, I can admit it was delivered perfectly.
Now, with that praise out of the way, it’s time to talk about the most divisive part of Hundred Heroes: Its overabundance of bad minigames.
Minigames in RPGs are a divisive staple and, understandably, personal preferences towards them vary – For example, I loved the Queen’s Blood card game in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and hated the boxing minigame, while a friend of mine held the opposite opinion.
So while the objective acceptance of minigames among RPG players is hard to judge, in my opinion, many of the minigames in Hundred Heroes suffer from being poorly designed, badly implemented, or both.
The tactical army segments, a carryover from the Suikoden series, is perhaps the better of Hundred Heroes‘ minigames. Essentially a tactical RPG interlude, this minigame not only makes sense (after all, you are leading an army), but it’s short enough to not bog down your gameplay experience.
Unfortunately, that’s where the blanket praise for the minigames end, as meanwhile, the finishing minigame quickly loses its relevance after one character is recruited, the truly excellent card battle minigame is bizarrely available to access in only a single area, and the terrible Beigoma minigame – basically Beyblade but awful – is constantly shoved in your face.
And while the less I say about the Duels the better, it should be noted that its execution is bafflingly awful, as not only does one need to perfect some of them in order to see some of the best content, but it’s systems are never fully explained.
Further, Duels are kneecapped by the fact that, in attempting to be ‘legally distinct’ from Suikoden, the minigame, for the most part, only provides players with two options to choose from than the three option rock-paper-scissors system of its predecessor series.
Because of this lack of intricacy, I honestly would argue that, rather than creating a worse version of the Suikoden system, the team at Rabbit and Bear studios would have been better off coming up with something entirely different – In the end, duels just don’t work (and I’d bet I’m not alone in that opinion).
At the end of the day, is Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes the perfect successor to Suikoden 2? No, but it’s still a heck of a game. Its foundation is solid, and with some polish and design tweaks, I think it could equal or even rise above the pedigree of its predecessor. Perhaps it’s because of feature creep, the Unity engine it’s built on, or something else, but a few things need to be better pinned down before I can offer Hundred Heroes my gushing, unabashed praise.
After spending nearly 90 hours immersed in this world over two weeks, I unlocked all the characters and secured the best ending. A brisk run-through will likely take around 40 hours, while completionists might venture past the 100-hour mark. As for conquering Hard Mode, a difficulty level that significantly increases enemy strength and decreases player resources, well, only the heavens know how long that might take.
For this review, I played on Steam and the PS5, the platforms I reviewed for this game; the performance for both was excellent, and it stayed at 60 fps the whole way through. So you are in for a treat, whatever your platform, including Switch and PS4 players.
As for purchasing this game, it has pre-order bonuses that unlock custom items, but I think you should ignore them, as those items don’t really add anything to the experience.
It should also be noted that connecting your save from the aforementioned Rising will also grant players additional perks (though I sadly couldn’t get it to work for me during the course of this review) – and since that game is excellent, adds to the story in this one, and is only about 10 hours long, I heartily recommend players check it out.
Further, kudos need to be given to published 505 games for pricing Hundred Heroes at a reasonable $50. With Rising priced at a mere $14, you can own the entire series for under $70 – less than that of a single, Triple-A offering.
Excitingly, should players choose to further their adventure, DLC story missions are on the horizon, accessible via a season pass, and a sequel is confirmed.
Despite some minigame criticisms, I am grateful to Rabbit and Bear Studios for daring to revive a seemingly lost gaming genre. Like a time capsule from a simpler gaming era, a Hundred Heroes exudes a friendly, nostalgic vibe while perfectly fitting into my daily video game needs, whether that be a craving for epic gameplay or a satisfying grind performed while listening to podcasts.
Finally, it should be written that the recent passing of Murayama lends a bittersweet flavor to this release. His influence is felt throughout the game, from the intricate storytelling to the unique character designs and especially the sense of humor. I remember those teenage summers I spent with my uncles breaking through each Suikoden entry, my memory of playing through the second entry – so much so that we eventually wore out the disc – being an especially cherished one.
To this day, the Suikoden series still ignites my imagination and love for games with great stories, and Hundred Heroes continues this trend expertly.
To Muryama-san and the entire team: thank you for all you’ve accomplished and all that lies ahead.
A review code for this game was provided by 505 Games.
Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes
PROS
- A reinvigorated classic
- Addictive character collecting system
CONS
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