Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is the brainchild of Suikoden creator Yoshitaka Murayama, who incidentally died in February, just months before the launch of his latest RPG. The game was kick-started a few years ago with a vision of creating a traditional Japanese role-playing game as they were made in the 90s.
It is Suikoden that is the big inspiration here, and if you have played at least the first two games in the series, you will immediately recognize yourself, because technically there is very little that separates this game from them. It is also the intention, to arrest Eiyuden Chronicle for sometimes being a bit old-fashioned becomes a bit of a disc bomb all the time it was promised to be exactly what made the game a massive Kickstarter success, and ensure its existence.
Running between towns and dangerous caves is the most nostalgic thing I’ve done this year.
Øystein Furevik/Gamer.no
Not for a modern audience
I noticed early on that I was in the middle of the target group for this game, because if there’s one thing I’m sick of, it’s games that splurge on content just for the sake of content. Bigger is better. More is better, and you should preferably not be able to go for two seconds without coming across something new that makes you forget what you were actually supposed to do. It’s as if SoMe has invaded the game with a rush to always absorb new things and just sitting back and taking it easy is so dangerous that you could die from it.
An awful lot of games seem like that to me these days, but Eiyuden Chronicle is a step back to the time when games primarily had one purpose, and that was where the focus lay.
The Eiyuden Chronicle is thus very traditional. We immediately meet our young hero Nowa, quickly set off on an adventure, and in the first half hour learn most of what we need to know to form an image of whether this game is something to spend time on, including that it is a good idea to use the save point because the autosave is the rub.
We travel from cities to forests and caves via a zoned world map where we can quickly travel from one city to another. At regular intervals, the screen turns black to indicate that we have encountered enemies, before we are thrown into turn-based battles. The whole thing is very recipe-like, but it works really well. I especially like how much time you take. This is not a fussy game that throws enemies at you all the time, but instead leans the other way. It is allowed to wander undisturbed for a while. In certain areas where you have to solve puzzles, the frequency drops even more, so that you have plenty of time without being interrupted.
The battle system is like a rip-off from Suikoden. You have six warriors with you, and you decide what they will do before you start the round and watch everything happen. There is a touch of tactical thinking involved in who is going to do what, but at the start it is mostly plank driving. However, the game gradually becomes more demanding, and I like how the game sends you through areas that don’t necessarily offer everything you need. Suddenly you stand there without magic and the practical medicine that works on everyone at the same time. You are forced to reassess what you are going to do, and this means that every now and then the battles get a solid boost.
Campaigns are turn-based and traditional.
Øystein Furevik/Gamer.no
War and peace
In good Suikoden tradition, the story in the Eiyuden Chronicle offers a tale of war. Our hero Nowa is part of an alliance between several nations, and they quickly find themselves in conflict with the Empire. There are probably better stories out there, but there is something very engaging about it nonetheless. It has the charm and zeal of old games, something that permeates the entire game. We are not burdened with dialogue, it moves steadily forward, and there are a bunch of different characters portrayed by both good and fairly good actors, making the whole thing entertaining to listen to.
However, absorbing history is not what takes up your time. The game strikes a very good balance between letting you follow the story and traveling around the world. Either to follow your mission, or to find new companions. One of your most important goals in the game is to gather new people to join you. Most are available as warriors in battle, while others are used to build new buildings in the Alliance’s home base.
This base grows and develops as you play and collect enough people to be able to build new facilities. It’s a fun part of the game that gives you a goal beyond anything the other game offers. Every time you see someone who stands out, you know that you may be given a small assignment before you get them on board. However, these missions could have been a lot more engaging. Most of them are fetch missions where you have to go somewhere to find something, and that’s not the most inspiring recipe I can imagine.
Like spit out of a PlayStation
It’s actually not possible to talk about Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes without talking about the visual style. Technically, the game follows a similar style to the 2D-HD style Square Enix introduced with Octopath Traveler a few years ago. However, there are big differences. This game is not interested in the 16-bit era, but instead pays homage to the classic role-playing games on the PlayStation.
The cities are never bigger than one can run through in a few seconds.
Øystein Furevik/Gamer.no
Pixelated figures run around in an environment that strongly resembles the backgrounds of old PlayStation games, and there is a charm about the whole thing that is hard to resist. The game is not too big either. Even the biggest cities are quick to run through, and it really is a breath of fresh air in a game industry where everything has to be so big that you can easily get discouraged by the smallest town.
One consequence is that everything is affordable in the Eiyuden Chronicle. Nothing is too complex and time-consuming. You get from one place to another quickly, and if you have to walk longer distances, you gradually get the opportunity to teleport.
Conclusion
I will not hide the fact that I think the industry is going in the wrong direction. More and more games, more and more content, more and more hours that force you to spend more and more of your time on one game at a time instead of having time for all the games you would like to inhale like air. It’s exhausting, which is why it’s so wonderful when a game like Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes comes along. A game that looks backwards and thereby creates a demonstrative contrast to modern trends.
It’s a big game, yes, but it’s a big game that gets straight to the point and doesn’t drag out every single tiny scenario into a trilogy of grandiose proportions. It respects your time, makes it easy to find sensible points to take breaks at, and makes it very optional to what extent you want to participate in activities that are not essential to the story.
Historia is a nice, entertaining journey with a bunch of funny stereotypical characters. It’s not particularly original, but it doesn’t have to be either. It’s good, old-fashioned and incredibly cosy. The game may not be for everyone, and those who think the past belongs best online where it was will not find much to enjoy here. If, on the other hand, you are an old scrap who is about to reach the point where you start to agree with grandfather that everything was better before, this could be right up your alley.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes launched on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X (testa), Nintendo Switch and Windows on April 23.
