It all the time appears to occur the identical method: simply after I suppose I’m able to take a break from taking part in large, sprawling JRPGs that threatens to suck up each ounce of my free time, alongside comes a sport like Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes that instantly makes me rethink. After spending the previous few years deep in growth following an immensely profitable Kickstarter marketing campaign in 2020, the turn-based RPG will lastly land on Change subsequent spring and can hopefully assist scratch the Suikoden itch that Konami has ignored for over a decade. I used to be lucky to have an opportunity to demo the sport in Los Angeles not too long ago, and whereas I solely bought to expertise a small sliver of the opening chunk of the sport, I actually loved what bits of the story, fight, and exploration I performed.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes’ large promoting level is that it guarantees over 100 distinct potential allies who could be recruited as occasion members over the course of the sport, every with their very own story arcs and dialogue (and dubbed in each English and Japanese). My demo plopped me proper firstly and shortly launched me to my preliminary band of vacationers; my favorites had been Garr, a gruff anthropomorphic wolf-man, and Lian, a plucky soldier who the sport affectionately describes as a “Full-Throttle Bomber Woman.” They, together with protagonist Nowa (who’s a locked occasion member), are members of a gaggle referred to as The Watch –a gaggle of soldiers-for-hire which have arrange store within the Galdean Empire. At first of the demo, they crew up with a battalion from the Imperial Military to enterprise into the close by forest to analyze some mysterious ruins and find a spot referred to as the Runebarrows. It was a fast-paced intro sequence, with every line of dialog doing one thing to assist set up some background data concerning the world, whereas additionally teasing some broader ranges of political strife happening within the background.
Earlier than leaving the city, I wandered by means of the streets a bit and chatted with a couple of NPCs who had been going about their each day lives. It was a great probability to get a glimpse of the attractive artwork course for this sport’s environments – don’t name it HD-2D, as a result of regardless of some similarities it feels fairly distinct from the flavour of video games like Octopath Traveler. The 2D pixel artwork characters visually pop from the 3D world environments fairly spectacularly, and the comparatively extra grounded world design feels extra just like the sort of place I’d wish to spend time in. The preliminary city I explored didn’t have a lot I may do throughout my demo, however I did pop into an inn – I used to be struck by the visible consideration to element, like the best way mud particles may very well be seen floating round within the gentle beams shining by means of the window. Just a few cutscenes later and my merry band of mercs set off into the world.
An overworld map connects the varied explorable locations collectively, and whereas my demo solely took me to a handful of locations, the scope appears fairly large. As I zoomed out on the map I may see broad swaths of woods, meandering rivers, a shoreline, a mountain vary, and what appeared like cities scattered amongst all of it. Based mostly on the period of time it took me to journey to the Northern Forest, I get the sense the world will really feel larger than many might need anticipated.
A part of the rationale my occasion ventured into the woods was to hopefully find an object referred to as the Primal Lens, which the sport implies is a extra {powerful} model of the Rune Lenses that every one occasion members are outfitted with, and which the Galdean Imperial Military has a vested curiosity in for causes that aren’t instantly clear. In fight, Rune Lenses act as a fighter’s means to entry their distinctive set of particular talents, which may very well be both magic or skill-based, pulling from both MP or SP. No less than within the demo, that pool of SP particularly felt awfully small, which makes utilizing considered one of these talents really feel like an enormous determination. Battle encounters happen at random – you’ll be able to’t see foes wandering round within the overworld, both – so there’s a component of danger at play should you unintentionally drain all of your sources after which get thrust into a troublesome battle.
Granted, I had zero points blazing by means of fight this early within the sport, however I’m certain that can change with time. There’s additionally the choice to have your characters auto-battle for you should you’re curious about blasting by means of fights with low-level canon fodder. It appeared to work properly, and that was with out me spending any time adjusting my occasion members’ battle ways within the menu screens; I’m wondering how potential it will likely be to min-max methods at that stage for gamers like me who’re determined for something even mildly approaching the Gambit system from Closing Fantasy XII – though I’m definitely not anticipating that stage of depth (however would like to be stunned!)
The opposite element of fight that I glimpsed in menus however didn’t get to attempt for myself are Hero Combos, that are primarily ultra-powerful and flashy assaults that happen between two occasion members. The precise nature of a Hero Combo will depend on who’s in your occasion, and with over 100 recruitable occasion members within the sport I’m wanting to see simply how it will likely be potential to combine and match every little thing.
Exploring the woods and the next dungeon space referred to as the Runebarrow was a really easy affair, with not a number of instant alternatives to stray too far off the designated path. Once more, this was an early-game demo so that might change in a while, nevertheless it’s onerous to say for certain. I did discover a couple of chests with some equipable gear and sources like lumber, however that was about it. The Runebarrow space was a bit extra of a puzzle that concerned finding and hitting sure switches to open a sequence of gates scattered about, however actually probably the most enjoyable a part of exploring for me was simply soaking within the artwork design and the soundscapes. There are a number of little particulars that assist make the world really feel tangible, just like the light chirps of cicadas at night time, the flapping of capes and hair within the wind, and the energetic (however by no means distracting) soundtrack that basically helped set the tone for no matter was happening.
I used to be additionally actually impressed with what I noticed of the writing. Many RPGs battle to seek out the fitting stability between dumping lore, establishing characters, and driving the plot ahead within the opening hours with out overwhelming the participant. To Eiyuden Chronicle’s credit score, I felt like within the span of an hour I had a great sense for who my occasion was and what was happening with out delaying the motion an excessive amount of, whereas nonetheless leaving loads of room for character growth over the course of the narrative. And there are some delightfully campy character quips that had me chuckling – like, why does Lian all the time say “Rub-a-dub-dub” a lot? I don’t know, however for some motive it’s humorous when mixed together with her animations and the comparatively critical circumstances the occasion appears to be in, so I’m right here for it.
There’s much more to do in Hundred Heroes than I bought to see throughout my demo – there’s a town-building mechanic, minigames like fishing and playing cards, and a special mode referred to as Struggle Mode that seemingly has the participant conducting large-scale tactical battles in opposition to opposing armies. To date, virtually every little thing I’ve seen in Hundred Heroes is one thing I’ve seen in some type in different JRPGs, however I get the sense that a number of the most fun elements of the gameplay loop haven’t been revealed but, so I believe we’ll have to attend and see. Nonetheless, if the sport can preserve the extent of polish and enjoyable that was current in my demo, I believe there’s a number of potential for Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes to face out among the many crowd of big-budget winter RPGs as a little bit of a special taste. I’m wanting ahead to taking part in extra when the sport launches on April 23, 2024.