You’ve probably heard the hype. Or maybe you saw the gorgeous 2.5D sprites and wondered if 1998 called to ask for its aesthetic back. Either way, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a weird, massive, and deeply personal project that doesn’t really care about modern gaming trends. It’s the final work of Yoshitaka Murayama, the creator of the legendary Suikoden series, who sadly passed away just weeks before this game launched in early 2024.
That context matters. Without it, the game just looks like a retro RPG with a cluttered UI. With it? It’s a love letter to a very specific era of gaming where politics, war, and collecting 100+ weirdos to live in your castle was the peak of entertainment.
What Is This Game, Honestly?
Basically, it's a "spiritual successor." That’s a fancy industry term for "we don't own the original name anymore, so we’re making the same thing under a different label." If you played Suikoden II on the original PlayStation, you’ll feel like you’ve come home. If you haven’t, imagine a Pokémon game where instead of monsters, you’re collecting disgruntled knights, magical girls, shark-men, and a woman who really wants to sell you eggs.
The plot follows three main leads: Nowa, Seign, and Marisa. It starts small. A simple mission to find "Primal Lenses"—this world’s version of magical batteries—spirals into a continent-spanning war. The Galdean Empire is doing the typical "evil empire" things, and you’re the one tasked with building a resistance from scratch.
The Recruitment Obsession
The "Hundred Heroes" part isn't a joke. There are actually over 100 playable characters (120 to be precise, if you count the DLC additions). You don't just find them standing in a line; you have to earn them.
Some join because you talked to them. Others make you work for it. One guy might want a specific type of lucky fish. Another might refuse to join until your castle's restaurant serves a specific dish. It’s tedious. It’s also incredibly addictive. There’s a specific dopamine hit that comes from seeing your empty, crumbly fortress turn into a bustling city with a theater, a racing track, and a library just because you found the right people in the woods.
Why Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Hits Different
Most modern JRPGs try to be "streamlined." They want you to get to the action fast. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes takes the opposite approach. It’s slow. Like, really slow. It takes about 15 hours just to unlock fast travel.
Is that a bad thing? Depends on who you ask.
For fans of the old school, that slow burn is the point. You feel the distance between towns. You feel the weight of the war as you slowly gain allies. But for someone used to the snappy pace of Persona 5 or Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the constant random encounters and backtracking might feel like a chore.
The Combat: 6-Person Chaos
The battle system is a classic turn-based setup, but with a twist. You have six characters on the field at once. Most games cap you at three or four. Having six allows for some crazy "Hero Combos" where specific characters team up for massive, cinematic attacks.
The strategy comes from the "Rune-Lens" system. You slot different lenses into your characters to give them spells or passive buffs. Since you have so many characters, you’re constantly swapping people in and out to see who works best. Honestly, some characters are objectively terrible in a fight, but they might be great at running your farm back at the base.
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The Controversy: What Most People Get Wrong
If you go into this expecting a gritty, dark war drama like Game of Thrones, you’re going to be disappointed. Some critics and fans were vocal about the "sanitized" tone. In the original Suikoden games, major characters died. Villages stayed burned.
In Eiyuden Chronicle, the stakes feel a bit softer. When a town gets attacked, it often recovers pretty quickly. Some call it "Suikoden for kids." I’d argue it’s just a different vibe—it’s more "Saturday morning anime" than "tragic historical epic." It’s cozy. Even when you’re fighting for the fate of the world, you’re usually five minutes away from a top-spinning minigame called Beigoma.
Post-Launch: The DLC and the Future
It's now 2026, and the dust has settled on the initial release. The game didn't break sales records, but it did exactly what it needed to do: it satisfied the backers who gave over $4.5 million on Kickstarter.
The developers at Rabbit & Bear Studios haven't been idle. They released three major story expansions throughout 2025:
- The Chapter of Marisa: Fleshes out her backstory as a Guardian.
- The Chapter of Seign: Shows what happened inside the Empire while he was away from the main group.
- The Chapter of Markus: A weirder, supernatural dive into a portal called "Menhir's Distortion."
Even more surprisingly, despite Murayama’s passing, the studio confirmed they are working on a sequel. They want to turn this into a long-running franchise.
Is It Actually Worth Your Time?
Look, if you hate random encounters, don't buy this. If you want a story that moves at 100mph, stay away.
But if you miss the days when games felt like big, messy dioramas of a living world, you've gotta play it. It’s a game that asks you to slow down and care about the person running the item shop. It’s about the power of a community, not just a single "chosen one."
Actionable Tips for New Players
If you’re just starting your journey in Allraan, do these three things immediately:
- Don't ignore the Support slot. Early on, you’ll get characters who don't fight but provide passive bonuses. Find one that increases your movement speed or reduces encounter rates as soon as possible.
- Abuse the Leveling system. The game has an aggressive "catch-up" mechanic. If a character is level 10 and your party is level 30, they will gain 15 levels in a single fight. Don't be afraid to swap in new recruits.
- Upgrade your Castle's Trading Post. This is the fastest way to make money. Buy low in one town, sell high in the next. You'll need the cash for the endgame armor upgrades.
The world of Eiyuden isn't perfect. It's clunky, the menus can be a pain, and the voice acting is... enthusiastic. But it has a heart that is increasingly rare in the AAA space. It’s a final gift from a master of the genre, and for that alone, it deserves a spot on your SSD.
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To get the most out of the experience, focus on building your town's Resource Depot first, as this will automate the gathering of materials you need for almost every other upgrade in the game.