Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising | PS4 Review

June 5, 2022 Eric Sandler

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes may be releasing next year, but the folks at Rabbit & Bear Studios apparently couldn’t help themselves and made Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising to tide us all over until 2023. It’s a good example of a studio providing content for their fans, but it’s important not to go into Rising thinking it’s going to be the same quality as Hundred Heroes. Or at least, I hope it’s not indicative of the quality of the upcoming game.

An Ambitious Side Project

Rising acts as a prequel and introduction to the world of Hundred Heroes. Similar to the Suikoden series (of which this is a spiritual successor) the game begins with a dual-wielding protagonist and a colorful cast of characters. In this case, you play as CJ, a treasure hunter who comes from a long line of treasure hunters, sworn never to return home until she finds a bigger treasure than those who came before her. She arrives in New Nevaeh, a town ravaged by a recent earthquake that just happens to sit on top of an extensive cavern network called the Runebarrows. Naturally, the Runebarrows contains untold treasures and dangers, and CJ’s just the newest treasure-hunter to come to town.

Unlike the upcoming Hundred Heroes, Rising is a 2D action RPG with a fair amount of Metroidvania elements. CJ starts out with a basic attack combo and a dash, but as she gains new equipment, she also unlocks new abilities that facilitate exploration. The combat system starts out simple and gains a tiny bit of complexity as you recruit your other two party members. Hitting the respective face buttons automatically switches to that party member, and you can chain their attacks with nifty slow-mo by attacking with each party member in sequence. It’s easy to pull off and pretty satisfying to see your entire team go ham on an enemy.

The Spirit of Fetch Quests

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Suikoden spiritual successor if you didn’t have a town to rebuild. Here, you’ll work to rebuild New Nevaeh as the game progresses. This unlocks various merchants such as a smithy, armorer, runesmith, and these all serve to unlock abilities that will help you get past new obstacles.

All this is accomplished not only through the game’s main story, but through an absolute smorgasbord of sidequests, done in-universe to fill out a stamp card given to CJ by the acting mayor. At first it acts as a tutorial of sorts to how the game and world function, but it quickly devolves into endless, endless fetch quests. That’s only a minor exaggeration. Nearly every sidequest requires you either find some materials or someone’s lost macguffin.

Granted, it makes sense in a way. New Nevaeh is effectively destroyed due to the aforementioned earthquake. Realistically, it would need a copious amount of raw materials to rebuild, and there’s several prospective merchants who want to open up shops and thus further CJ’s goals. In practical terms, it’s the very definition of repetitive. Nearly every single quest asks you to find some material or another, often in areas you’ve retread a dozen times already. It would be more forgivable if so many of these sidequests weren’t directly tied to the upgrades you need to progress through the main game. The fact that there’s a total of 160 stamps to collect, most of which are tied to fetch quests, doesn’t help.

The end result is a game that’s best played in short bursts, if at all. While it’s a good introduction to the world, and the developers have promised there will be rewards for having a Rising save file, there are other and better action RPGs with base-building mechanics.

The Bottom Line

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is available on all major platforms for $15 USD, or if you backed the Kickstarter, you should already have your code. If you can’t wait to dive into the world of Eiyuden Chronicle, Rising can give you a decent first taste of characters and lore. Or, if you want a relatively simple and relaxing experience (say, the opposite of your Dark Souls and your Elden Rings) Rising is easy enough that it can be conquered by anyone who wants to dip their toes into a more action-oriented game.

This review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy of Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising provided by Stride PR for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation 5, Xbox, Game Pass, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG.