Eivuden Chronicle HUNDRED HEROES

What is a spiritual successor? It could be summed up as an unrelated product or fictional work inspired by another product or fictional work.

- Jose Alvarez

DEVELOPER Rabbit and Bear Studios

PUBLISHER 505 Games

PLATFORM PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch

Gaming is full of spiritual successors-think Mighty No. 9 for the Mega Man franchise or Yooka-Laylee for Banjo-Kazooie. When Konami announced a remaster of Suikoden and Suikoden II in 2022, my heart started racing as that was the impetus for me to get into games journalism. Many Suikoden developers, including the late Yoshitaka Murayama, created Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes as a spiritual successor to the Suikoden franchise. Does Eiyuden Chronicle live up to the standards of JRPGs that Murayama set almost 30 years ago?

At first glance, Eiyuden Chronicle follows in the 2DHD format that has become popular with JRPG players over the past few years. There are three protagonists: Nowa, a 17-year-old member of the Elitsweiss Watch (or just "The Watch"); Seign Kesling, an 18-year-old officer of the Galdean Empire; and Marisa, a 16-year-old girl who watches over the forest. The discovery of a Primal Lens threatens to plunge the world into war and chaos.