Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is a slow but pleasant town-building action-RPG

destructoid.com:

Eiyuden Chronicle, the spiritual successor to the Suikoden series developed by Rabbit & Bear, is still a ways off. But like Bloodstained and other Kickstarter games have had their own attached prequels, there is Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising. It’s set before the events of the game proper, takes a different approach in gameplay, and lays the groundwork.

It’s also fun, though it takes a little while to get going. I got a chance to play a chunk of Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising‘s opening hours, and it didn’t take long for the action to start — I was fighting bandits within the first few minutes. This prequel game from Rabbit & Bear, NatsumeAtari, and 505 Games has some charm to it, as well as some familiar and fun fights. It just takes a while for that action to evolve into something a bit more intriguing.

Rising follows CJ, an aspiring treasure hunter searching for a massive lens as part of her village’s rites for adulthood. Her journey leads to New Nevaeh, a town that’s fallen on both hard and prosperous times after some calamities opened up a nearby quarry. Adventurers like CJ have been flocking in, and to earn her keep, she needs to perform tasks for villagers, helping rebuild homes and make way for eager seekers like herself.

I admittedly love building up a town in RPGs, so this aspect was right up my alley. The first few forays I made into the forest saw me bringing back new resources and sharing them with villagers. First, I was simply helping to locate lost cats and mend roofs; not long after, I was establishing a tavern and an inn.

Seeing all of the buildings spring up over time as the tiny village grows into a prospering town is really fun. It makes a lot of the resources picked up while adventuring feel a bit more