Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising review – the SNES game that never was

metro.co.uk:

The creators of Suikoden prepare for the much anticipated Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes with an entirely separate prologue game.

Before you get excited, this is probably not the game you’re thinking of. A few years ago, a bunch of ex-Konami developers announced a Kickstarter to create a spiritual sequel to the classic PS1 game Suikoden 2. That’s Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes though, whereas this is a much smaller scale prologue called Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, by Harvest Moon publisher Natsume. It doesn’t have anything to do with Suikoden and is intended merely to introduce the world from Hundred Heroes.

That’s absolutely fine in concept, and the game is certainly priced appropriately, but the obvious danger is that if Rising disappoints then it’s likely to put people off Hundred Heroes – even if the idea of a new Suikoden by the original team initially sounded appealing.

Rising is still a role-playing game but it’s a much simpler action-based title that’s vaguely reminiscent of Vanillaware titles like Muramasa, except without the amazing graphics. Despite being intended as an introduction to the world of Eiyuden there’s not really much going on, in terms of plot or characterisation, that needs all that much explaining and yet the game still has a frivolous charm all of its own.

The world of Eiyuden Chronicle is not one that veers too far from tradition when it comes to Japanese role-players. There’s a lot more anthropomorphic animals than usual, mixed in with all the humans, but otherwise you’re playing a plucky nobody who ends up saving… not the world but a town built next to the remains of an ancient civilisation.

These ruins have brought treasure hunters from near and far, including lead character CJ, who is soon