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Directed and produced by Yoshitaka Murayama, one of the people responsible for the legendary Suikoden franchise, the all-new Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes has quite the pedigree to live up to. This project - the Eiyuden series - has been going for some time now, its predecessor having released back in May 2022 as a kind-of-sort-of demo to the real Hundred Heroes deal. Specifically, we're talking about Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, which we had high praise for, at the time.
Now, almost two years after Rising first came out, the long-anticipated Hundred Heroes is here as well, and we're positively thrilled with what we've got to see. Indeed, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes has already made its way onto our list of the very best anime video games we stock here at 2Game. In fact, it's one of the best JRPGs we've played of all time, making it an extremely important release in 2024.
What is it that makes Hundred Heroes such a big deal, though? What sort of a PC do you need to play it? Will it work on a Steam Deck, even? What about game critics, what do they think? All of that - and then some - we've summarized in this here onboarding guide. If you're even remotely interested in playing a delightful new JRPG, you're going to want to read up on this article to see if Eiyuden Chronicle might not be the right game for you.
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Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Starter Guide - All You Need to Know (Early)
As you may or may not know, Hundred Heroes is officially coming out on April 23 (tomorrow, at the time of writing), but the game's been available early for Digital Deluxe Edition owners since yesterday! What this means, in practice, is that we already have plenty of information about the game, its performance on a wide variety of rigs, its gameplay features, content breadth, and loads more. The reviews are already in, too.
In other words, we have more than enough material to bring you fully up-to-speed on all of the game's most important features and thingamabobs. This starter guide will help you decide if EC: HH is the right choice for you, and whether you should spend your money on it. Let's get to it, then!
Play Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes on day one with 2Game!
Getting started with Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
Anyone who's played a classic Suikoden game in the past will feel right at home jumping into Eiyuden Chronicle, that's for sure. This is a lovingly created tale of a whole army's worth of heroes - it's in the title, right - as they travel from one end of the continent to the other, intermingling deeply personal stories with the overarching narrative. We won't spoil much here, as we think Hundred Heroes' story is every bit as important as its combat, but it's important to keep in mind that you won't have your mind blown by the content of the story.
Instead, the impressive bit lies in how it's told: instead of long diatribes and walls of text describing what's what, you get a long, long list of smaller-scale mini-stories that introduce key terms, characters, and story beats in an easy-to-follow package. A perfect fit for those who are keen on the show, don't tell approach to storytelling.
Another good thing to note is that Eiyuden Chronicle is not a hard game to just pick up and play. Sure, it is a massive time investment, but its gameplay loop extrapolates the complications from the very basics. To that end, we think there aren't going to be any issues even if you're a total JRPG newcomer. It's just that easy to get started with!
What do the reviews say?
"I cannot stress enough how impressed I am by the character roster," said GodIsAGeek's Mick Fraser. "It’s quite simply staggering how much effort has gone into crafting these people and imbuing them with unique personalities. There are standouts, obviously, with healer Francesca being one of my absolute favourites. Ostensibly a very feminine and docile character, her sudden outbursts of violent rage are hilariously disturbing, and her in-battle one-liners are incredible. But that’s literally one character out of a cast of well over a hundred."
Fraser also praised the game's boss battles, citing the game's Gimmick system as a delightful way to turn the battlefield up on its head and keep things interesting for dozens of hours. "One enables you to hide characters behind cover to avoid a heavy attack from the boss; another lets you operate a crane to drop rocks on your enemies," Fraser explained. He was largely extremely happy with the game, giving it a 9.5/10 and saying that it is "simply a wonderful way to underline Yoshitaka Murayama’s life’s work." High praise indeed!
"A wonderful way to underline Yoshitaka Murayama's life's work." - Mick Fraser, GodIsAGeek
Josh Broadwell reviewed the game for GameInformer, giving it an 8/10 after all was said and done. "Slow traversal, an empty world map, and tedious dungeons make Hundred Heroes more frustrating than it should be, but the promise of a new character vignette or more plot advancement was always enough to keep me pressing forward."
Broadwell was a bit more critical of the game's faults, which is a fair approach, but he was also keen to point out that there's plenty of merit in adopting Golden Age JRPG gameplay, from a different point of view: "Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a good reminder of why the RPG genre left some parts of its Golden Age behind. It’s also a testimony to what makes the genre special and the power of good storytelling to move and inspire. Admittedly, rigid adherence to archaic structures makes those first impressions tough to look past, but a creative battle system, extensive party customization, and top-notch writing make up for the retro jank," he concluded.
What makes Hundred Heroes so special compared to other JRPGs?
Overall, then, the reviewers are largely very happy with Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, but what does that mean for an average gamer? From our time with the game, you should expect a game that both reveres its Golden Age legacy, and embraces novelty where it made sense for it to do so.
Not only does its story meaningfully change and evolve at a delightfully brisk pace, but EC: HH also has oodles of awesome gameplay mechanics and combat features. Add an outstanding visual style with more 2D animations than you'd expect to ever seen in a game of this kind, and you've got something truly monumental at hand.
To be more specific, we think Eiyuden Chronicle is the way to go for anyone who enjoyed the classic RPGs of PlayStation, for example. The likes of classic Final Fantasy, Digimon, Chrono Cross, and similar. Heck, things even reach the levels of Fire Emblem at select parts of the game, making it a kind of best-of showpiece for the genre. That, alone, makes the experience incredibly special in our book.
How does Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes run on PC?
One last consideration we have is whether Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is low-spec friendly. We're positively thrilled to report that it, indeed, is! Here are the recommended PC specs, as per the game's official Steam page:
- OS: Windows 10
- CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K / AMD FX-9590
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 / AMD Radeon RX 570
- VRAM: 4 GB
- RAM: 8 GB
- Storage: 30 GB of available space
This setup targets 60 FPS at the 1920 x 1080 resolution, mind, so it's no slouch at all. We expect Hundred Heroes to perform admirably on the Steam Deck as well, with the only major consideration being whether the game's interface scales to such a small display. We think it's going to be just fine, though!
Collect Your 100+ Heroes Today!
By now, you should have a pretty solid idea of what Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is, how it works, what makes it such a big deal, and why you, too, ought to give it a fair shake! Remember: you can snag an awesome early bird discount if you purchase your Eiyuden Steam key via 2Game, so make sure to grab the link below.
Play Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes on day one with 2Game!
The fact that Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes isn't a continuation of an older, legacy franchise is bound to make it less bombastic on day one that, say, a new Final Fantasy game would be, but we believe it's going to persevere over the years and quickly shoot up to many different top-lists of the best modern JRPGs. Indeed, Hundred Heroes delivers so much value and solid gameplay every step of the way that it's almost hard to believe it all fits into the classic JRPG envelope. Yet, here we are.
Do we recommend it? Absolutely, even if you're not a fan of the genre. There's a phenomenal balance of adherence to established niche tropes and genuine, exciting novelty here, to the point that we're hard-pressed not to recommend this game across the board. With oodles of charm and dozens of hours of gameplay, it's a bit of a must-have in our book.
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