Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes

• 1. Introduction

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  Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes surpassed $500,000 on Kickstarter in just three to four hours on the 27th of July, 2020. Its lead developer, Yoshitaka Murayama, had built his reputation on a celebrated series at a different company entirely. That reputation proved strong enough to move a wave of backers before the game had even announced a release date. The questions those pledges were answering remained open. Could Murayama recapture what he had created at Konami? Could a crowdfunded title deliver at the scale of a major publisher?

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• 2. Murayama and Suikoden

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  The Suikoden series, which Murayama created for Konami, included two games that he personally directed: Suikoden I and II. His resignation from Konami came in 2002, shortly before the third installment in the series was released. Suikoden continued under different direction after he left. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes has been described as a spiritual successor to that franchise. Rabbit and Bear Studios developed the game, with 505 Games as publisher. The team secured its funding not through a traditional deal, but through Kickstarter.

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• 3. A Record-Breaking Campaign

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  When pledging closed, the Eiyuden Chronicle Kickstarter campaign had raised $4,541,481 from 46,307 backers. That total exceeded every stretch goal the team had originally set. Only Shenmue III and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night had raised more money from video game campaigns on the platform. The Kickstarter result placed Eiyuden Chronicle among a handful of projects to secure large-scale funding through crowdfunding alone. The team at Rabbit and Bear Studios would spend the years that followed turning that commitment into a finished game.

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• 4. Years in the Making

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  Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes appeared at E3 2021. The announced platforms were Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. A companion title, Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, reached players in May 2022 on the same platforms. It served as a prologue to the world the main game would deliver. The original target was an October 2022 release. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed that window back, first to 2023 and then to 2024. During the September 2023 Nintendo Direct, Rabbit and Bear Studios confirmed the 23rd of April as the final release date.

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• 5. A Divided Reception

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  Metacritic classified the reception on Windows, Xbox Series X, and PlayStation 5 as 'generally favorable.' In Japan, four critics from Famitsu gave the game a combined score of 33 out of 40. Game Informer awarded an 8 out of 10. The review praised the creative battle system, extensive party customization, and top-notch writing. It also noted that archaic structures made first impressions hard to look past. The same review pointed to an empty open world and tedious dungeons as specific weaknesses. PCGamesN offered a mixed verdict. The review wrote that 'whether or not you're a fan of Suikoden II, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is just about worth your time.' That review called the experience disjointed. Almost every high point in Nowa's adventure was met with a painful low, and the review pointed to forgettable minigames and characters. IGN Japan scored the game 90 out of 100. Godisageek's assessment went further: it called the game 'a truly memorable experience that absolutely will stick with you when it's over.'

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