Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising review - Scavenging for treasure, padding without pleasure

With Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, 505 Games, the publisher behind hits like Control and Ghostrunner, explored modernizing retro RPGs. Originally conceived as a Kickstarter, this new action RPG from Natsume Atari and Rabbit & Bear Studios is a charming tale embodying many JRPG tropes.

Players control three unique characters on this journey in an ambitious quest that quickly takes a sinister turn.

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Each hero has their background, personality, and gameplay style evident throughout the 2.5D adventure. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is a side-scroller with platforming elements and hack & slash combat.

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As expected from an RPG, players will manage their party, upgrade their character and fight fearsome monsters.

Set out on a treasure-hunting RPG adventure in Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising takes place on the fantasy continent of Allraan. At the start, players will be introduced to the main character CJ. She is a teenager who steps out into the world for a rite of passage that has been a tradition in her family of scavengers.

These treasure hunters risk their lives and limbs for new treasures and exhilarating experiences. Destiny veers CJ towards the quaint town of New Neveah after saving a stranger from bandits. This quickly pushes players into a series of quests shaping CJ as a character and the town she steps in.

Welcome to New Nevaeh!

This town is known for unearthed treasures, including the rare Rune Lenses C (Image via Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising)

There are two main aspects to Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising. Primarily it is about town building and general resource management. Players also engage in dungeon exploration. The former is introduced quickly after the player visits the Plaza, the center of New Nevaeh.

CJ is introduced to a character that will eventually join her exploration - Isha, the town mayor. Since the town is renowned for its treasure-and-monster-filled underground ruins called Runebarrows, it has seen an uptick in treasure hunters who want a piece of the pie.

Being a brave soul herself, CJ jumps at the opportunity but quickly realizes she must have an Explorer's License to begin exploring the Barrows. This leads to players being granted the Stamp Card, an integral part of the gameplay.

In a nutshell, players will receive a stamp upon completing the main and side quests. This also has the two-fold effect of advancing the narrative and helping upgrade the town.

Help out the townsfolk in exchange for stamps and the growth of the community (Image via 505 Games)

New Nevaeh will feature pockets of locales where NPCs await CJ's aid with bated breath throughout the story. They include tavern owner Sarita, appraiser Squash, Innkeeper Rajiv, Tools Shop owner Felipe, etc.

These individuals offer various quests for players, mainly of two types: Shop upgrade (blue marker) and personal quests (green ones). The former demands resources for shop owners to enhance their shops and introduce new stock. The latter are generally odder requests which generally grant EXP.

The Shop upgrade quests are crucial and completing them provides players new options to refine their characters with new abilities (via Armor Shop), new consumables (via the Apothecary), and new trinkets to equip (from the Accessory shop).

Of course, more stamps will also increase CJs fame throughout the town, lure more visitors and help the growth of New Nevaeh as a whole. With over 150 stamps to collect, completionists will be in for a bumpy ride.

Time for dungeon crawling

The Great Forest is ripe with resources and monsters (Image via Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising)

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising's story is relatively average, not something worth writing home about. In essence, players must traverse the various dungeons following story objectives, like finding a magical artifact called a Rune Lens or uncovering what happened to a long-lost party in the deep underground. These dungeons are themed like the lush Great Forest, the snowy Snowpeak and even fiery, lava-soaked ruins inside the Barrows.

Each biome has its own set of enemies, many of which are elemental variants of the same core foes, like slimes and gargoyles.

Others are more unique, like the gray worms in the forest or the Yetis in the snowy region. There are also unique mini-bosses and main bosses to take down, and they're generally all well designed.

Players can also save and fast travel between areas of a dungeon using designated Signposts.

Face the dangers of each dungeon in your quest to gather resources for the town's needs (Image via Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising)

Each enemy drops a resource of some kind that can be monopolized. Players will also encounter assets in environments like trees or rocks that can be hit to acquire associated resources (e.g., lumber from trees, ore from mineral veins). These resources are stored in the resource bag, which can be upgraded to allow more space. Players will also need relevant equipment and upgraded variants to ensure higher rarity resources can drop.

Traversal isn't always so straightforward as players can jump and glide across chasms and platform their way across the dungeon. These dungeons are linear, with some dead ends usually locked behind elemental pillars that can be broken down by hitting them with the same element (e.g., green pillars crumble with lightning attacks).

Certain scattered chests offer one-time pickups like pendants to equip that grant minor buffs, like increased resource drop chance or increased HP. But coming to the fundamental gameplay, a whole element system ties into the game's combat.

Fighting fantasy

Slash your way to the objective (Image via Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising)

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising's combat is fairly simple. CJ can swing her weapon in a combo strike to deal damage to enemies and dash to avoid enemy attacks, her unique perk.

Players will eventually unlock Garoo, a kangaroo merc, and Isha for combat. The former brandishes a greatsword and can dodge any enemy attack. The latter can use magic, starting with a 3-projectile attack and can teleport a short distance in addition to being able to glide after a jump.

Players can supplement these characters using Runes, which they will eventually acquire throughout the game. These are split into four elements: earth, fire, water/ice, and wind/lightning. Each is weak and strong against other elements. However, since attacks are a one-button affair, Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising introduces the Link attacks to lend some action.

Following up an attack with the face button associated with another character at the right moment switches the current character to the relevant one and keeps the combo chain going. This does devastating damage and is crucial to dealing with multiple and tanky enemies at once. The fighting is flashy, but the simple fundamentals mean it grows boring quickly.

A few brainteasers spice up the action (Image via Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising)

There will also be occasional simple minigames at certain spots in the dungeon. For one, there is fishing, a QTE sequence, and the other is the Menhirs, mysterious obelisks that can transport players to certain locations. These are activated by solving line connecting puzzles and don't take more than a couple of minutes to figure out.

Leveling up

It's a game of numbers (Image via Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising)

As an RPG, Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is a streamlined one. Players gain experience in completing quests and defeating enemies. This, in turn, makes them more powerful. There is no equipment system here, minus some trinkets that allow certain percentage buffs.

Each character will only have one unique weapon and armor, which can be upgraded to better stats and unlock new abilities. However, this may not always work to the game's advantage as certain abilities should have been available. The fact that players need to upgrade Garoo to unlock an upper strike a while into the game is ridiculous, especially since flying enemies are introduced fairly early.

Use the shops to gain new abilities and attacks (Image via Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising)

Players can also use potions to replenish HP or gain a temporary element buff. These are stored in the Stowpack, which can also be upgraded for more space. Overall, Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is not a challenging game as enemy attacks are well telegraphed and allow enough time to counter. It's not factoring in that most enemies die from a few hits, particularly when at higher levels than the foes.

A job well done (Image via Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising)

Party aside, the town too sees growth. Completing a Stamp Card changes the theme and allows more opportunities to expand each shopkeeper's catalog with better and better choices. These include a more varied menu at the Tavern, for example. Additionally, more NPCs can be seen milling about the streets and alleys of New Nevaeh. It's a small but neat touch that helps with world-building.

Rinse and repeat

Look at that laundry list (Image via Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising)

The biggest downfall of Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is its unabashed love for filler content and repetition. Most side missions mandate CJ and the party to acquire resources (some of which may be RNG, others quest-related spawns). Others see the team running around town doing menial tasks, like finding a lost cat or delivering a sandwich.

Another bothersome aspect is the combat, which for all its variety, is fundamentally pretty basic. Players eventually unlock more abilities like longer glide time for Isha, but this is dependent on the quests. Every stumble of Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising can be traced back to its soulless penchant for wasting the player's time with filler.

Most side stories are of the boring kind (Image via Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising)

By the time I was halfway through Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, I had found myself button-mashing my way through quest dialog. Thankfully, the quests log also specifies the destination to reach to advance the quest. In dungeons, it points out the screen via the pause menu map.

At the end of the day, players' tolerance for side quests will determine the quality of experience with Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising. These side stories are, after all, interwoven into the very fiber of the game's design, thanks to the Stamp system. There is no escaping it, particularly if players wish to improve the town and their party as much as possible.

Graphics, sound, and performance

Artistically it is a good looking game (Image via Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising)

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is a pretty striking game. The pixel character art is sharp and detailed. The backgrounds are 3D with a cool depth-of-field effect. It brings to mind Square Enix's HD-2D RPGs, like Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising was played on PC with the following specifications:

Processor: Intel Core i5-8300H @3.9 GHz
RAM: 8 GB DDR4 @2666 MHz
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 4 GB
Storage: 500 GB NVMe SSD

There's nothing but good news to report on the performance side of things. It runs at a mostly locked 60 FPS at 1080p max settings. Occasional drops occurred, seemingly due to asset streaming, but were quickly resolved by the engine - Unity, the popular choice for many indie teams. There aren't any bugs to report either.

The sound aspect is also decent, with cheery tunes and somber hums accompanying the players as they traverse the map. Admittedly, looping music can get dull, but it isn’t enough to dent the experience.

Conclusion

Just a little quarrel between friends (Image via 505 Games)

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is a mostly successful attempt at reinvigorating the spirit of older JRPGs in a new modern format, especially with the town building mechanic. However, its core fundamentals rely too much on good ol' fetch quest design and repetition from equally bland NPCs.

Even the bravest adventurers would be fatigued before the journey is even halfway over. The dungeon exploration and combat also devolve into a mindless slog, leading to a dreaded gameplay loop that begs to be over with quickly.

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Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is also a prequel to the upcoming JRPG Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, which is set after the events of this game and also features familiar characters.

Carrying over the save file from Rising to Hundred Heroes will also unlock in-game goodies to reward fans. Those awaiting the 2023 Suikoden-inspired entry in the Eiyuden Chronicle series might be incentivized to check this game out.