Eiyuden Chronicle Rising Review (PlayStation 5)

by Jim Smale · May 10, 2022

Our Eiyuden Chronicle Rising Review helps tell the story that combines a thrilling adventure through ancient ruins with the tale of one town’s rise from the ashes. Drawn by lenses and other treasures in the nearby Runebarrows, our heroes learn that the town is struggling to rebuild after an earthquake and decide to help. Along the way, they’ll resolve disputes between eager adventurers and wary locals who don’t think the Barrows should be disturbed. And they’ll learn more about each other’s reasons for seeking treasure, deepening their bonds in the process.

Eiyuden Chronicle Rising Review Pros:

Beautiful Anime style graphics.
2.15GB download size.
Platinum trophy.
Own in-game achievements.
Load PlayStation 4 save option.
In game cutscenes.
Two modes of play – casual is one button attacks and normal is a more action orientated approach and harder to perform attacks.
Can skip cutscenes.
Action adventure gameplay.
Stamp cards are where you go to towns and help the townsfolk.
Earn EXP and level up to increase stats.
Picturesque locations.
Dungeons will respawn enemies after you leave.
Save at signposts.
2D perspective.
Gather resources.
Fast travel from the locations menu.
Main and optional side quests.
Side quests can be for residents or building new facilities for the home town.
You have your own home to end the day or save.
Resources can be dropped from enemies or mined from the environment.
Simple hack and slash combat.
The forest and the Quarry is where you spend a lot of time for farming resources and tasks, as you progress more of it opens up.
As you leave a Dungeon/location all collected resources is put into your storage.
Can rebind controls.
3 save slots.
Big boss encounters.
Maps will uncover as you explore.
Party members can be recruited each with unique features and abilities, chain attacks together for link attacks. You swap characters with a button press.
Smithy will allow you to upgrade and improve weapons and gear.
Achievements will pop up on screen along with a trophy of they match.
You can see your exp bar and all enemies have a skill level.
You can name your weapons and tools from a list of unlocked words.
Armor shop to buy and upgrade new armor.
The Apothecary allows you to buy or craft potions.
Equip accessories onto each party member for a determined buff.
Puzzles are scattered through the world but are simple yet effective little exercises.
Devilishly moreish, you constantly just want one more hour with the game.
Runes can bought and equipped to channel a particular element into your attack.
Unlock new activities like hunting and a fishing mini game.
Upgrade tools in order to farm higher level resources.

Eiyuden Chronicle Rising Review Cons:

Slow starter with a lot of fetch quests given.
Never given a lot of help of where to go to do quests or find new unlocked areas.
The white text of quests gets lost with the bright backgrounds.
Same short animated scene of building new facilities.
A lot of fetch quests actually.
No real voicework to talk of.
The initial resource bag is pitifully small so you land up leaving resources behind.
The combat takes some getting used to in terms of timing.

Related Post: Sokobos Review (Steam)

Eiyuden Chronicle Rising:

Official website.

Developer: Rabbit & Bear Studios

Publisher: 505 Games

Store Links –

PlayStation

9/10
Graphics - 9/10
8/10
Sound - 8/10
8/10
Accessibility - 8/10
9/10
Length - 9/10
9/10
Fun Factor - 9/10

8.6/10

Summary

Just saying RPG conjures up a heavy text-laden experience full of turn-based combat, fetch quests, and dialogue. Eiyuden Chronicles is not the type of RPG, in fact, it is what I like to call a light RPG as it has all the heavy lifting of an RPG but it is dealt with in light and easy to play ways. Combat is real-time and very much a hack and slash but again has the ability to allow you to mix it up with combo attacks, air attacks, blocking, dodging, and even parrying, and again is done in such an accessible way that it caters for both new and veteran players. The quest system is still very much fetch quests r us but it’s played out in that you unlock these areas like Quarry or Forest, here you can re visit it as much as you like and farm resources, trigger events, and take on enemies and bosses for exp. In fact, it is the wide-open areas that get bigger over time that keep the game fresh, you get to activate signposts so you can fast travel to where you need, it takes a lot of repetition out of it. The core gameplay loop is again simple but so satisfying, you are charged with rebuilding a town and attracting new people/tradesmen to the town, as you do the optional quests for them you get new vendors with new loot, and you can upgrade said vendors for more high-level loot like I say it’s simple but man oh man is it a good smooth loop. You have complete control over what you do and where you go so you can just concentrate on the town or go off exploring and leveling up or take on the somewhat delightful story. Honestly, it’s just how streamlined and accessible to all is that captivated me, I put in way more hours than I would in a traditional RPG and that is thanks to the way Eiyuden Chronicle handles every part of the game. I love just jumping between locations, doing the occasional boss fight, and seeing my progress in real-time with new shops and mini-games opening up. I mean you can lay down traps for unique loot or find fishing spots to get the spoils of the sea. On your person will always be a weapon and tools to smash rocks and hack down trees all whilst still playing on a 2D playground. Again the game has managed some sort of witchcraft with its in-depth yet part of the game 3D backdrops, honestly, the game is such a good-looking game. Even if you are not an RPG fan I would encourage you to at least try Eiyuden Chronicle as it has made massive strides in making a light yet heavy, accessible yet layered RPG experience that turned me into one of the game’s biggest fan.