Eiyuden Chronicle Rising has been one of the more interesting JRPGS that’s coming this year, which has the unique distinction of being the 2nd game within an upcoming spiritual successor to a series that has their former developers working on them. Pinch me if you have heard this pitch before.
And yet, it’s also a town-building game. Where you, your compatriots (who may or may not be from the Land Down Under) are both leveling up yourselves and the town you reside in, together in tandem.
It might be a slow burn at the start (you literally have to save a cat as the first main quest), but its intrigue lies within the area you have set your foot into gotten the chance to play the first few hours of the start which you see snippets here:
Building Strength
It is rather nice to play a game where you can see the town of New Nevaeh rebuild itself as your main character, CJ, helps out the town folks and see them build up alongside yourself as the game progresses. It makes those runs to the dungeon areas more meaningful as you can collect stuff like Sugar or lumber that those folks might request on the bulletin board.
The graphics look great for its Unity-based blending of both 2D sprites and 3D environment. It helps make the location pop out more, which helps shape it look rather unique within its rather pack genre.
The gameplay itself is more of an action side-scroller affair with an interesting twist where if you have like two members within a party, you can do the attacks within one another together or if you wish to do so, play individually, It is a nice change-up of the beat-em action formula that I feel would be expended in the full game when we get more varied party members.
On the story side, it’s rather down to earth, even with the included anthropomorphic animals that roam around as companions or even quest givers and the fantasy setting. But, it does have the feeling of setting up for the actual JRPG title that’s in the works for 2023.
And that’s quite fine really, seeing the town building up and by the end of the preview also bustling with life, makes me think that it might be a hub that you can get to visit in that future game too.
Closing Thoughts
When compared to other titles, this preview feels rather bite-sized and that is exactly the vibes that I’ve been getting with Eiyuden Chronicles Rising. Heck, that Rising part might be the main theme of the whole game, as you defeat bosses for this cozy little town that you have built up for hours perhaps. But for now, I’ll be chilling in this town, doing relaxing things to side-scroller to.
Eiyuden Chronicle Rising is releasing some time in Spring 2022 for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. This preview build is provided by 505 Games.