Do You Need to Play Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising Before Hundred Heroes?

The Suikoden series is one of the most beloved JRPG franchises of the late ’90s and early 2000s, and now, its spiritual successor, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, is set to release. So, do you need to play the side game Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising before Hundred Heroes?

Do You Need to Play Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising Before Hundred Heroes?

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising released on May 10th, 2022, and serves as both a side story and a prequel to Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. The game has you follow three protagonists – CJ, Isha, and Garoo – in their efforts to rebuild the small town of New Naveah. To do so, you’ll frequently travel to some local ruins to engage in some treasure hunting to get funds to rebuild the town.

There are some notable connections between this prequel and Hundred Heroes, mostly from the characters you’ll encounter. All three of your main protagonists in Rising will be part of the “Hundred Heroes” you can recruit in Hundred Heroes. Not only that, but other minor characters who appeared in the game will also be recruitable party members in Hundred Heroes. However, none of the cast of Rising is set to be the main characters in Hundred Heroes, and the events of Rising won’t significantly affect the plot of Hundred Heroes.

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This makes sense, given the intention of Rising. That game was developed with the goal of holding fans over while the staff at Rabbit & Bear Studio developed the main game. It was a stretch goal for the original Kickstarter campaign and is more of an action platformer than a JRPG like Hundred Heroes. There are some benefits if you have a Rising save file, such as getting some items and equipment for starting and how food and weapon names you made for your characters will transfer over, showing your impact on the world after the events of that prequel. It’s a nice little touch but an inessential one.

If you want to play Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising before playing Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, you’ll learn a lot more about the world and some of the characters that can join your party, but don’t feel that you have to as it isn’t essential to understand what’s to come.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes releases on April 23 on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and PC.