Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Switch Review: Nostalgia At Too High A Price

, developed by Rabbit & Bear Studios and published by 505 Games, is a game that knows what it wants to do. A love letter to the series with the promise of more modern technology to produce it (even while deliberately sticking to the same familiar aesthetics and systems) sounds good on paper — in execution, however, it's a lot more of a mixed bag, with some downright maddening or baffling decisions that hamper an otherwise decent game.

is developed by a team of people who are pretty familiar with the genre — director Yoshitaka Murayama is the creator of, after all. The Kickstarter campaign for the game dramatically exceeded its $500,000 goal and ended up with over $4.5 million in backing. A few delays later and the game has finally arrived in 2024 with the weighty expectations that come with a collaboration featuring one of the pioneers of a beloved franchise and a huge swath of people already invested in its success — literally — due to their help funding it.

needs much more time in development to reach its potential, especially on Switch.

is set within the world of Allraan, where hero Nowa emerges from a backwoods village as a would-be savior in a complex political environment that consistently grapples with some big questions. That said, all of this unfolds much later than the introductory hours of the game, which drag on and raise some questions about its writing quality that are only answered further into Nowa's journey. The first dungeon and its introduction to other characters like Seign is almost painful in its generic approach, and the party acts like they've known each other for ages in spite of their recent introductions.

For all the faults of its first few hours, the eventual sprawling tale of does an excellent job of both keeping Nowa just in the spotlight enough to anchor the journey around someone while also raising up countless other characters as memorable heroes. Meeting the over 100 potential recruits during a playthrough is consistently the