Suikoden spiritual successor Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes launched a Kickstarter campaign this week that's so popular it actually crashed the website on its first day. The Suikoden series is a beloved RPG franchise that had several popular titles on the PlayStation and PS2 but hasn’t had a mainline release since 2006. The last Suikoden game was a spin-off released for the PSP in 2012 that only ever came out in Japan.
Despite not having a main series release in nearly 15 years, Suikoden still has lots of diehard fans who consider it one of the best RPG series ever. Suikoden had a lot going for it, from its great 2D art to its engaging battle system, but what really made it stand out was its fascinating and original story. The Suikoden series told complex stories about war and politics while still delving into relationships between its massive cast of characters. In Suikoden, players could recruit 108 different characters to their side, most of which could join in battles once they joined the heroes’ side. Eiyuden Chronicle will have at least 100 characters.
Eiyuden Chronicle isn’t officially a Suikoden game - Konami still owns the license to the series - but it’s being made by several developers who worked on the Suikoden series. That alone was enough to get the game’s Kickstarter campaign a lot of attention, even before considering a set of stretch goals that include console versions for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and whatever Nintendo’s current console is at the time of release. Interest was so high that it passed its $500,000 funding goal and $1 million console release stretch goal within a day, but not without some trouble. As developer Rabbit & Bear Studios confirmed in a campaign update, Eiyuden Chronicle brought so much traffic to Kickstarter that it crashed the site multiple times, leading Kickstarter to extend the campaign an extra day to make up for it.
Crowdfunding campaigns for big-budget games can be risky, and players aren’t always willing to give even projects they believe in the benefit of the doubt. There’s good reason to be skeptical after debacles like Star Citizen and Mighty No. 9, but there are plenty of success stories as well. Eiyuden Chronicle has already raised its goal several times over, but it will still face the same issues of scope, time, and budget that any game does to hit its projected 2022 release.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is already an exciting game for anyone who ever enjoyed a Suikoden title, but it’s worth checking out for any RPG fan. Any game that’s popular enough to bring down Kickstarter clearly has something interesting going on.