Suikoden

Suikoden began in 1995 on PlayStation from Konami as a jRPG loosely inspired by the Chinese novel Water Margin, but instead of a single hero it placed an army of kindred spirits at the story's center - the concept of the 108 Stars of Destiny, gradually recruited and gathered at the player's own fortress, where they became merchants, blacksmiths or unit commanders. Rather than a linear good-versus-evil fight, the series built on political conflict, wars between states, and morally ambiguous characters on both sides of the barricade, including the commanders of the opposing army itself. The world was also shaped by legendary true runes, artifacts of ancient magical power that could just as easily empower their bearer as destroy them, and possessing one was often the very engine driving wars between states.

The second entry, Suikoden II from 1998, is still widely regarded as the series' peak for its intricate story of a former friend's betrayal and its consequences, and for how sensitively it tied individual characters' fates to the fate of an entire continent. Suikoden III in 2002 then attempted a bold experiment, telling the same events gradually from the perspective of several different characters, offering a deeper look at the motivations of both warring sides, though many players missed the directness of the earlier games.

The fourth entry in 2004 moved the story back centuries in time to an archipelago and replaced overland travel between kingdoms with sailing the player's own ship, a change many players felt slowed the game down. The fifth entry from 2006 returned to a focus on political intrigue within a single kingdom and tried to echo the structure of the second game, yet in the view of many fans it still never matched the bar set by Suikoden II. The series gradually drifted from its main numbered line toward smaller projects and spin-offs, such as the tactical Suikoden Tactics or the mobile Genso Suikoden Tierkreis, before largely disappearing from Konami for many years.

After a long silence, the brand returned with remasters of the first two entries and, in 2025, with the spiritual successor Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, made by creators of the original series led by Yoshitaka Murayama. The warm reception of that title showed how strongly the concept of a recruited army of heroes still resonates with players so many years later.