Another Eden is a spiritual successor to Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross with some members of the original team (like Masato Kato and Yasunori Mitsuda) onboard, a love letter to jRPGs of the 90s with a modern feel.

The game itself is massive and is similar in scope to live-service MMOs, except Another Eden is a purely single-player 2.5D jRPG. New story content for it is still being released on a regular basis, expanding it even more with each new update.



The gameplay here is of a classic turn-based jRPG with random encounters and limit breaks (called Another Force here). The biggest difference from the classics is that this game has gacha mechanics for acquiring additional characters, each of which has their own set of story quests. The amount of stones for pulls the game gives its players is pretty generous though, the pulls contain only characters and nothing else, and newer banners always provide a small chance to obtain any of the characters featured in the past. Additional styles or class upgrades for owned characters can be unlocked through farming certain in-game resources instead of pulling for them, and the characters that can be unlocked as rewards for story progression can be quite powerful as well, especially the ones from 'Tales of', 'Persona 5' and 'Chrono Cross' collaborations. Unlike character banners, story and crossover events don't expire (except for the Chrono Cross one, which has a 5-year license, but hopefully they'll be able to extend it).
Overall, the gacha mechanics here are not as annoying as in other gacha games, though unlucky pulls can still be quite frustrating at times.

Another gameplay feature that makes this game stand out from other jRPGs is its heavy focus on buffs and debuffs. During its harder boss fights the game becomes akin to chess with strategic moves and countermoves planned for a few turns in advance in the battle of the opposite elements using specifically tailored equipment. This can sometimes bring previously unused characters into battle, as many of them have their own unique set of buffs and debuffs for a specific element that can be essential in particular fights.

Due to the constant stream of more powerful characters emerging through gacha it is pretty hard for the developers to keep the older content's difficulty balanced, but there is content for regular players (such as the main story quest or episodes) as well as optional content that can challenge even the strongest character teams.

There are various other things to do in the game, like crafting, running "another dungeons", fishing, performing in theater etc. Completionists may find some of those side activities to be rather grindy, but the game's variety never fails to impress.



The story feels like a mix of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, ranging from silly and light-hearted to serious and heavily emotional, and like the rest of the game it is very character-driven. Those who enjoy Kato's works will feel right at home. In addition to the main story that revolves around time travel there's a bunch of side episodes set in various eras. These additional stories often provide a refreshing shift in narrative thanks to Takeru Sakurada's engaging writing that creates a different and unique feel for each of the episodes he writes for.

While Another Eden's story already contained some references and allusions to the Chrono series, the collaboration with Chrono Cross (also written by Masato Kato) makes the tie-in official.



The soundtrack is incredible, one of the best in the genre, and it currently spans across 11 (!) CDs. Various composers that worked on this game created some truly amazing pieces in many different styles. This is my nominee for Best Soundtrack for The Steam Awards 2021.

The game has occasional voice acting, most of which happens in the form of battle shouts and character introductions (with a few exceptions), but it is possible to switch between English and Japanese voices.



The game looks surprisingly good for a 2.5D title, with nice animations, beautiful backgrounds and gorgeous character arts. The subtle use of 3D elements here makes everything seem almost purely 2D, but once characters move towards or away from the screen the 3D effect becomes noticeable and it looks quite impressive.



This game was originally made for mobile phones and touch screens, and it shows. While it is more convenient to play it on a PC with a big screen, this version still leaves a lot to be desired. Every time the update is released or the account is transferred the game deletes and redownloads 8.5 GB of data on PC (which takes ages), while it's only around 150 MB on my phone taking less than a minute. There are certain crashes here and there. Performance is decent but could've been better, especially in terms of responsiveness. An SSD might help mitigate this to some degree. That being said, developers are actively working on bug and performance fixes, so the state of the port improves at a steady rate.

Mobile versions also have daily ads that provide additional stones for pulls while the PC port does not, and the recently introduced paid subscriptions can only be activated through a phone as well. It is possible to transfer account between platforms, however, and subscriptions work fine on PC once activated. Still, it would be much better to keep both platforms synced without having to go through the account transfer process every time.



Another Eden is undoubtedly a labor of love. It doesn't use any predatory tactics to empty your wallet with its gacha mechanics, nor does it advertise or nag you about any of its paid features, as the main focus here is to provide great gameplay experience. For a free-to-play title everything here is fairly balanced. It's possible to play it like any other jRPG, gathering stones as rewards for story progression and using them to get more characters from pulls.

It still surprises me how the game of this magnitude and talent is not so well-known still. I recommend anyone who loves classic jRPGs and especially fans of the Chrono series to try this game out. Just keep in mind that currently the PC port may not be the best way to experience it.