Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars is a long-awaited remaster from a different era of JRPGS. These date back to the 90s to what I like to call the genre’s golden age. Fantastic staple RPGs such as Wild Arms, Final Fantasy, Legend of Dragoon, and many more came out to define the genre during this age of excellence.
Just walking into a game store back in the late ’90s would guarantee many fantastic picks to choose from in the genre. The trend carried on all that way deep into the 6th gen. The Gensou Suikoden series was certainly one that had this pattern from the start, all the way to the very end of both generations.
Unfortunately for JRPGs, it took a very long and depressing backseat to the aggressive shift into Western game design philosophy. This slowly led to a drought of JRPGs during the seventh console gen. The aftermarket costs for old JRPG physical copies skyrocketed into astronomical pricing. Suikoden II was one such game, causing the acquisition of one to cost as much as 200$ or more.
This is a review coupled with a supplemental video review. You can watch the video review or read the full review of the below:
Suikoden I & II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (reviewed)
Release Date: March 6, 2025
Price: $49.99
Surely that couldn’t be the only reason it was so expensive. Suikoden II happens to be one of the most coveted JRPGS to ever exist, right alongside Final Fantasy VII and Chrono Trigger.
Oftentimes, Suikoden I is left in its sequel’s shadow. While Suikoden I is still a respectable entry, starting the fantastic series, it shows its age with very strange and almost rushed design choices.
With the release of Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars, Konami has decided to bring the series back with a triumphant return, as well as hopes of correcting or streamlining both games with Quality of life and updated visuals!
Both games feature new translations, however, I did not suspect any obtuse political agenda-filled re-wording for anyone fixated on such things. It’s important to remember Suikdoden I was the first of its kind, with a lofty ambition to accommodate 108 Recruitable characters.
In many cases, it becomes very noticeable how story segments and their dialogue feel rushed. A lot of situations involve very melancholy scenes that a very effective poignant music track illustrating the severity of the scene, then nearly a second right after what feels like only two minutes of a scene with very lacking scene animations, abruptly ends.
Scenes and their tone have trouble carrying themself as they end way too quickly and lead the player to the next major plot of the story.
The story itself is that it is engaging and makes you feel the weight of Tir McDohl. After the early segments of the game working for the empire, you turn traitor to them realizing their true intentions.
From this moment onward, his role, as the “Tenkai Star” comes forward, with the sole mission of recruiting the other 107 star heroes to overthrow and put an end to the imbalance of power throughout the region.
Recruiting 108 characters is a series staple to the Genso Suikoden series. Most RPGs usually don’t have more than anywhere between four to eight party members. Usually, they end up being mandatory and pivotal to the story.
While certainly a handful of recruitable characters in Suikoden are mandatory and automatically recruited as the story progresses, the optional heroes require some backtracking, and even complete side quests and items to enlist them.
In one particular case, Sheena needs his father present at your party to assuage him to join your army. As more heroes are recruited, the more powerful your army gets especially when it comes to the several war battles that take place throughout the story.
One very important thing to note about recruiting the characters is that some of them are completely missable if certain things aren’t done in time before you travel too far into the main storyline.
Planning your actions poorly in the war battle segments… can cause recruited characters to die permanently. It is strongly advised to have a character recruitment guide handy for those who are completionists, otherwise it might result in having to start the game from the beginning. There is no new game plus. Players must get it right the first time!
While virtually everything about the game remains intact, several bells and whistles were added to assist modern gamers with some of its pacing. Being able to move in eight directions with newly added diagonal sprites was a very nice surprise. It is now possible to fast-forward battles with the single press of a button in combat.
Fast-forwarding battles made grinding much more efficient and traveling through dungeons a tad less tiring since the random battles would end quicker. Regretfully, in both games speeding affects the sound and music too, breaking the immersion of the game. Dragon Quest VIII on the 3Ds managed to do this correctly with its fast-forward feature, there is no excuse for it being an oversight here.
Combat is traditional turn-based gameplay, featuring a whooping six characters! For those familiar with our Eiyuden Chronicles review, a lot of that translates almost one-for-one here, except that unite attacks, require no resource, and can be used over and over with impunity.
The rune system to cast spells and other actions is usually your only other option to use aside from regular attacking and equipped consumables. Sadly, in Suikoden I, you may only set one rune orb per character. Some characters have a unique orb permanently set to them preventing any chance of tinkering for them.
In Suikoden II, players will quickly realize a much-improved game in nearly every possible aspect of its design. The character and battle sprites are far more detailed in their pixel art glory, and they have much more life as well, such as idle battle stances.
The rune system is also vastly improved allowing the assigning of up to 3 runes instead of two, allowing for a level of tinkering and customization. Past that, the combat remains mostly the same.
But the addition of their sprites having idol animations certainly does add to the spectacle. The pacing and scene direction were almost improved greatly with more time spent on them, letting the proper emotions flesh out to the player.
The opening throws both heroes, Riou and Jowy right into the heart of the disaster, leading them to defect to the other side. The pacing doesn’t waste the player’s time one bit in Suikoden II and manages to keep the player fully engaged from start to finish.
It’s even possible to recruit some of the 108 stars within the first hour of the game with a few side quests scattered around the first region, letting you build your roster for some party composition tinkering.
Many characters are outright better than others but it’s always fun building novelty parties as it might lead to newly discovered enjoyment seeing less used heroes, as they usually tend to have amusing unite attacks and runes.
After having completed both Suikoden I & II for another time after many years, with the extra quality life features added here, it made me feel sad thinking about how little JRPGs have come since the PSX era.
The late 90s to early 2000s truly was the golden age of the genre, and replaying these two games has made me feel like there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done to course correct.
Developers today should take a moment to come back to these masterpieces and figure out what went wrong with their direction as the material to make pure art has always been here for decades. Optional characters should not be frowned upon, as well as a focus on steering from the path taken itself. Stories don’t always have to take place in high school or need to kill permanent party members for shock value.
The Suikoden games often go out of their way to do these things, and that’s the kind of grit I miss from the genre. This is a fantastic remaster for Suikoden I and II, which are two of the greatest JRPGs ever made. The stars shine bright in this franchise, and I hope to see Suikoden III make a return now after this incredible change of events.
Suikoden I & II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars was reviewed on a PlayStation 5 using a code provided by Konami. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Suikoden I & II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars is now available for PC (via Steam), Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.