This past November, we got an inside look into The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II, which looks to be a great follow up to the amazing turn-based RPG fans finally got to play in July. The story is going in an intriguing direction as the “Crimson Grendel” reeks havoc across Edith, and the Daybreak combat system is also improved with a number of new features and quality of life touches. Thanks to NIS America, Final Weapon was able to learn more about Trails through Daybreak II and the new Märchen Garten dungeon, which takes some cues from the True Reverie Corridor found in Trails into Reverie.
Similarly to the Reverie Corridor, the Märchen Garten exists in a separate virtual space that can be explored outside of the game world, Calvard, and the main story. In the dungeon, players to challenge randomized floors, discover loot, and take down enemies and bosses to make the party stronger. You can access the Märchen Garten after making sufficient story progress and enter it by interacting with small stations on the map, similar to save and rest stations. Although the Märchen Garten is optional content, it’s quite substantial, and Trails fans will certainly want to progress to the very end.
The Märchen Garten Brings Reverie Vibes to The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II
The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II gives you a roster of over 15 characters to build a party with in the Märchen Garten. Arkride Solutions is back with the sole exception of Bergard Zeman, and there’s bound to be a story-related reason for why he isn’t here. However, you can expect some returning faces, such as Celis and Leon from Trails through Daybreak, Swin and Nadia from Trails into Reverie, and even Renne Bright herself. They’re all playable, so you can expect to build some dream teams later on into the story.
The Märchen Garten spans many randomized floors and distinct areas, and you can expect some otherworldly scenery here. You will also get objectives to complete along the way, such as slaying a certain amount of enemies or a boss to move onto the next area. It’s very familiar to the True Reverie Corridor, but you can access each individual area from an area select screen this time around. This menu also lets you rearrange your party, access the main menu, and browse some of the enemies and rewards.
I didn’t get too much time to observe the Märchen Garten during the preview, but I can already tell that I’m going to spend a lot of time grinding here with all the party members. Much like the True Reverie Corridor, the Märchen Garten will be a time sink, but it’s a welcomed one that will be rewarding. In fact, there’s post-game floors, story content and two more playable characters after clearing the main story, so there are major incentives to come back and keep playing.







New Ways to Strengthen The Party
Trails through Daybreak II introduces some new features that allow you to make the party much stronger. Firstly, you can use shard tokens earned by exploring Calvard and Märchen Garten on Mystic Cubes, which are analyzed by Mare to award you with new and better equipment, new costumes, helpful items, and other useful materials.
There are also items that can be used to upgrade Crafts and S-Crafts in the Craft Enhance menu. The upgrades will improve the Craft power, stun values, and other parameters. The amount of time needed before a character can act again after using a Craft can also be reduced, making it more optimal.
Strengthening your Crafts can also provides stat buffs, such as better accuracy and higher max HP. You gain access to more upgrades as you level characters to levels 25 and 50, so there’s plenty of Craft enhancements to be made going into the end-game, considering there are so many playable characters this time.
Mini-Games Make a Comeback
Besides the Märchen Garten, Trails through Daybreak II has several mini-games, including some that were missing from Trails through Daybreak. Fishing is finally back and it’s the most refined its every been. You can still visit certain fishing spots to catch fish you need for your records, but they appear much more in abundance at each spot.
You can also track the probability of catching a fish with specific bait, including those you haven’t caught and logged yet. The fishing mini-game mechanics are slightly different as well, requiring you to move the rod in a specific direction and press the reel button at the right time until that catch is yours.
What’s more, there’s a new Hacking mini-game where you guide Mare through a virtual maze while opening doors, inputting codes via button prompts, and avoiding obstacles. In the preview, we saw this mini-game play out in an optional trial from Marduk Support, but I definitely expect Hacking to show up in the main story.
Card games are back in the form of Seven Hearts, which is basically the Trails version of UNO using elemental cards. Up to four participants can play Seven Hearts, including the player as Van and three CPU opponents taking over for members of Arkride Solutions. If Vantage Masters served as a blueprint for this style of mini-game, I expect a ton of opponents to show up.
Trails through Daybreak II also has a 1-on-1 basketball mini-game and a balloon-collecting mini-game featuring Quatre’s trusty companion, FIO. It’s safe to say this game is going to have a lot of side content to enjoy, and that should excite Trails fans that enjoyed the variety of mini-games that Trails into Reverie brought.



Trails through Daybreak II Aims to be a Robust Package
Trails through Daybreak II is shaping up to be a really fun RPG packed with content that will keep me engaged for many hours to come, especially in the Märchen Garten. Going off the beaten path, completing side quests, and seeing all there is to see in Trails games can be very rewarding, and I expect the same in Trails through Daybreak II. I also appreciate the new features, including Craft enhancements, as it’s going to make an already great combat system from Trails through Daybreak even better.
Fortunately, the wait to actually try out Trails through Daybreak II before its worldwide launch is almost over. Two demos for Trails through Daybreak II will be available exclusively on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 starting January 24. The story demo features the start of the game to the beginning of Chapter 1, with save data carrying over to the full game.
The second demo focuses on gameplay with two floors of the Märchen Garten being available with two pre-selected parties. Save data from this demo doesn’t carry over, but it should give us some valuable hands-on time with what this huge dungeon brings to the table.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II launches on February 14 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store in the west.