Falcom’s Trails series is praised for its impressive storytelling, worldbuilding, and memorable cast of characters, interwoven across various games and story arcs. There are so many games and worthwhile experiences to be had with Trails, especially when the paths of various characters converge for impactful moments, à la Trails into Reverie. After two games in the Calvard saga, it’s time for another gathering of heroes in the latest entry in the series, with The Legend of Heroes: Trails beyond the Horizon, a game that moved me in ways I truly wasn’t expecting in this review. Though the game’s Japanese title, The Legend of Heroes: Kai no Kiseki -Farewell, O Zemuria-, was a clear enough indication that the series was going to change in a massive way.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails beyond the Horizon is Falcom’s current magnum opus, a title that is so crazy and thematically complete that I had trouble trying to find something to dislike about it. This is unequivocally one of the best games I’ve ever played from various aspects, including the main story, side content, gameplay, and even music and sound design. Trails beyond the Horizon is a game that rewards its fandom for the many years of support, while delivering emotional payoffs and deep-rooted cuts that make Trails what it is.
Spoiler warning: this review will contain some spoilers for various Trails games, as there’s important context to discuss about Trails beyond the Horizon.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails beyond the Horizon Doesn’t Pull Punches With its Story
The story of Trails beyond the Horizon centers on Van Arkride and the members of Arkride Solutions as Project Startaker, the Calvard government’s plan to send humanity into space, ramps up in the Ishgal Mountains. The end of Zemuria is prophesized for the year “120X” of the Septian Calendar, so there’s a clear sense of urgency and high stakes throughout the story. In the background, Ouroboros, the series’ antagonistic force, is finally making its move in Calvard as the agreement between President Roy Gramheart and the society is coming to an end. Ouroboros’ long-teased “Eternal Recurrence Plan” is central to the plot, so those who’ve been playing and waiting since the end of Trails of Cold Steel IV will get some big answers to questions they’ve had for years now.
Meanwhile, Rean Schwarzer, Crow Armbrust, and other members of Class VII are in Calvard on an “official invite,” and Kevin Graham, the protagonist of Trails in the Sky the 3rd, is finally back with a mission of his own alongside members of the Picnicking Front. Their paths meet during a training exercise at the VAR-halla Sector in Ored State, marking the start of the game’s incredible Prologue chapter. The Prologue does an amazing job hyping up returning characters and setting up the motivations and goals of each route, while providing an in-depth but timely rundown of Trails beyond the Horizon’s improved combat system.
Structure-wise, Trails beyond the Horizon borrows major elements from Trails into Reverie, including the route select feature. Van, Rean, and Kevin’s story paths are all jam-packed with content, though Van’s route has the most content since he’s the main protagonist of the Calvard arc. Nonetheless, these routes reveal major implications about the continent of Zemuria, Ouroboros, and the Trails series up to this point, so it’s highly recommended to be completely caught up before starting. At times, I was left flabbergasted by how precisely certain story elements line up with previous games, since Trails beyond the Horizon recontextualizes key events in ways I couldn’t have ever imagined. If you aren’t caught up, you may miss out on how some pieces of the puzzle really connect.
In its entirety, the story of Trails beyond the Horizon is incredibly well-paced and hits extremely hard. There are moments of downtime and reflection during certain segments of the routes, but each hour of the game feels worthwhile and eventful as you explore Calvard and its key locations, take on 4SPGs, and uncover rewards and secrets along the way. The lore reveals and surprising encounters build up anticipation and a sense of crisis as main story events unfold. I’d argue that thematically, Trails beyond the Horizon may be one of the best games in the series, if not the best. The story is bolstered by some of the best music that Falcom Sound Team jdk has ever produced, with all-new tracks and even a few remixes and inspired pieces from previous games. From the main menu to the final boss theme, you feel the gravity and emotion of this game and its story.
The supporting cast of characters for each protagonist has plenty of time to shine as well, thanks to several Connection Events. Connection Events are very engaging and well-written, with each providing insight into character relationships and sentiments around relevant points in the story. Even though it’s optional content, I found Connection Events to be very insightful into each character and were quite enjoyable, and in many cases, I think viewing these pieces of content is required to get a full grasp of just how much these characters have grown in this climactic segment of the current story arc. I also thought the side quests in each route were especially great in this game, and some of them stuck with me for a while after I finished playing. The Law, Chaos, and Grey alignment system is also back to judge your decisions in side quests, but it doesn’t have a big effect on the story itself (and it shouldn’t at this point).
This is all to say that Trails beyond the Horizon has an amazing narrative that I struggle to find flaws in. The game not only shows how Rean and Kevin have grown in the years following their previous appearances in the series, but it fleshes out Van as a more developed character, thanks to his experiences with Arkride Solutions. The character development from beginning to end is absolutely superb, and this game is a reminder that long-form storytelling can bring some of the most emotional experiences in gaming. Trails beyond the Horizon also addresses some of the franchise’s enigmas and mysteries while alluding to so much more. The reveals and peaks of this game are hard-hitting to say the least. If you’re invested in the Trails story, you will feel strong emotions playing this game, more than likely.
An Evolved Blend of Action and Turn-Based Combat
Story aside, Trails beyond the Horizon has the best combat system in the series yet, without a doubt. Falcom made many quality-of-life improvements and fine-tuned the overall gameplay balance while introducing a slew of new features. Field Battles are more engaging to play, and characters have more powerful and satisfying combo strings. The stun gauge and EX Actions are back from Daybreak II, so at its core, Trails beyond the Horizon plays similarly to its predecessor, but the new elements make a big difference when put together.
The new Awakening mechanic lets players use the Boost gauge to enter a powered-up state in Field Battles, allowing you to deal massive damage in a short duration and forgo Command Battles when you don’t need to grind or level up. In the case of Van Arkride, he will immediately transform into the Grendel when Awakening is activated. In such a form, it’s seriously easy to stun enemies and enter turn-based Command Battles at your discretion.
This is in addition to the existing Quick Arts mechanic from the Daybreak games, which allow you to shoot off a magic Art immediately on the field. With these tools at your disposal, Field Battles actually feel viable for a great portion of the game and make the gameplay loop feel just right. In Daybreak, it was clear that Field Battles were limited since it was Falcom’s first foray with the combat system that they would become standard for the Trails series going forward. Now, Field Battles feel fully realized in Trails beyond the Horizon, but I definitely think Falcom could make even further improvements going forward.
The Orbment system is back with a vast assortment of Quartz to equip, each with useful abilities, stat bonuses, and Shard Skills—special modifiers that activate when party members are in proximity and automatically linked in a SCLM Chain. Once more, Shard Skills are activated in Command Battles, and they’re especially potent in this game. With the right Quartz setup, characters will be seriously powerful and activate stat boosts on each turn. At one point, Van was getting attack and defense boosts nearly every turn in my playthrough, and at low health, every single stat would get a considerable boost in battle, thanks to one of the Shard Skills that can be activated in the endgame.
Another new combat mechanic is Z.O.C, which freezes time momentarily in order to get the jump on enemies in Field Battles. In Command Battles, Z.O.C is activated by using the returning S-Boost mechanic, which has been reworked for Trails beyond the Horizon. Each character can boost up to two times, with the first boost greatly boosting the Shard Skill activation rate and allowing for S-Crafts, and the second boost activating Z.O.C and granting an immediate extra turn for that character.
Trails beyond the Horizon gives you so many options when it comes to combat, especially with the big roster of characters. Trails into Reverie’s Brave Orders are now back in the form of Shard Commands, which use the S-Boost meter. In practice, it’s essentially the same as Brave Orders, so you’ll be getting those damage and recovery boosts and additional modifiers when activated. Just like Brave Orders, enemy characters can also use Shard Commands in battle, so there’s also an extra layer of challenge if you’re playing on a higher difficulty past Normal.
Another new element introduced with Trails beyond the Horizon is the BLTZ system. During Command Battles, BLTZ may appear as an AT Bonus on your turn. Performing normal attacks, Crafts, or Arts with BLTZ active will prompt a BLTZ Chain or BLTZ Support move. BLTZ Chain is a follow attack from a character linked with SCLM Chain, while BLTZ Support is an effectiveness boost from said character for Crafts and Arts. Despite how often BLTZ appears, I don’t think it’s really overpowered, and it’s a useful tool that still requires some strategy to make the most out of. Enemies can be very powerful on higher difficulties, after all.
In totality, Trails beyond the Horizon’s combat system is near perfect, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s the best of Trails into Reverie and Daybreak II’s combat systems in one cohesive system. If you want an immediate taste of combat, the Story and Battle demos for Trails beyond the Horizon get the point across real quickly. From feel to functionality, the combat is stellar and rewards you for understanding Shard Skills, Quartz, and positioning. There was not a single moment where Trails beyond the Horizon frustrated me with combat, and I grinded hours and hours in the Grim Garten to 100% the game, too.
Grim Garten Assembles the Dream Team Once More
Trails has been experimenting with the Reverie Corridor repeatable dungeon concept for multiple games now, and it’s just as great and fun to play and explore in Trails beyond the Horizon. This time, the Märchen Garten from Daybreak II has been taken over by Ouroboros and turned into the Grim Garten to reflect their schemes. Like in Reverie, you can put together a custom party and take on randomized floors across various Domains. Floor to floor progression is essentially unchanged from the Märchen Garten, but the game board layout of the Grim Garten Domains mimic a tabletop RPG. The player can move their team’s character avatar will move across the board, turn by turn on the tiles, and reach the Domain boss, which is typically a powered up beast or Ouroboros member. Depending on the tiles, you can get loot and big power-ups ahead of the Domain boss, and you can easily exit and retry each Domain to get a more favorable layout, which I strongly appreciate.
Although the Grim Garten is regarded as optional side content, I highly and undoubtedly recommend that you progress the Grim Garten during every route segment. Grim Garten features content that is very relevant to the main story and contains some big reveals involving Ouroboros and the world of Zemuria, especially as you make progress toward the final Domain. The game also warns you that you could miss out on specific scenes in the Grim Garten if you don’t progress it during the routes, and honestly, it’s a sound warning, considering what goes down in the dungeon. You’ll get calls from Altina regarding when a new Domain in the Grim Garten opens, so it’s easy to keep track of.
In addition to the Domains, Grim Garten has a slew of bonus content, including poker and blackjack mini-games with Jack and Halle, Grim Arena challenge battles, and extra fishing areas. The Slab of Reminiscence from Reverie is also back as the Reminiscence Pedestal, allowing players to read up on lore collected in the Grim Garten in the form of Memento Orbs. These items unlock recordings of past events that happened throughout the Trails series to give more context into certain events, such as the Battle of Jormungandr. It’s incredibly intriguing and insightful.
As you play Trails beyond the Horizon, you’ll collect Grim Tokens, which can be used to decrypt Grimoires through Grimoire Decryption, just like Shard Tokens were used to open Mystic Cubes in Daybreak II. This time around, it’s a lot less tedious since you don’t have to press and hold down a button for minutes at a time to get rewards. Instead, it works like the Unsealing Pedestal in Reverie where you unlock multiple rewards at a time with a single press of a button. You can also scale up the amount of rewards you receive at once and skip through the draw animation entirely. These seem like minor changes, but it makes of a world of a difference coming from Daybreak II.
I was more than satisfied with Grim Garten’s offerings in Trails beyond the Horizon. Personally, I would have wanted a few more Mementos to view in the Reminiscence Pedestal, but that’s because I’m so invested in the lore of Trails at this point. Trails beyond the Horizon is such a massive lore dump of a game, so I don’t blame Falcom for holding some things back. In all, the Grim Garten is an excellent content suite that caters to longtime Trails fans, and I can definitely see some fans preferring it over the Reverie Corridor.
The Switch 2 Version has Excellent Performance
Confidently, I can say Trails beyond the Horizon is one of the best RPGs on Switch 2 right now both in content and performance after spending nearly 130 hours in the game for this review. The Switch 2 version was a real blast and I didn’t have any real qualms when it came to performance. Out of the box, Trails beyond the Horizon defaulted to a “Variable” performance mode, which hits 60 FPS locked in docked and up to 120 FPS in handheld mode to take advantage of the 120Hz screen. There’s also a locked 30 FPS mode for those wanting more graphical fidelity and clarity, but I enjoy the higher frame rate and smoothness of the game with the Variable setting in both handheld and docked modes. The image quality looks really great in both modes, regardless.
I previously played Daybreak II on PS5, and the switch (pun intended) to the Switch 2 version of Trails beyond the Horizon felt natural without any perceived drawbacks, in my eyes at least. The rendered resolution might be lower on Switch 2, but I’m having a very hard time picking out imperfections or oddities. Scene to scene and battle to battle, Trails beyond the Horizon is looking and feeling great to play on Switch 2, and it’s quite a leap forward compared to the Switch 1 ports of Cold Steel III and IV. The performance is so consistent, and I definitely see myself playing future Trails games exclusively on Switch 2 if Trails beyond the Horizon’s performance is a good indicator.
Trails beyond the Horizon is a Well-Paced, Content-Rich Masterpiece
I could go on and on about Trails beyond the Horizon, especially with the side quests and main story, but really, I think I’ve made my point clear. Trails beyond the Horizon is a modern-day masterpiece of a RPG. The story was amazing and well-paced, and certain moments in the game moved me, hyped me up, and even put me in a state of disbelief at times. I couldn’t believe the ending to Trails beyond the Horizon, and that’s due to the journey through all these Trails games—most recently Reverie and the Daybreak games—that lead up to the moments I experienced here. The game manages to recontextualize and expand upon concepts and lore from past games in some shocking and rather clever ways.
From story to gameplay and character development to the original soundtrack, Trails beyond the Horizon doesn’t miss at all. The gameplay systems, along with the visuals and production quality, are the best in the series without question. Trails beyond the Horizon is the definition of a labor of love, and Falcom stepped up big time in so many regards. This game elevates the series standard, and while it answers a lot of questions about the Trails series, it opens the doors to so many others that I cannot wait to get answers for. The Trails series is heading in the right direction, and I’m so excited for more. Trails beyond the Horizon is the turning point, and I can only imagine it’s going to get real crazy from here on out.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails beyond the Horizon launches on January 15 for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG.
Disclaimer: NIS America provided a Nintendo Switch 2 review copy of The Legend of Heroes: Trails beyond the Horizon for review purposes.
