Multiple story paths converge in The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon and fans of the series will love how they do it.
I was absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to play through The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon before its official release last week.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails series has been running for a number of years now, and each in-game series tells a different story with a different group of characters. For instance, the Trails of Cold Steel games follows a different set of characters than Trails in the Sky. While all the stories are set in the same overall world, the stories don’t intersect.
Until now, that is.
While Trails Beyond the Horizon continues the story from Trails Through Daybreak II, it goes a step further by crossing over with the events of Trails of Cold Steel, bringing in Rean Schwarzer and a few of his friends from the earlier series of games. Seeing Van Arkride working with Rean Schwarzer is surreal in the best way possible and it’s just one of the things the game knocks out of the park.
For this review, I played the PS5 version of the game, alternating between Easy and Normal difficulty.
The Story
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon picks up in the wake of the events of Trails Through Daybreak II. While it initially seemed the crisis was averted, our heroes know this isn’t true and the race is on to save Zemuria from its prophesied doom. The situation is complicated by the Republic of Calvard preparing for the launch of the first manned spacecraft into orbit. With so many pieces in motion, Van and his friends have a lot of information to sort through and obstacles to overcome before time runs out.
From the opening of the game, Trails Beyond the Horizon feels like a bigger story than past entries. This feeling is cemented by the early arrival of Rean Schwarzer, the protagonist of Trails of Cold Steel I-IV, into the story. Many past story elements from previous games are recalled as the story plays out, and yet the story plays out in such a way that you never feel lost regarding who is who. That’s impressive considering how large the overall story has grown by this point.
One story detail I really like is how Trails Beyond the Horizon doles out the pieces of a mystery one drop at a time. The pieces are always just big enough to keep you wanting to play “just a little bit longer” to find out how they join together. It always feels like you, the player, are part of a much bigger story and it’s up to you to figure out just how far it all goes.
The Gameplay
In broad strokes the gameplay loop for Trails Beyond the Horizon hasn’t changed too much from Trails Through Daybreak II. The characters spend time exploring various locales to fulfill quests, advance missions, or buy supplies, while also taking on missions that require fighting their way through monsters en route to beating a boss.
That being said, some significant changes have been made to combat works. While players can still choose between various magical skills or physical attacks, there are new abilities to choose from as well. These include an ability that, once charged, briefly slows time for the enemies while the characters can wreak havoc. There is also an “Awakening” ability that can specifically super-charge Van for a limited period of time. Feel free to experiment with both, they add a whole different flavor to combat.
I’m also really enjoying the “Shard Commands” that have been added to this game. These allow the player to activate a special ability that strengthens or protects the party in a certain way. For instance, attacks might be stronger for a certain number of rounds, or damage taken might be halved for a certain number of rounds. It’s important to note that only one of these Shard Commands can be active at any given time and each has its own benefits when in use.
One benefit I found from these new abilities is that sometimes, it’s actually beneficial to use Field Battle (non-turn based combat) as opposed to Command Battle (traditional turn-based combat). Some of the abilities, especially the time slowing one, work to much greater advantage in Field Battle. Happily, if you ever find your choice isn’t working out, battle modes can be switched with the press of a button.
Side Quests are Your Friend
I am continually impressed by how much depth the side quests (dubbed ‘4SGPs’ in the game) bring to an already complex story. Technically, most of these are completely optional and the main story will not suffer if you skip them. However, you’ll be depriving yourself of a decent amount of story flavor that further fleshes out Van and his friends. Not to mention that the side quests give you the chance to earn valuable XP and level up before encountering some seriously challenging boss fights.
As I’ve come to learn over the years boss fights in the Trails series are no joke and Trails Beyond the Horizon is no exception. Do not be afraid to swap out party members as combat drags on, as different party combinations can lead to different combo moments.
While it is tempting to cruise on through the main story only, you shouldn’t miss out on the extras that can be gained by completing the side quests as they come up.
The Best Entry Yet
While I’ve yet to encounter a Trails game I didn’t like, Trails Beyond the Horizon is easily the best entry in the overall series to date. The story has grown bigger than ever, while still feeling like a peaceful escape from the madness of reality. If you haven’t jumped into the Trails series before, please give this game a chance, you won’t be sorry.
