The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon review | TheSixthAxis
The Legend of Heroes series has been an absolute rollercoaster for me for the last few years. As much as I love the idea of the franchise, the deeply interconnected nature of it all got way too daunting and exhausting for me. The fresh start of The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak in 2023 was exactly what I needed, but a year later, its sequel came out and promptly fell right back into the frustrating trappings of requiring you to play a half-dozen other 100-hour JRPGs in order to understand its wildly inconsistent story. Then, last year, an even fresher start was released with the highly anticipated remake Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter. I loved my time with that game, and I’m really excited to continue following that saga with its next entry. The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon isn’t that entry, and while it is one of the most mechanically dense and fun games in the franchise, it’s another title that feels like the RPG equivalent of Avengers: Infinity War.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon puts you in the shoes of three different protagonists, as well as their three different crews of comrades and companions. These aren’t entirely new heroes who you’ll grow alongside, though – they’re the main characters of three different eras of the various arcs in this series, and you’re expected to know their history to understand what they’re doing now. There’s Van Arkride from the Trails through Daybreak duology, Rean Schwarzer from the numerous Trails of Cold Steel entries, and Kevin Graham returning all the way from Trails in the Sky the 3rd (a game we’ll likely end up seeing a big-budget remake of in just a few years).
A large majority of the 70ish hour campaign follows Van Arkride specifically, which I appreciated as someone who played both of his games, barely remembers Rean Schwarzers’ games, and barely ever played Kevin Graham’s starring entry. It feels good to have Van continue to carry the leading-man mantle for this entry, even if it doesn’t have the word Daybreak in the title – and it’s really satisfying to see him bounce off of so many new characters and get wrapped up in a world that feels so much larger than where he started.
All three characters are caught in a web of cascading mysteries and conspiracies stemming from Project Startaker – an initiative being spun up by the nation of Calvard that aims to send humanity to space for the first time ever. It’s kind of silly, realizing that it’s taken this long for something as simple as manned spaceflight to happen in a universe where arguably every other trope in JRPG history has occured by this point. Despite being the character I was probably the least excited to follow, Rean’s story ended up being the most interesting one of them all. It’s really cool seeing him focus on digging into the secretive truth of Project Startaker, and unraveling the layers of conspiracy behind it during his sections had me gripped.
Kevin’s story sees him becoming a “Heretic Hunter” and grappling with the morality of who he’s being tasked to hunt – it’s interesting on paper, but I got the vibe that it would have landed a lot harder with me if I knew more about him going into this game. Van’s story, which is much longer than the other two characters, spends a lot of time either slowly building up to big moments or simply idling around in fun, but ultimately inconsequential smaller adventures. All three stories end up colliding into each other in a really, really awesome way, though. Even without the full context or attachment from previous games that made the journey to get to that ending feel a little underwhelming, the conclusion to this game is big and fun and impossible not to get at least a little excited about.
Narrative shortcomings aside, The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon is easily the most jam-packed game in the series in terms of combat systems, mini-games, and modes. When it comes to combat, some of the additions are pretty minor but still appreciated improvements. Like the ZOC mechanic that lets you steal enemy turn bonuses on the attack order timeline in turn-based battles. Or BLTZ, a new bonus ability that basically allows back-row party members to more actively support front-row party members during their turns in battle. My favourite is probably Awakening – it lets Rean, Van, and Kevin activate special powered-up modes that give them enhanced attacks and damage during real-time combat. I’m a sucker for the real-time combat in the latest Trails games, so having more features to play with in that mode is a blast.
I loved the Reverie Corridor from Trails into Reverie and the Märchen Garten from The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II, so I was happy to see those modes expanded upon with the Grim Garten in this entry. Like the previous two named modes, it’s a roguelike-inspired mode that sees you diving into randomised sets of dungeons and battles, gathering set item rewards and even gacha-style prizes as you successfully finish runs. I think there’s a secret sauce to the idea of a roguelike JRPG dungeon crawler, and I almost wish that we could get an entire game built around this concept. To me, it’s a really fresh and rewarding way to frame the idea of repeated dungeon crawls that would otherwise feel repetitive and bland compared to the usual open exploration the series is known for.
Despite a narrative that struggles to shine from beneath a dense layer of established franchise lore, I had a great time playing The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon. It may not be the right follow-up to Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter in terms of how engaging and understandable the story is, but it is absolutely a worthy follow-up when it comes to how fun it is, how dense the combat is, and how rich the world is with interactivity and unlockables.
