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| Title | The Legend of Heroes: Trails beyond the Horizon |
| Developer | Nihon Falcom Corporation |
| Publisher | NIS America, Inc. |
| Release Date | January 15th, 2026 |
| Genre | RPG |
| Platform | PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC (Steam, GOG, EGS) |
| Age Rating | ESRB – T for Teen |
| Official Website | |
The Legend of Heroes: Trails beyond the Horizon continues the Calvard arc and comes off the heels of one of the weaker titles in Trails history. Trails through Daybreak II improved upon the gameplay of the first Trails through Daybreak, but it was unfortunately hampered by a head scratching story. Despite my gripes with Daybreak II, I did look forward to Trails beyond the Horizon as it looked like it would finally address events teased in past Trails games. I was also curious to see if this game would answer unsolved mysteries posed in the two Trails through Daybreak games. Not only that, two former protagonists make their return in Trails beyond the Horizon, Kevin Graham and Rean Schwarzer. I was interested in seeing how these two characters developed since the last time we saw them, how much different they looked since their last in-game appearance, and how Falcom would adapt their fighting styles to the hybrid combat system. I especially looked forward to seeing Kevin Graham since his last playable appearance in a mainline title was all the way back in The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd. Was Trails beyond the Horizon able to reinvigorate the Calvard arc, or did it continue the steady decline started by its predecessor?
The Legend of Heroes: Trails beyond the Horizon takes place a couple months after the events of The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II. Van and select members of Arkride Solutions are invited to Marduk HQ to take part in a special test. Here, he runs into both familiar and new faces including the wandering priest, Kevin Graham, and Thors Military Academy instructor, Rean Schwarzer. After the trial, all gathered persons bear witness to the surprise second rocket launch of President Gramheart’s ambitious project, Project Startaker. Van quickly returns to Edith predicting an influx of 4SPGs and possible other events occurring due to the sudden rocket launch. Rean heads to a different part of Calvard on invitation from the Calvardian government. Meanwhile, Kevin departs to an unknown destination with an infamous individual and a young girl in tow to fulfill a certain mission. How will the stories of these three heroes unfold, and how will each path relate to the mysterious Project Startaker?
The story in Trails beyond the Horizon is quite long, but despite its length, it is executed well. It starts off slow, but as events started to play out and more revelations came to light, I found myself getting hooked all the way to an unforgettable final act. It successfully solved the mysteries brought up in Trails through Daybreak and Daybreak II while also setting up conflicts and mysteries for the future. The game also implemented a Timely Terms system. By pressing the indicated shortcut buttons, you can bring up a number of terms relevant to the current story scene. Pressing on any of the terms will bring you to its relevant section in the Archives, and I felt this helpful when I needed a refresher on certain topics. The story is told through three different routes, each with their own hero and set of party members, and different conflicts. I found it interesting seeing how each group reacted to events that unfolded, how they worked to overcome crises, and how these three routes would connect and the revelations they brought to the table. Despite being able to meet up over the course of the game, I appreciated how each group didn’t step on each other’s toes or influence each other’s actions. They each stayed in their respective lanes. Each route gives you a different piece of the puzzle, and once it comes together, it makes for a compelling story.
Despite my praise for the story, I do have some complaints to lodge. First off is a given for a later Trails game, it’s that the story is unforgiving to newcomers. There are so many references to past Trails games that anyone who, for some reason, tries to play this game first will be lost. Second, the way certain characters acted, frustrated me at certain points due to events that occurred in past Trails games. One seemed like they regressed in development rather than progressed, and another seemed to go against something they previously preached. Though, I admit, this could be attributed to the unique circumstances faced in this game. It bothered me, but not enough for me to write the overall story off. My next complaint pertains to the three route system and the pacing of the story. While I enjoyed the three route system, the way it’s set up made for some jumps in highs and lows, making for a jarring change in pace. Once you start a route, you have to play that part from start to finish, there’s no jumping between routes like in Trails into Reverie. I would play through one part of a route from start to finish, find out some crazy revelation, and then I’d have to reset my emotions because I’d have to start a different route and the crisis scale would be dialed back down. Lastly, there’s a certain plot device Falcom likes to fall back on in the Trails series. And yes, it did happen again. While it didn’t bother me as much this time, I was slightly irked that it happened again. Overall, though, I really enjoyed my time playing through the story. It was a much needed step up from Trails through Daybreak II and has got me looking forward to the future of the series.
Trails beyond the Horizon takes the hybrid combat system from Trails through Daybreak and Trails through Daybreak II and improves it even further. The system consists of Field Battles (action) and Command Battles (turn-based). It introduces four new mechanics to the system: Awakening, ZOC, Shard Command and BLTZ. Awakening is the powered up form certain characters can use in Command Battles, but now they can utilize it in Field Battles. Three segments of the Boost Gauge are needed to activate Awakening. Once activated, the controlled character receives buffs such as increased attack and Health Point (HP) regeneration. If a Command Battle is started while Awakened, the controlled character will begin the battle in the buffed state for one turn. ZOC can be utilized in both Field and Command Battles. In Field Battles, ZOC slows down time and allows you to inflict massive damage to enemies while they can’t even lift a finger towards you. The ZOC gauge is depleted to activate the mode in Field Battles, but this gauge can be quickly refilled during combat. In Command Battles, ZOC allows the current character to act in consecutive turns. Unlike in Field Battles, two Shard Boosts (S-Boosts) are used to activate ZOC in Command Battles. Shard Command can only be used in Command Battles and it’s similar to the Brave Orders that were first implemented in Trails of Cold Steel III. By depleting a select amount of segments from the Boost Gauge, you can apply certain buffs to your active party. These include increasing physical damage, increasing casting speed, decreasing damage, etc. BLTZ is also exclusive to Command Battles and is similar to the SCLM first introduced in Trails through Daybreak. It allows reserve members to support the active party in two ways: BLTZ Chain and BLTZ Support. BLTZ Chain lets the reserve member perform a follow up attack after the active character performs a normal attack. So combined with an SCLM Chain, this can allow for a max of three normal attacks in a row. BLTZ Support is for Arts and Crafts and can provide different benefits. An attack Art/Craft will receive increased damage. A support Art/Craft can have increased buff duration, increased healing, etc. BLTZ Support can be combined with SCLM Support for increased effects, just like BLTZ and SCLM Chain.
The combat system is the best it has been since Trails into Reverie. While Trails into Reverie brought the best pure turn-based system in the series, Trails beyond the Horizon has the best iteration of the hybrid system, thanks to the many improvements implemented in this game. I didn’t think a time-slowing mechanism like ZOC and a power up function like Awakening would affect my enjoyment of Field Battles that much, yet here we are. These two additions made fighting enemies, both weak and strong, in Field Battles much more fun, chaotic, and less of a slog. I don’t think I’ve finished as many Field Battles in the previous Calvard games as I did in Trails beyond the Horizon. Command Battles are as good as ever, and they’re slowly inching toward the level of turn-based battles of Trails into Reverie. While BLTZ is not as much of a noticeable change, ZOC and Shard Command added more options to tackle tough enemies. ZOC in particular helped me get out of some jams when I needed to perform an Art fast or inflict damage quickly before the enemy acted. But, these additions also added some challenge to Command Battles. This is because ZOC and Shard Command could also be used by certain enemies. You’re able to cancel an enemy’s Shard Command by using your own, but that comes at double the S-Boost gauge cost. Enemy ZOC’s you just have to take what they’re dishing. I enjoyed working through certain Command Battles with those capabilities in mind. If I had a complaint, it’s specifically with ZOC in Field Battles. Activating it could be kind of finicky, so I had to hold and release the ZOC command a couple of times before it actually worked. But, this is a minor annoyance in an otherwise great combat system. Trails beyond the Horizon also has, arguably, one of the coolest final boss fights I’ve played through in the series, surpassing the one from Trails through Daybreak II. It takes the elements of the combat system to make for a satisfying fight. Falcom managed to take an already stellar combat system and bring it to even greater heights.
Aside from the combat, the Märchen Garten returns with a facelift, now known as the Grim Garten. Other than the visual changes, it adds a hub area known as the Interstitial Sanctum, which allows you to interact with the other characters. You can also watch Connection Events you didn’t originally choose in the course of the story. This comes with the same benefits as Connection Events watched normally in the story including gaining connection points and entries for that specific character in the notebook. Most important of all, the Grim Garten actually has importance throughout the story, though it is optional to do. I felt adding a story incentive rather than just a training one, made the Grim Garten much more enjoyable to play because you know there was a cutscene waiting for you at the end of each domain. I loved being able to play through the Garten with parties you normally wouldn’t be able to form in the main story. There was also a minor QOL update implemented, as the Travel menu and minimap now showed where topic conversations could be held. These are conversations with specific topics you can bring up that may be related to an ongoing quest. Minigames also make their return with hacking, fishing, poker and blackjack leading the way. Hacking and fishing have the same mechanics as in Trails through Daybreak II, and poker and blackjack have the same controls and stakes as in Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure, it’s pretty straightforward. The tailing minigame where you follow a suspect and the infiltration minigame featuring FIO also return, but I’m not too big of a fan of either. The tailing minigame is boring, while the FIO infiltration one has some pretty finicky controls, making it annoying to control FIO. The card game Seven Hearts was removed while basketball was reduced to a one-shot minigame with no competition. You should have at least been allowed to shoot in the basketball minigame until you decided to quit it. Instead you just shot once, and the minigame ended. I wasn’t that big of a fan of Seven Hearts, but I did like the idea of having a game that isn’t a traditional real-life card game. On that note, I think Vantage Masters should make a return. It was arguably one of the best minigames the Trails games have had. As a whole, despite some minor complaints, Trails beyond the Horizon’s gameplay kept me hooked from beginning to end.
Visually, Trails beyond the Horizon looks similar to Trails through Daybreak and Daybreak II, meaning it still looks good. In terms of character design, I liked how each of the members of Arkride Solutions (except Bergard) plus Elaine, had a brand new outfit to show off, perfect for the summer season. I particularly liked Feri’s new appearance and how they grew out her hair, it was a nice touch and visual representation of her changing and growing up. For the returning heroes, Kevin and Van had some major glow ups, thanks to the Falcom Developer Kit (FDK). Seeing Kevin’s appearance translated from that old chibi sprite to full 3D was incredible, and they really did his model justice. And the way they adapted all of his Crafts for a new age, it just looked fantastic. As for Rean, this is his best 3D model to date. I liked how subdued his new clothing was in comparison to his instructor outfit from Trails of Cold Steel III. All of his Crafts are visually stunning and a treat to watch, I don’t even want to skip or fast forward them. Another subtle difference I liked was his fighting stance, which is different than it was in the Cold Steel games. He’s standing straight and he looks more poised and confident, befitting his new title. For the enemies, a couple of the designs were recycled from past games, but they still hold up. As for new enemy designs, I did like the look of the newly introduced Enforcers, but my favorite new design has to be of the final boss, and that’s all I’ll say about that. In the animation department, some Craft animations were updated like Van’s Coin Bullets or Agnès’ Oracle Hammer, and they definitely looked nicer. But the best animations came during fight cutscenes, particularly those involving tachi users like Rean. The motions were so smooth and eye-catching, you could tell Falcom has really gotten comfortable with their in-house engine. Not only does Trails beyond the Horizon play great, it looks great too.
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