Nihon Falcom’s The Legend of Heroes series is one of the most ambitious undertakings in the JRPG genre. It is one of the few franchises to deliver a sweeping, interconnected plot, whereas most of its contemporaries — like Square Enix’s Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, or Bandai Namco’s Tales of series — are anthologic. That interconnected story is a double-edged sword. As much as each new entry in the series delivers a rewarding payoff for longtime series fans, newcomers to the Legend of Heroes franchise often find themselves intimidated by the prospect of needing to play over 1,000 hours of titles spanning multiple console generations before they’re caught up on the latest goings-on in the continent of Zemuria.
As the series’ popularity has increased in the West, Nihon Falcom has continually devoted more resources to ensure speedy localizations so that there’s parity regarding which entries are available globally, and the most recent title to receive a Western release is 2022’s The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak 2, which picks up just a few months after the exciting first chapter in the Trails series’ Calvard arc.
Just like the Legend of Heroes series’ interconnected narrative, Trails Through Daybreak 2 presents players with a bit of a “Catch-22” proposition. While Trails Through Daybreak 2‘s gameplay offers up further refinements to its predecessor’s innovations and is one of the series’ best-playing games yet, its reliance on established story beats and connections to the events of the first Trails Through Daybreak make it a hard sell to newcomers. On the other hand, Trails Through Daybreak 2‘s narrative leans heavily into smaller, more character-driven moments at the expense of moving the needle forward toward the Trails series’ upcoming climactic conclusion. Players who are largely unaware of the grander plot and world-building can still find plenty to enjoy from its surprisingly dark and complex narrative built around a good old-fashioned detective mystery, though.
Ultimately, Trails Through Daybreak 2 ends up being a bit polarizing in terms of its place in the series and as a middle chapter in the ongoing Calvard arc, but its gameplay is so satisfying — including one of the best combat systems in the genre — that it’s not a stretch to say that JRPG fans can’t afford to miss out on what the game offers, regardless of their familiarity with the Legend of Heroes series and the broader Trails game timeline. While it doesn’t reinvent the wheel for the series’ mechanics, Trails Through Daybreak 2‘s combat, progression systems, customization, and breadth of content are what longtime JRPG fans dream of.
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Trails Through Daybreak 2 Opts to Improve on its Predecessor Rather Than Reinvent the Wheel
The first Trails Through Daybreak delivered plenty of improvements to the Legend of Heroes series‘ traditionally excellent combat, and Trails Through Daybreak 2 wisely doesn’t fix what isn’t broken, instead opting to add to what its predecessor already did so well. It’s fortuitous, as players can expect to spend a significant amount of their playtime fighting. Battling enemies in Trails Through Daybreak 2 is similar to its predecessor in that players will be splitting their time between Field Battles and Command Battles. During Field Battles, players wander throughout the game’s world and dungeons, fighting enemies in real-time, executing attacks, dodging incoming blows from enemies, and using arts. One of the new additions introduced by Trails Through Daybreak 2 is the Cross Charge ability, where dodging an incoming attack at the last minute lets an ally step in and quickly stun an enemy at the press of a button, making Field Battles an even more exciting proposition.
Once one or more enemies are stunned, players can initiate a Command Battle at the press of a button, which switches combat from the real-time modality used in Field Battles to the more traditional turn-based — and slightly tactical — combat that the Trails games are known for. During these Command Battles, players have regular attacks, Arts (determined by their Orbment’s Holo-core and Arts Drivers) dependent on a pool of Energy Points (EP), and Crafts – character-specific abilities that rely on Craft Points, or CP. While it’s possible at first to progress by relying on spamming each character’s most powerful attacks, gaining an understanding of the interplay between characters’ abilities and learning how to debuff enemies becomes crucial later in the game. In general, the cannon fodder enemies are easily dealt with, but there are some truly challenging boss fights in Trails Through Daybreak 2 that push players’ understanding of the combat to its limits, even on Normal difficulty. It’s a truly rewarding feeling to overcome a challenging foe by knowing that you put all your skills to use effectively.
That being said, players’ enjoyment of the combat system will rely on their understanding of Trails Through Daybreak 2‘s changes to Orbments, which are essentially a carry-over from the first Trails Through Daybreak. Each character’s Holo-core is a sort of master Quartz that determines the basic set of Arts they’ll carry into battle, and slotting in Quartz to each line of an Orbment results in players earning various buffs, debuffing enemies, adding elemental or status effects to regular attacks, and being able to quickly regenerate valuable resources like EP and CP.
It takes some getting used to, and unfortunately, Trails Through Daybreak 2‘s in-game tutorials only do a somewhat passing job of explaining the minutiae of an incredibly complex and multi-faceted system. But once it clicks, the sense of progression and power curve experienced by the party is rapid and substantially rewarding. The new Märchen Garten dungeon, which players can return to time and again to grind out their characters and quickly gain levels between story segments, only adds more incentive to experience Trails Through Daybreak 2‘s excellent combat to its fullest while also providing substantial rewards that are well worth chasing down.
Mini-Games Make a Definitive Return in Trails Through Daybreak 2
For all the exciting changes that the first Trails Through Daybreak introduced to the series, one of its more glaring omissions was an almost complete absence of mini-games or side activities. Trails Through Daybreak 2 pivots sharply from this to include a whole slew of mini-games, all of which are completely optional to engage with. Some of the mini-games are connected to the story, such as a new hacking mini-game required to open certain locked chests or the stealth mini-game that pops up during main and side quests, but others are there just for players to have fun. One of the more surprising, and welcome, inclusions is the return of a fishing mini-game, which I’m not ashamed to admit I spent way too much time on. As a bonus, the fishing mini-game represents a meta-game where players can upgrade their fishing equipment and bait to catch bigger and rarer fish, potentially netting rare Quartz that can go a long way toward aiding their party in battle.
Trails Through Daybreak 2 Makes Great Use of the Series’ New Proprietary Engine
All of Trails Through Daybreak 2‘s improvements over its predecessor, both substantial and subtle, are brought together by the game’s impressive presentation, visuals, and soundtrack. The first Trails Through Daybreak represented a major turning point for the Legend of Heroes series, as Nihon Falcom moved away from using the PhyreEngine from prior 3D Trails games to its own new, proprietary game engine. Trails Through Daybreak 2‘s visuals, cutscene direction, environmental design, and in-game battle effects go a long way toward showcasing how adept Nihon Falcom has gotten with working within this new engine, and it’s arguably the best-looking 3D entry in the Trails series and one of the more visually appealing JRPGs, in general. The Republic of Calvard features some stunning architecture in each of the major areas players visit, both in the Euro-centric western sections and the Japanese-inspired eastern regions, and it goes a long way toward making the world of the Legend of Heroes series feel like a real, lived-in place with unique history and culture.
Audio design is similarly impressive, with the game’s original soundtrack living up to the standard set by Nihon Falcom’s previous work on games in both the Trails and Ys series and providing music that fits what’s happening on screen. Both the Japanese and English voice acting are also superb, helping to bring the story and characters of Trails Through Daybreak 2 to life while simultaneously highlighting the series’ traditionally strong writing and dialogue. As a bonus, one of the many rewards available to players from completing floors of the Märchen Garten are songs from the game’s OST that can be listened to at any point after purchasing them using Marduk Support Points.
A Shift In Story Focus Is Bound to Make Trails Through Daybreak 2 Somewhat Polarizing
In terms of its gameplay, Trails Through Daybreak 2 delivers more of what players experienced in its predecessor, albeit in a slightly improved and expanded form. The many changes that the first Trails Through Daybreak brought to the series certainly had their detractors, but the months following its release saw many longtime fans come around to the new gameplay innovations and settle into the prospect of the next major arc in the Trails series, setting up Trails Through Daybreak 2 to predictably follow in its stead. But while its gameplay might be less polarizing this time around, Trails Through Daybreak 2 is likely to ruffle some feathers when it comes to both its place as the middle chapter in the Calvard arc and how it mostly strays away from the larger plot of the Legend of Heroes timeline.
Trails Through Daybreak 2 picks up just 3 months after the events of the first game, with Van Arkride and his assistant Agnès getting back to their daily work as spriggans (the Trails games’ equivalent of a private detective or “fixer”) running Arkride Solutions. When a mysterious rash of serial killings leaves Van as the primary suspect, an old ally from the Bracer Guild steps in to help him clear his name, all while Van and his allies chase down the troubling leads pointing to something known only as “Almata’s Legacy”. It’s a great setup that puts a lot of returning players back on the board and allows Van to “get the band back together” from the first Trails Through Daybreak, but therein lies the main issue with Trails Through Daybreak 2‘s story — it’s a middle chapter of a new story arc that only continues a lot of the major plot points from the first game rather than usher things along toward a climax.
Typically, the middle game in any given arc of the Legend of Heroes series (the Liberl arc from Trails in the Sky, the Erebonian arc from Trails of Cold Steel, etc.) is where a lot of the important events occur that set up a climax in the expected third game. If the first title in a new arc is where the pieces are put on the board, then the second game is where players make their moves, and the third (and sometimes, fourth) games in any given arc amount to the “checkmate” moment that sees the arc conclude. Surprisingly, Trails Through Daybreak 2‘s plot feels like more of a “Trails Through Daybreak 1.5″ than a true sequel to the events of the first game in the Calvard arc, and that stalling of the grander plot is liable to frustrate some players.
On the other hand, Trails Through Daybreak 2 spends most of its time getting into the backstories and motivations of the major players in the Calvard arc, doing a lot of heavy lifting toward character development and establishing some compelling reasons for Van to ally with or stand against certain individuals. That smaller, more character-driven focus of the story accomplishes two things. One, players come to know Van and his allies intimately, including how their past traumas shaped them and continue to motivate them toward fighting against the many nefarious forces at play in Calvard and throughout Zemuria. Two, the fact that Trails Through Daybreak 2‘s story is largely disconnected from the rest of the Legend of Heroes series presents a compelling case for it being a good starting point for the franchise before going back and playing other entries.
Trails Through Daybreak 2 does include an incredibly helpful “Archive” feature in the main menu that compiles a glossary of important terms, dossiers on important characters, and an overview of the Legend of Heroes timeline.
Trails Through Daybreak 2 Presents an Interesting Proposition for Players
Nihon Falcom has delivered an excellent follow-up to the first Trails Through Daybreak, and even though it might not move the needle toward the Calvard arc’s climax as much as longtime fans might have wanted, the emphasis on the human element of the story and the connections between Van and his allies make it one of the more rewarding narratives in the franchise. Trying to cover the history of the entire franchise in a series of in-game menus is something that would seem impossible, but there again, Trails Through Daybreak 2‘s developers deserve credit for making this latest series entry friendly toward newcomers and returning players alike.
Throughout 90 hours with Trails Through Daybreak 2, it was hard to shake the feeling that it was a game that would resonate strongly with JRPG fans, regardless of whether they had played previous games in the Legend of Heroes series or had followed the other Trails games from the sidelines. Mechanically, Trails Through Daybreak 2 is an incredibly satisfying role-playing experience that offers up some best-in-genre combat, impressive presentation, strong writing, and an exciting “whodunnit” mystery that will keep players guessing to the very end, including enough switching sides and shifting of allegiances to make one’s head spin. If you weren’t a fan of the Trails games before Trails Through Daybreak 2, it’s a safe bet to assume you will be after completing it, and that alone makes it a game worth recommending.
Reviewed on PS5
- Released
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February 14, 2025
- Developer(s)
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Nihon Falcom, PH3 GmbH
- An exciting continuation of the Clavard arc with plenty of familiar faces from throughout the Trails series
- Further refinements to the combat innovations of its predecessor to present some of the best turn-based fighting in the genre
- A satisfying power curve and sense of progression
- Top-notch presentation aided by Nihon Falcom’s new proprietary engine
- Smaller, character-driven plot points come at the expense of moving the larger plot forward
- Many surprsing moments or meaningful character developments will likely be lost on series newcomers
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak 2 releases February 14, 2025 for PC, PS4, PS5, and Switch. Game Rant was provided a PS5 code for this review.