Trails through Revelations
When Trails into Reverie released, it was the culmination of a massive saga told across nearly a dozen games. It was a bookend to multiple plot threads, character arcs, and storylines told for nearly 20 years. However, while several games flirted with the Calvard Republic, Trails Through Daybreak would allow its story to be told exclusively across this nation. With a whole new cast of characters and a few familiar faces, it was a fresh start that would be largely detached from the previous ten games. While Trails Through Daybreak was a solid experience, its teasing at real-time combat and some problematic localization left a lot to be desired.
Now, less than a year later, at least outside of Japan, Trails Through Daybreak II is here, and while several issues have been largely addressed with improvements to combat and a more improved localization, it still has some lingering issues that have plagued the series for years such as mundane side quests that don’t really affect the cast or its narrative, that and secondary characters never having non-work outfits, such as seeing the waitress from the cafe in her work gear while attending an event. That said, it is still a solid entry with some impressive moments for its cast to shine. However, the stakes it presents are undercut by a cheap narrative conceit that causes the impact of several of the game’s biggest moments to fall flat. It’s great to see this cast often at their best, but a largely disappointing method at delivering its story and its morality system serving no point this time around undermined a lot of my experience here and presents Trails Through Daybreak II as the weakest entry in the franchise yet.
Trails through Daybreak II takes place shortly after the events of the previous game. As Van, Agnes, and the crew are back at tracking down the last remaining Geneses, it is these moments where the story shines. While Quatre, Ferida, Aaron, Risette, and Judith join Van and Agnes, we also are joined by Swin and Nadia from Trails into Reverie, as well as several over castmates that were present in the previous game but not playable, such as Shizuna, a personal favorite of mine. And with Rene and Elaine joining in, the cast here is rather beefy, allowing you to fine-tune your team with your favorites and dive into the mystery at hand.
What works extremely well in Trails Through Daybreak II is that many of the sidelined characters from the previous game get a lot more time to shine. Aaron is no longer a major focus apart from one arc, and his problematic nature is lessened considerably, aside from maybe three or four lines of dialogue that are in poor taste. While some of the big moments have had a breadcrumb trail to follow, some events come completely out of nowhere, making me wonder if this was always the plan or that the writers wanted to inject some importance to some of the more lesser-used characters. Regardless, there are countless revelations here that contribute to some fantastic and surprising moments.
As the story continues the quest to find the remaining Geneses, we are introduced to the game’s new villain, a man who has been able to wield his own beast; the Crimson Grendel. At first, it appeared they were looking to mimic the infamous C from the previous entries, but as the game went on, I was initially wrong on that assumption. Regardless, when it came time to reveal the true man behind the curtain, I was thankful that they didn’t repeat a previous storyline and satisfied my patience with a moment that was wonderfully crafted. That said, eagle-eye fans may want to ignore or look past certain texture details to ruin that surprise as some sloppy character model work can ruin the big reveal.
While I won’t dive into the story too much as to ruin any big moments or its unique mechanic this time around, there is a narrative conceit they use pretty frequently that does remove some of the tension. Big moments that are meant to be impactful, even emotional, lose the stakes that would make them be as such. Going into a big battle, seeing the odds stacked against the team, and suddenly, through a series of events, is undone and reset, can cause the big swings it attempts to do with its cast to feel wasteful and lacking the narrative impact I would want from such an attempt. Again, I am being very vague because I want that first time you witness this mechanic to feel genuine, so I’ll leave it at that.
Trails through Daybreak II has arrived rather quickly after the release of the original game and that is largely due to the fact there isn’t much new here. Many of the same systems, locations, and environments are present and accounted for. These are the same character models we had in the previous game, many of the same locations return, and apart from some minimal areas presented here, we are not exploring vast new locations, making this experience feel very trimmed by comparison. That isn’t to discount the entire adventure as a rehash of what came before, but I can certainly see the dots connected between that assumption. We do get a few new areas to explore, such as a vacation resort and the new alternative to the Reverie Corridor in the Marchen Garten, a floor by floor grind to unlock new outfits and improve the stats of your characters.
As this is a review of a sequel, one that uses the exact same systems, I implore you to check out my review for the first game as I’ll only be talking about new additions to combat and the changes made to certain systems. As it stands, Trails through Daybreak II is an almost carbon copy of every system, complete with the same highs and lows, such as the Orbment system that could still stand to be far more streamlined to a single menu.
The field battle system returns and thankfully, has more going for it. In Trails through Daybreak, it felt like a system that teased the potential of what it could have been. Now, more systems have been placed into it to make it feel more suited to actually be an alternative method for combat. New to Trails through Daybreak II is the Cross Charge system. This allows you to punish enemies after a successful dodge. Dodge an enemy attack at the right time to cause an icon to appear. Once visible, press the Cross Charge button to call in an ally for a strong counterattack, plus a short-term buff to their attack damage. In addition, you now have more attacks present during this real-time skirmish, thus giving you more options to make this a viable method for combat.
In Command Battle, which is when you use shards to initiate a turn-based affair, you can join allies to trigger SCLM, activate a shard boost, and then target a stunned enemy with a craft or normal attack to call in your nearest party member for a brutal EX Chain attack. While both of these new combat attacks are not groundbreaking, they do provide enough options to keep combat fresh, even if I feel the entire combat system should be reworked to freshen up the series, especially with the newest entry being a ways out yet. Regardless, it’s a tried and true system that nonetheless works.
While fishing makes a return, as do a slew of new mini-games during the events that call for them, many of them work off some of the new side activities present during the story. Van will be able to use a hacking technique to open up locked chests and other obstacles. This mini-game isn’t terribly exciting as there is no visual change to these locations. You’ll fly through tunnels, performing a series of button presses as you get to the goal. Additionally, a stealth component has been added here that has Van and company stalking suspects. You can hide in areas when spotted, even if some are directly in front of the suspect. Thankfully, these sessions are short enough to not be bothersome, even if I didn’t care for them whatsoever and wouldn’t be sad if they never returned.
Replacing the Reverie Corridor is the Marchen Garten. This area, which is initially hacked to the point where Van is sent to explore the reasons why, is a floor-by-floor series of locations filled with monsters and treasures to be found. You can grind away at these locations and complete challenges to earn materials needed to open up gatcha-like boxes that contain various outfits and other items. You’ll earn data fragments that then need to be parsed together, and you’ll have a whole other series of menus used to purchase the remaining data fragments and assemble them into usable outfits, such as monk costumes, swimwear, towels, and Arkride Solution uniforms. While a tad convoluted for its own measure, this whole system was nonetheless pretty fun to take in, especially with bonus scenes being unlocked when you load up a completed save while access the newgame+ menu and polish off the last remaining floors as part of the post-game content.
Trails through Daybreak II is certainly my least favorite Legend of Heroes game, but given that I adore them all, that isn’t saying anything too negative. It’s certainly hard to follow up the stunning saga that came before, even with a cast that is as likable as what is here. While the more mundane elements of this game certainly stand out more than they have before, the core story that is told here is worth the trek, even if the narrative hook I’ve mentioned previously can zap some of the emotional impact we are meant to have. Regardless, Trails through Daybreak II is quite enjoyable and provides you with a solid adventure with a fun cast and some engaging moments.
Developer - Nihon Falcom. Publisher - NIS America. Released - February 14th, 2025. Available On - PS4/PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC. Rated - (T) Blood, Drug Reference, Fantasy Violence, Language, Suggestive Themes. Platform Reviewed - PlayStation 5. Review Access - A review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
Jeff is the original founder of Analog Stick Gaming. His favorite games include The Witcher III, the Mass Effect Trilogy, Hi-Fi Rush, Stellar Blade, Hellbade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the Legend of Heroes series, especially Trails of Cold Steel III & IV.