The Legend of Heroes: Trails beyond the Horizon

The game was provided by NIS America for review. Thank you!

Ever since I discovered it, The Legend of Heroes, or Trails series (as I call it), has become one of my favorite JRPGs to play. It spans across multiple games, following memorable characters as they face crises across the continent of Zemuria. It feels like the JRPG version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), as past events in older games influence future ones we experience in newer entries, and characters from the past make appearances later on. Now, the next entry in the series, Trails beyond the Horizon, is here, and it continues the story in major ways that kept me hooked right up until the end.

Before I go into the game, I highly recommend playing both Trails Through Daybreak 1 and 2 before this. There are going to be characters and events referenced from the previous two games, so I would consider it imperative to play them. I would even go so far as to say play through all the previous games in the series, since there are references going back to the Trails in the Sky games, but Daybreak 1 and 2 are more necessary.

Trails beyond the Horizon goes into uncharted territory while still keeping its signature style of storytelling. We continue Van Arkride and the Arkride Solution's story after the ominous warning that we came to know from Daybreak 2. Now, he and the team go to investigate what this warning could mean, while figuring out the details of the first manned spaceflight and whether there's anything else happening behind the scenes.

However, instead of just following Van on this adventure, we will be seeing the story play out from two other protagonists as well: Rean Schwartzer and Kevin Graham. All three are on their own journeys that intersect, centered on the space launch, its true meaning, and its implications for the entire continent of Zemuria. It’s a similar-ish structure to how Daybreak 2 handled its story, where Van leads one route, and Swin/Nadia handles another.

It can seem a little complicated on the surface, managing different routes with a different cast taking the lead, but Trails beyond the Horizon doesn’t falter. Each route has its own charm as we follow Van, Rean, and Kevin on their journeys, all centered on the same objective. I did hope there would be a little more interaction between the protagonists and their respective parties than there actually was, but the times we did have it are interesting.

What still amazes me is how well developer Nihon Falcom balances all of the characters and the story. While each protagonist has their own objective, the revelations that come from their journeys all feed into the bigger picture, inching us closer to the truth. The way it all starts to fit together like puzzle pieces slowly connecting feels so rewarding, with each revelation feeling more exciting than the last. There were moments that left me in awe, especially the ending. I had no idea it would take the direction it did, but the far-reaching implications are clear, with an epic finale that left more questions than answers. I would say Trails beyond the Horizon left more questions than answers in general, more so than Daybreak 1 and 2. I was hoping for more, since there were hints about what could be revealed in this entry, but there weren’t, so I'll have to wait until the next entry to find out (hopefully).

The Trails series has always had a great, colorful cast of unique characters that all feel memorable in one way or another, and balancing them is a feat that Falcom handles well. Trails beyond the Horizon brings in tons of characters, both newly introduced ones and people from previous entries like Kevin and Rean, and balancing their stories and making sure everyone gets their time in the spotlight becomes a tough task. Falcom handles it well with dedicated Connection Events for each character, as well as giving them all some time throughout the story to speak and give their two cents.

There are some times where it feels almost impossible, and the dialogue comes to a little stall just so everyone in the party can say their sentence or two about what just happened, but I would say these moments are far and few compared to the many other moments that work.

I would say this is another competent story in a series that feels like the MCU of JRPGs. Falcom balances the winding story with a large cast of characters in an enjoyable and ultimately fulfilling way. I do wish I had more answers to the questions that I had, spanning from the two previous games, but the wind-up in revelations leading to the dramatic finale was all worth it.

Gameplay-wise, it’s very similar to the previous two games. Each chapter with each character follows a similar structure. You start off in town, running around and taking on optional side quests (or 4SPGs) while talking to characters to advance the story and buying up items and equipment from shops. Some of these 4SPGs include investigating leads, trailing individuals, talking to people, or deducing what happened. There’s a good chunk of these, which all have their own interesting stories to tell, and contribute to an overall score when the chapter is over, to give you extra bonuses.

Most of these 4SPGs are enjoyable, but I did find some Topic Quests to be a nuisance. These are 4SPGs where you have to find individuals and ask them about specific topics. These aren’t marked on the fast travel list, whereas other main and side quests are, so finding them can be a little difficult. Most main and side quests, including Topic Quests, show up on the minimap, but some monster slaying quests don’t show up on the list or minimap, and I got lost initially when I hadn’t figured it out yet. Once I did, I figured out where to check to look for them, but it does mean going back and forth to the locations I can fast travel to.

This is also where we can take part in those Connection Events. We usually have enough points to play through every available connection event, minus one, which makes me sad. I wanted to see all of these, as they are filled with humor and background for the character in the spotlight. Thankfully, there's still a way to view connection events that aren’t selected, but I wish we could view them all in the moment. These events also increase our affiliation with each character, which can give them buffs and increased stats.

As for combat, it’s almost identical to the previous games, with a few changes. Combat can be either real-time or turn-based, with the biggest fights being turn-based only. In real time, we will have basic combos, dodging, and heavy attacks to cut down the monster’s health while increasing their stun bar. In Trails beyond the Horizon, we can now utilize awakenings and ZOC to help us fight here. Awakenings puts us in an ultra-powerful state to deal heavy damage to the enemy, while ZOC can slow down time and give us a chance to get in some damage before the enemy retaliates. It can help make real-time battles feel easier and blast through them without going into turn-based combat.

For the most part, real-time battles are meant to be switched to turn-based mode. By stunning the enemy in real-time, we can get into the familiar turn-based combat the series is more known for, with some extra damage dealt to the enemies, and making sure we can go first in the turn order. From there, we are free to utilize our attacks, crafts, arts, S-Crafts, and line ourselves up for dual attacks with our team. It's very familiar for those who have played the previous two games, but we do have some nice changes to shake up combat even more.

Now, the supporter characters we have with us who aren't on the field can "Blitz", which can bring in support or extra attacks to help take down enemies, ZOC can be initiated with a second boost to grant an extra turn for that character, and Shard Commands to give us some extra buffs and other benefits like reduced damage taken for 6 turns or dealing 1.5x damage for 4 turns. This can add a lot of new ways to tackle enemies, whether it be planning arts to make it happen sooner, maximizing damage by making your strongest character attack multiple times, or using Shard Commands in anticipation of the enemy attack. It will all help and add up to different decisions that need to be made. I also appreciate that entering into turn-based mode while Awakened will keep us in that state for an extra turn, too.

Shard Commands will especially be useful here, since enemies can also make use of ZOC and sometimes even take three turns one after another. We can interrupt this a little by pushing our S-Craft, but if you don't, the enemy will sometimes deal insane damage and kill off two or three of our four-person team in an instant. It can feel a little disheartening when this happens, and forgetting to use a Shard Command to reduce enemy damage to 0.3x or 0.5x is almost immediately punished without a way to come back from it. This does bring up the issue of managing our Boost gauge, since Shard Commands do use some of our gauge, and with the only way to increase it being by using S-Crafts, it can get a little too frustratingly difficult.

Equipment and Orbment use remain largely unchanged from the previous two games, so I got right into the swing of things immediately. We will get new orbments that we can equip to boost our stats or give us passive buffs, while also giving us even more benefits depending on which color orbments we equip. As for equipment, we can find and buy accessories, armor, and footwear. These can all be found in chests around the world or bought from shops using crystals (Orbments) and Mira (armor/equipment).

It all works together to create a worthwhile gameplay loop with enjoyable progression. As with a lot of other JRPGs, there is a lot of grinding involved to level up and get stronger, but the Grim Garten does make it easier. This is an optional, replayable mode where you choose a chamber and explore it in a grid, one square at a time. Some squares will give buffs, some will give currency, and others will bring us to a level to complete objectives and defeat monsters. It's an interesting way to grind, while also getting more equipment, items, and orbments to use. The story did leave a little to be desired, but it was a nice break as well.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails beyond the Horizon - Steam Deck Performance

The Legend of Heroes: Trails beyond the Horizon is quite playable on the Steam Deck, but I recommend a few tweaks to ensure stability and a little extra battery life. Still, there are multiple ways to play and enjoy the game on the go, and they should meet everyone's preferences for how they want to experience it.

Recommended Settings

Trails beyond the Horizon is amazing when you play at higher framerates, and that's why the recommended settings are a balance of visuals and a higher framerate. I felt the Performance quality preset was a good start, but I would reduce some settings a little further to make sure it is less demanding on the device.

I recommend setting the framerate to 45 FPS with a 90Hz limit on the OLED Steam Deck, turning down the level-of-detail and character draw distance to low, as well as resolution scale to 90. It's a small change, but it does help with keeping the battery drain down with little change. The game should stick to around 12W - 13W battery drain until the final areas of the game, which will then jump up to 15W average.

Quality Settings

If you want to push the quality, it is definitely possible, but it will require some compromises that I am not a fan of, but it's still possible. By bringing the game to the High quality preset and setting the Shadow Resolution down to "High", we can get 30 FPS throughout the game. It makes the game look fantastic, but the downside is 30 FPS. It just doesn't feel nearly as good as it does at higher framerates, which is disappointing. Thankfully, the recommended settings strike a solid balance of smooth gameplay and decent visuals, but if you really want to push visuals, this will be the best way to do it.

60 FPS Settings

Now, playing through the game at 60 FPS is possible, but it does require a lot of visual compromise. It requires setting almost everything to low and bringing the resolution scale down to 75%. It does make the game look a bit worse and blurry, but it will stick to 60 FPS.

The game can initially run with higher quality settings in the early areas of the game, but since it gets tougher to run later on, we will need some lower settings to make sure the later parts run well. There may also be some drops with S-Crafts and some Arts that are used, but it should go right back up as soon as the move is done.

Accessibility

The game does have a good chunk of settings to change. We can increase font size, as well as map text and icon size, auto-advance messages, show loading screen tips, change the high-speed mode, change difficulty, toggle the dash mode, change audio settings, and change camera settings.

The game does support 16:10 resolution, as well as cloud saves and controller support. There are HDR settings, and it does recognize the OLED screen.

Conclusion

The Legend of Heroes: Trails beyond the Horizon is a great next game in the JRPG series and sets the bar high for future entries in the series. The implications of the finale are worth playing through, with an exciting buildup filled with twists and turns I didn't expect. The great gameplay is back as well, adding new elements to real-time and turn-based battles that keep the action going and give more options for strategic opportunities. Bringing all the characters into conversations sometimes feels forced, and combat can be very unfair with one wrong move, but this is ultimately a fantastic experience that has made me extremely excited for the next Trails game.

On top of that, it's a joy to play on the Steam Deck. A combination of settings can get a great balance for smooth gameplay with solid visuals, which is perfect for the long, grindy experience that the game specializes in. Ultimately, it's well worth experiencing on the Steam Deck, and it keeps the Trails series as one that's great to take on the go.

Our review is based on the PC version of this game.

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