The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie Review – An Opulent Indulgence (Switch)

The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie is the latest Trails game to be localized for Western audiences and serves as an epilogue to the Trails of Cold Steel arc that spans the previous four games in the series. The Cold Steel games are generally well regarded, and fans will no doubt wonder if Reverie meets the high benchmark set by the previous titles.

I am excited to be reviewing Trails into Reverie, but I must at this point disclose the fact that I have not played a Trails game before this. I have often come across discourse about the Trails series, and I was somewhat intimidated by the massive history of the franchise. Trails does not hit the reset button with every iteration like Final Fantasy, but instead weaves its web of story and lore ever thicker.

I feel that this review might benefit those gamers out there who are curious about the franchise and wondering whether Reverie is a good place to dive in; I also feel like it might invoke some wry, knowing grins from veterans of the franchise. The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie was developed by Nihon Falcom and is published in by NIS America. It first released exclusively in Japan on PlayStation 4, but has now been localized for release on Switch, Steam, and PlayStation. 

Story: One For The History Books

For newcomers, the game does quite well with introducing all the various story elements and characters; there are also helpful story summaries for previous games available in the game’s main menu. There are a lot of characters to meet and interact with; if you haven’t played any of the previous games you might find yourself feeling a little overwhelmed but there is also a handy notebook that you can refer to with character summaries to help you get to grips with the massive cast and their roles in the world.

Indeed, the first few hours of the game are spent wandering around and meeting various characters, discussing the events of past games and what has happened in between. Trails into Reverie feeds the player new information at a rapid clip in the beginning. Even though there is a lot going on, it does come off as a slow burn, and the game invites you to kick back and take it all in as it pays out the story; it doesn’t take long before there are some neat and unexpected twists and turns, but at the risk of delving into spoiler territory, I will not discuss them in detail.

Trails into Reverie leans heavily on the events of previous games, so those who have played the Trails of Cold Steel series will most likely understand and appreciate the story a little (or a lot) more than newcomers. With I don’t feel like newcomers should be too intimidated if they want to jump right into Trails into Reverie without playing previous games from the Trails of Cold Steel series thanks to the story and character summaries.

Trails into Reverie happens after Cold Steel IV, setting the stage for future games

Take Your Time

This game is story heavy, so be prepared for a lot of cutscenes and dialogue. There is a lot of other stuff going on, but this is something to keep in mind; you can skip cutscenes if you want to dive right into the action and piece the story together later using the notebook, but this is the kind of game that is best enjoyed with a measure of patience. 

The game starts out at the end of a long series of trials and tribulations that the characters had become swept up in as various political entities grappled for power. It is an interesting place to pick up the story. The city state of Crossbell is celebrating its hard-won independence in the beginning of the game, and it doesn’t take a special kind of genius to figure out that this celebration of peace isn’t going to last very long. 

The overarching story is high-stakes; once again, the heroes are up against overwhelming odds, and it isn’t clear exactly how this came about. Its up to you to unravel the mysteries bit by bit and solve the new crisis. This isn’t to say that the game does not have its share of light-hearted, fun moments and interactions; it can even be quite funny when it wants to be.

Surely nothing will get in the way of such an important event

Have No Fear, Newcomers

I might be inclined to agree with players who recommend starting with the previous games in the Cold Steel arc mostly because Trails into Reverie holds some massive spoilers for previous games. Those wishing to test the waters aren’t going to get much out of the game unless they take a wholehearted plunge; with a long-running series such as this, you’re inevitably going to have to sink or swim at some point.

As someone who has had no exposure to the series prior to reviewing Trails into Reverie, I feel like the game does an admirable job of making itself accessible to newcomers. The story has an incredible depth and breadth; it truly felt like I was immersing myself in a new world filled with not only dozens of interesting characters, but a nuanced background of political intrigue. 

I am unable to judge Trails into Reverie by using other games in the series as a metric, so I can only talk about it within its own context. I found the story to be well-paced; it was exciting to switch over to the different characters and progress their stories. They all weave together in a satisfying way that had me invested once I started getting to grips with just who everyone is and what their roles are in this story.

A complex web of intrigue and personalities awaits you

Crossing Paths and Destinies

To explain a little more about the Crossroads system, it is a story mechanic that enables switching between three different main characters at various points and experiencing the events of the game from different perspectives. It is a well-executed and enjoyable way of making this adventure interesting while also exploring the massive cast of characters and the story as a whole.

Now that we’ve established that Trails into Reverie is big on characters and story, you might ask if it’s any good in either of these respects. To be quite honest, with such a vast game it is difficult to give a definitive answer here; there were parts I didn’t enjoy, like the first few dialogue-heavy opening hours, but that might be due to the fact that I was anxious to get the game underway. I did find most of the characters to be interesting, and once I had spent some time getting to know them, I enjoyed watching their stories unfold.

Playing Trails into Reverie has been an epic and valuable experience for me as a lover of RPGs in general. Reverie might not hit all the right notes for every RPG lover, but in my case I can say that it has made me want to explore the other games in the series. What once seemed impenetrable due to its history and complexity is now exciting. I guess you could say that I’ve been bitten by the Trails bug.

There are over 50 playable characters in this game

Gameplay: Top-Shelf Turn-Based Action

Trails into Reverie is everything you might expect from a well-respected and storied RPG, and possibly more. Exploration, a deep and satisfying combat system, mini games; you name it, Trails into Reverie has got it. It even has a fishing mini game!

This game has a sophisticated turn-based battle system with a massive roster of characters, each with their own unique abilities and special attacks. The staggering amount of choices the player can make at any given stage of the battle is (at least for me) unprecedented. I have to say there is something special about Trails into Reverie. I have played a few RPGs in my time, and many of them have good ideas that aren’t executed as well as they could have been. Not the case here at all.

Reverie has all the hallmarks of a typical turn-based combat system with several interesting features; for example, battles take place on a circular field and the various Arts and Crafts will have different areas of effect and the positioning of enemies and allies on this field will determine whether or not they are affected. This adds an interesting layer to the combat and can be important; you might have to decide to split your party up so they aren’t all in the AoE of an enemy’s attack, with the tradeoff being that you might not be able to heal or buff multiple party members for the same reason. 

You can skip attack animations if you’re in a hurry to get back to the story, but they are fun to watch

Technically Terrific

This is only the beginning. There are several other mechanics at play: the Combat Link System which allows for follow-up attacks, counters, among other things. There are also Bravery Points that are used for Link attacks or to issue Orders which can have a wide range of effects on the party, like increasing damage for a number of turns or increasing critical hit rates. What I am trying to say here is, this combat system is fantastic; it might seem complicated, but with a little hands-on experience it becomes a real pleasure.

I mentioned earlier that the game is story heavy, but it is no slouch in terms of gameplay. Anyone with exposure to the RPG genre should figure out the basics pretty quickly, but things really start to get exciting once the intricacies of the battle system come into play. There is nothing quite like getting through a tough battle by the a hair’s breadth where one wrong move could put you right back where you started.

It’s almost as if a RPG can’t be considered complete without a few mini games to enjoy. Trails into Reverie has a good selection of them: you can go fishing, play blackjack or poker at the casino, or play Vantage Masters (an in-game collectible card game) against various characters. There is no shortage of distractions to keep the player busy once the game has progressed far enough.

United Front is a mechanic unique to Trails into Reverie

Graphics and Audio: Here Comes A Heavy-Hitter

Trails into Reverie is about as good as it gets on Switch when it comes to the visuals. There is a lot to take in here; well-crafted maps, character models, and gorgeous animation. Off the bat I can say that it was clear throughout my time with Reverie that this is a high-effort game and that Nihon Falcom has gone the extra mile to make this game special. I have played better looking games on the Switch, but Reverie looks pretty good overall.

The game was originally launched exclusively on PlayStation 4 back in 2020. While Trails into Reverie isn’t the most visually impressive game on the market, I believe that it pushes the Switch to its limits. For the most part I played this game in docked mode, and experienced some framerate drops here and there. Nothing too devastating or noticeable, mind you. While I can’t comment on what exact framerate the game runs at, it runs smoothly 99% of the time, presumably somewhere around the 30fps mark. I certainly can’t fault the game too much for some minor, isolated performance issues. It holds up well in handheld mode too.

The game environments are rich and detailed, especially in the towns and cities. Each area looks and feels distinctive, and the same can be said about the characters. With the amount of areas to explore and characters to meet, this is quite the achievement. Trails into Reverie is, in a sense, a celebration of how far the series has come. It is a painstakingly well-crafted game in just about every respect.

This game looks and plays great on the Switch

Majestic Musical Execution

Trails into Reverie is a big game. It has an impressive and appropriately lengthy soundtrack. The soundtrack is over 3 hours in length and could warrant an entire review on its own. I took the time to listen to it in between playing the game; there is a wide range of musical styles incorporated here, from the more classically-styled themes to heavy rock riffs, blazing guitar melodies. There is also a chunk of electronica, with just about everything else in between. 

While it’s difficult to summarize a soundtrack with such a broad scope, I can say that it is clear that Nihon Falcom has not pulled any punches; with a total of 81 tracks, this is a formidable and excitingly varied soundscape that is unlikely to get repetitive. There are gentle piano pieces that evoke a sense of longing and nostalgia, grandiose themes, fast-paced boss battle tracks that create an atmosphere of tension. 

There are also many scenes that are voiced, and I found that (at least with the English voice tracks) the delivery was occasionally unconvincing. For the most part, the voice work is of a high standard, but certain characters sounded a little more wooden as if the actor was reading the dialogue off the script for the first time. Again, not something super noticeable; I have to confess, this is something of a nitpick and probably subjective for the most part.

I reviewed The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie on Nintendo Switch. The review key was provided by NIS America.