Welcome to EXPlay, (Explain & Play) the review series where we care not for scores, but tell it how it is when it comes to every game we get our hands on, all whilst including some lengthy gameplay, to give you, the reader, the chance to form your own impressions and views while reading and watching.
In this explanatory review, we’re covering The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak by developer, Nihon Falcom:
The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak IIÂ (Nintendo Switch)
With the Trails series finally nearing its end, there’s still time for a couple more stories to play out. It’s because of that mindset that the developers over at Nihon Falcom were able to band together once more to deliver another outing for Van and the gang, in the form of The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II. It was previously released in Japan, back in 2022, but just in time for Valentine’s Day, an international multi-platform release has arrived.
As a numbered sequel to The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak, fans of the series would be wise to assume it is a direct sequel that continues the exploits of Van Arkride, a spirggan by trade but an overall good guy by nature. A few months have passed since the Almata mafia was defeated, and a thrilling climactic battle ensued, but Calvard’s problems are far from over.
Van is no longer the only person capable of assuming a Grendel form because every time the crimson beast makes an appearance, a trail of bodies is left in its wake. But, until Van can prove the new Grendel is someone else, it is down to Van, Elaine Auclair, and a whole ensemble of friends, new (Swin Abel and Nadia Rayne) and old, to clear his name and uncover new mysteries.
But for any player wishing to dive right into The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II, but need a refresher, The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak has you covered. Whether starting a new playthrough or checking out the game’s archive menu, a Daybreak Recap is accessible via Movies. By watching it, players are presented with a four-minute-long video that covers the main events from the first game.
Also available in the archive menu, are other movies you’ve already unlocked, an informative backstory section that covers the history of previous Trails titles, and the series timeline. There’s also a series glossary that provides a deep dive into all things Trails. There are also informative character profiles that are well worth reading, so no matter how fresh or distant all things Trails are in your head, The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II makes every effort to bring players up to speed.
Whilst we won’t go too into story details, as we’d rather avoid spoilers entirely, The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II’s story can, at times, feel weaker than that of the first game. This is in part due to the game’s time-rewinding mechanic. Instead of adapting The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask’s three-day rule, The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II sees the return of Agnès Claudel, and has her use her Oct-Genesis, to rewind time when the likes of Van die in battle.
Although Van remembers what happened and it encourages players to find a new path to drive the game’s chapter-based story forwards, there are a couple of times the rewinding of time mechanic, dilutes a character’s progression. It also cheapens the intensity of a death scene as the more it happens, the less impactful the scene becomes. It also makes the third act more repetitive than it needs to be. On the flip side, since there are multiple stories to playthrough, at least this time around, you get to experience a story in full before changing to the next one, as opposed to jumping back and forth constantly.
But, one positive we can draw from, is the developers of Nihon Falcom, continue to go over every detail and flesh out the NPCs in more ways than ever before. Even NPCs who appeared in the previous title are back with their backstories being more fleshed out this time around. It’s world-building at its finest and the closer you inspect each line of dialogue, location, or character, the more you’ll notice.
Onto the gameplay itself, being an RPG and sequel to The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak, Daybreak II is very much the same in a number of ways, but improvements and new additions have been included. For starters, whereas Daybreak removed mini-games, Daybreak II has reinstated them. One such mini-game is fishing, (everybody act surprised.) Fishing is something of a regular activity in previous Trails games, but this time around it is better handled and feels a lot more polished in its execution.
There is even a basketball-themed challenge, and a hacking mini-game, where players take control of Mare, Van’s reliable holo. In this mini-game, you must traverse a timed maze in virtual reality avoid obstacles wherever possible, and reach the end. There is even a mini-game where you must follow an NPC, sneaking around behind them. Not too close so you get caught, but not too far away either.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak, Daybreak II also has an optional dungeon crawler mode in the form of the Märchen Garten. Created as a virtual location by the Marduk Company. Due to an unknown hacker taking control of the Märchen Garten, Van is hired by Mirabel Aalton to enter Märchen Garten and take back control. This is done by advancing through the Märchen Garten’s areas, clearing the assigned objectives, and making gates appear that take Van and the gang, deeper down the rabbit hole.
Exploring the Märchen Garten provides players with the means of acquiring useful items and upgrades that can immensely help level up your preferred group of four characters and where items fail, the exp gain will soon level up your weaker characters, turning them into useful allies for when the time comes. As for the main gameplay and combat of The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II, the Law, Gray, and Chaos (LGC) alignment system, is back but has less of an impact on the overall story.
When controlling Van, or your preferred lead character, players can explore the available area, using the typical button inputs, to switch characters, bring up the settings, or make Elaine run faster. There are also two ways to fight your enemies, as turn-based combat is back, but so is the option of controlling one character charging weaker opponents and mashing buttons to take them down quickly.
The latter (Field Battles) are more fluid and genuinely preferred when dispatching weaker foes. But when it comes to bosses or enemies capable of obliterating your entire party, it is time to take turns with Command Battles. With a team of four players to control, players are free to strategize as best as they can, as they move each character across the scene of battle, to link up, attack together, let loose with abilities, or just take advantage of EX-Skills.
Now, aside from a couple of bugs and typos in dialogue, it is worth pointing out that for a game full of text and dialogue, the English release of Daybreak II, is a worthwhile translation, with many of the game’s protagonists delivering their lines to perfection. The recordings are clear as done and heartfelt emotion is ours to listen to.
While The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II plays a little too safe at times, with some of its new features being adapted versions of features utilized before in previous Trails games, at the end of the day, more Daybreak is a good thing. Van and the gang know how to have a good time, thanks to the reintroduction of mini-games and engaging combat mechanics.
Game Specifications:
Developer: Nihon Falcom
Publisher: NIS America
Platform: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Category: Role-playing, Action, Adventure
No. of Players: 1 (Single System)
Release Date: February 14, 2025
Price: $59.99
File Size: 16.6 GB
Nintendo.com Listing
