Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon review

Another step in this long journey, but an important one

From making a coin disappear to levitation, magic tricks are a delight to watch — even when we know we’re being fooled. But no daring escape compares to the pleasure of learning the secrets behind a trick. There’s a forbidden joy in understanding the deception and all the sleight of hand that took place right in front of us.

In The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon, developer Nihon Falcom takes off its cape and top hat to finally reveal what’s been happening behind the curtains of its previous games all this time — while preparing the stage for next and final acts.

As the thirteenth game in the RPG series, and the third one to use Falcom's new engine, Trails Beyond the Horizon is not focused on showcasing technological progress, but on refining what has been established already. Rather than loading up its latest game with new innovations, Falcom perfects features introduced in the previous two Daybreak games. There's some improvement, sure. Field battles are more dynamic, the character models are sleeker, and the combat choreography is at its most thrilling. However, Trails Beyond the Horizon's greatest achievement isn’t one of design or tech. Instead, it’s the attention to narrative that shines.

Trails Beyond the Horizon picks up a few months after the events of Trails Through Daybreak 2. We’re dropped into the euphoric republic of Calvard as the country's space program starts getting closer. The Trails series has always been interested in discussing the impact technology has on the many layers of a society. Since the Trails in the Sky games, part of the narrative emphasizes the transformation and importance of Orbal technology, the foundation of all modern Zemurian societies. The Trails of Cold Steel games study how trains and railroads transform the lives of people — and even the nature of warfare itself. In Trails Beyond the Horizon, Falcom amplifies this discussion by showing how a space program can not only be a sign of a nation's progress, but a cause of concern to other countries and institutions.

To illustrate the magnitude of the space program and how a world-changing event like launching a rocket sets multiple forces in motion, the game follows a three-route structure, similar to what Falcom used in Trails into Reverie (2020). The main route is led by Van Arkride, the fixer who has served as the protagonist of the two latest entries in the series. While keeping things fresh with Van, Falcom also brings back two familiar characters to lead the remaining routes: Erebonia's former Ashen Chevalier, Rean Schwarzer, and the Sceptian Church's heretic hunter, Kevin Graham. Although Rean played a major role in Reverie, the last time Kevin was a playable character was in Trails in the Sky the 3rd, released in 2007.

Seeing these two characters with updated visuals is the kind of treat Trails fans adore, but their presence serves a greater purpose. By bringing Rean and Kevin back, Falcom removes its top hat and reveals that much of what has happened during the last twenty years of the series (and around seven in-game years) was building towards Trails Beyond the Horizon and whatever comes next. It proves that the Trails series has not merely been a worldbuilding experiment all this time, but a carefully designed narrative. From Kevin's adventure in Liberl and literally hell, to creating a four-game-long journey to develop Rean and foreshadow some important events through the end of Trails of Cold Steel 4, Falcom has been weaving a complex tapestry — one that only now we can begin to understand.

Each one of the three protagonists, along with a group of companions, follow distinct paths that, although connected, never intertwine. The only moments when the groups meet each other after the prologue occur during the dungeon-crawling sessions performed in the Grim Garten, a virtual-reality dungeon tied to a long sidequest. Regardless of how much I wanted to see all my favorite characters fighting together, Trails Beyond the Horizon is not the right moment. Gathering all major characters would suggest the final battle is close. But it is not. Rean and Kevin have their own stories to follow and Horizon has the goal to put them closer to the events surrounding Van and the rest of Zemuria.

By keeping the groups distant from one another and dividing their stories into routes, Falcom creates a fantastic political, techno, and action thriller all at once. Maintaining the Trails series' unquestionable distrust to powerful institutions, Falcom made me question the intentions of everyone Van encounters. In one moment, a savior becomes a villain, and the initially mistrustful view of a character's goodwill proves to be justified. Eventually, the cape comes off, revealing who the real antagonists are and the plan behind their actions.

After 90-plus hours of gameplay, I felt like my whole understanding about the series had been shaken by the truths revealed in Trails Beyond the Horizon. It's a feeling that's difficult to explain to anyone who hasn't been deeply engaged with a long-running narrative like the Trails series. The memories and feelings built from having played all the 12 games released until now were put in check by Horizon — and I love it.

Watching the hidden cards get placed on the table is exhilarating. Comprehending the beautifully complex schemes that culminated in Trails Beyond the Horizon leads to an unfathomable catharsis. On both macro and micro levels, Falcom delivers a tight, witty writing that leverages the studio's experience and signature multi-layered narrative style.

Trails Beyond the Horizon is still just another step toward the end of this long series, though. Instead of wrapping things up for Van, Falcom pushes his story further, giving it a scale quite unprecedented in the series. Don't get me wrong: It explains a lot about some secrets that have been lingering since the series' beginning. Even so, the RPG is far from fulfilling the implicit promise its ominous Japanese subtitle ("Farewell, O Zemuria") carries. Horizon is not a goodbye. It's the first glimpse of the epic final steps that lie ahead.