Trails Beyond the Horizon almost reaches the cosmos.

It’s crazy to think that I’ve finished six games in The Legend of Heroes: Trails series this year. The most recent game I finished was The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon. The game takes place months after the events of Trails through Daybreak II, a game that I thought would be dull filler. Daybreak II ended up being one of my favorites, so I had high hopes for Horizon. For the most part, I wasn’t let down. My usual issues still proliferated this entry, but they seem to get less obnoxious as the series continues. I recommend this game, but it’s important to have played Daybreak and Daybreak II to get the most out of it.

Beyond the Horizon starts with Van, Feri and Bergard in the middle of a combat exercise. One of the exercise’s goals is to test new Shard functionality from Marduk Total Security Company. Another goal is to test Arkride Solutions’ resolve. Van and his crew aren’t the only ones undergoing the exercise. Representative from the church led by Kevin Graham and representatives from Thors Military Academy led by Rean Schwarzer have also been put to work. After the three teams finish their exercise, they’re welcomed by both the head of Marduk and President Roy Gramheart. Van and the others are enjoying the merrymaking and socializing until President Gramheart makes a new announcement: Zemuria is about to launch its first-ever manned mission into outer space. Most of the continent is celebrating this news. However, Van, Kevin, Rean, and their comrades are suspicious. Why now of all times for an outer space exploration? What’s the president’s endgame?

I remember playing the first Daybreak and seeing one scene where both the president and Rene Kincaid were hinting at space exploration. It was a quick scene, but I remember it happening and wondering the point of it. Now in Beyond the Horizon, it’s one of the game’s biggest plot points. Players learn plenty about characters new and old, about Zemuria, about various factions, and about new villains but things always circle back to heading into the final frontier. You’ll go through the game from three perspectives: Van’s, Kevin’s, and Rean’s. Since the cast has expanded exponentially, it means the dialogue and chatter has increased that much more. Surprisingly, there was less filler/fluff/”world building” in this entry despite being filled with dialogue.

The bonds and camaraderie built between everyone feels mostly natural. Unfortunately, some of the big reveals and some of the writing decisions were far reaching – even for an RPG. The biggest example of this is when characters thought long dead suddenly pop back into the picture because…reasons. No one ever stays six feet under in this series. This series has a massive cast; they can afford to keep some of them buried. The cause behind this DOES get revealed but still. It feels like a slap in the face when you see characters supposedly long gone step back onto the stage. All that to say the narrative is the usual stuff you’ve come to expect from Trails. There’s plenty to say about this, that, and the other thing. There are some neat reveals and some not-so-neat. At the center of it all is an outer space theme.

I had a lot of praise in my review for Daybreak II. Most of that praise was for new features added. For the sake of time, I will happily say that all said features have returned to Beyond the Horizon: there are new 4SPG missions, there are stealth missions, there are maze-runner locked chests, and there’s plenty of things to buy, create, and customize. Taking it a step further, cooking and fishing have returned and are still worth the time. There’s even a new bonus area like the Marchen Garten that’s tied to the story. Horizon’s version is called the Grim Garten. Half of my 90+ hour playtime was spent in the Grim Garten. The Grim Garten takes a bit of adjusting to after the Marchen Garten, but it’s worth it. It’s so easy to kick back and lose yourself in this massive yet succinct bonus area. It’s also a good spot to talk with the entire cast to hear their outlooks on the current situation.

Combat is the same in that it has upgrades from Daybreak II. Once again, for the sake of time, I’ll say that the old features introduced in Daybreak II are present, accounted for, and enjoyable. In this review I want to highlight the new things. First, certain characters like Van or Judith can activate an Awakening during Field Battles to transform and decimate the enemies for quicker stuns. Second, there’s Zone of Control (ZoC) that can be activated in Field Battles and in Command Battles. In the field, time will slow down for a small period allowing you to land blow after blow. ZoC has a cool down time so it can’t be spammed, but it’s so powerful that chances are you’ll have an enemy stunned during its activation. In Command Battles, using two Shard Boosts will activate ZoC. This gives the user two turns in a row. So, if you want to use an art immediately, then activating a ZoC will do that. Do you want to use two crafts back-to-back? ZoC is your answer. It’s incredibly useful. (Bosses have access to this, too.) Third, there are Shard Commands. The team can use these at the cost some of the Boost Gauge to provide the entire party with powerful benefits. These can offer higher defense, more CP recovery, shorter recovery time, and more. But, enemies can use their own Shard Commands and cancel out the party’s. Finally, there are Blitzes. When the BLTZ icon appears as an action bonus, it means a party member in reserve will lend their aid to the command.

Whether it was a story-related area or the Grim Garten, I never grew tired of combat. Like I said, a hefty amount of my playtime was due to seeking any opportunity available to do battle. As usual, I played the game on Normal level difficulty and never had any fear of getting a game over. Some battles were more challenging than others, but there were so many resources available for getting out of tough situations. The larger party size meant more room for finding a favorite battle squad in the Garten. Outside the Garten, I was still able to set up each team so the members had good synergy. This brings me to a minor issue: setting up shard skills. These are mostly unchanged from before, but the issue comes with the constant need to swap them around when you go from chapter to chapter. Near the end of the game, it took me upwards of 15 minutes to get the party properly set with their shards/shard skills.

Those that read my previous Trails reviews know that I played the Switch versions. Azure and Zero performed and looked great. Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter (surprisingly) performed and looked fine. Reverie, Daybreak and Daybreak II…had some issues. The presentations worked but it’s clear that a PlayStation (or PC…ugh) were the consoles meant to handle the series in full 3D. With Beyond the Horizon, I played the Switch 2 version. This was my first taste of what the series should look like. Whether docked or handheld, the game looked and performed magnificently. While I don’t regret playing other entries on a more hardy console, I do wish I could have seen them in their full glory similar to Beyond the Horizon’s. Alright. The game looks close to perfect. Music, voice acting, and sound are all on point usual.

Trails Beyond the Horizon will be the last game in the series I finish this year. And, what a game it was. I was ready for it to end by the time it did after 90+ hours. New Game Plus will carry over items, money, levels, and a bunch of other things. I’m still surprised how much I took to the series when I realized that that, for me, the only things missing were minor features such as scene-skipping and fast-forwarding. Beyond the Horizon has those features, of course, but it also delivers in terms of being fun. Creating a narrative that frequently pulls focus from Van was a risky move that mostly paid off. Especially when everything comes together in an epic, unexpected conclusion. I have no idea where the series is going to go from here but my interest is piqued. Just like President Gramheart’s ambitions for space travel, the sky is the literal limit.

Overall, 8.5/10: The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon recycles, updates, and upgrades everything from Daybreak II and rockets Van’s tale in a cosmic way.