It takes a village. Resident Evil Village.
February 27, 2026
In 2011, I briefly played The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky for the PSP. I didn’t get very far. Critics and fans alike praised the game’s dialogue and world-building. I pushed back on that claim because said dialogue and world-building were nothing but mounds and mounds of dialogue that never went anywhere. After dropping it, I later learned that the game didn’t “pick up” until the end of the second chapter. I knew I made the right choice in stopping while I was ahead. For those that were playing normally, this point would have been the 25(!!!) hour mark. All this to say, the PSP version of Trails in the Sky wasn’t it. And by now, you’re probably wondering why I’d bother with a remake. Four words: “scene skip” and “fast forward.” The story in Trails in the Sky First Chapter does have some interesting parts. In the original, you’d have to endure loquacious blathering. Now? You can skip as much as you want to get to the good stuff.
Trails in the Sky is about Junior Bracers Estelle Bright and her adoptive brother Joshua Bright. The kids of Cassius Bright, one of the most well-known Bracers in Liberl, Estelle and Joshua are finishing their Bracer entrance exam. They pass. They become Junior Bracers. There’s merrymaking. And then, Cassius suddenly leaves for some urgent and clandestine business. This throws Estelle and Joshua. But, in the meantime, they decide to continue their Bracer work. In doing so, they get inadvertently wrapped up in Cassius’ new mission. This ultimately leads to them discovering some darker secrets about Liberl, the Bracer Guild, the governing bodies that call the shots, and Joshua’s life before being adopted by Cassius.
I’ll start with the good. I like Estelle, Joshua and most of the faces that join them. I like the villains despite some of them being predictable. I like the world of Liberl. I especially enjoy the narrative when things get going. The operative word there is “when.” Like the PSP original, this remake takes the term “slow burn” to a different level because it takes its sweet time. Is it world-building? Character development? Not to me. Furthermore, the advice that others gave about playing until the end of Chapter 2 is flawed. Things didn’t pick up steam until the middle of the third chapter. But, it’s important to remember that there are options to skip scenes and speed through text.
“So, if the story was such a drag then why keep playing?” I’ll be fair in saying that the story isn’t a total drag because it does pick up. But, to answer the hypothetical question, my answer is the gameplay. It really made up for the story’s shortcomings. The PSP’s game loop was mostly standard stuff we’ve seen before. In the remake, there was a seismic and modern shift. Longtime fans of the series will recognize said shift. In the original, battles were turn-based. Here, combat follows a formula first featured in Trails through Daybreak that combines both real-time action and turn-based combat. Outside of boss fights, your party can perform standard attacks and Craft Attacks against enemies to deal damage. There’s also a dodge that can be performed to not only evade attacks but instantly fill the Craft Meter so Craft Attacks can be continuously performed. Doing this will slowly build up a gauge against on enemies. Once that gauge is filled, the enemy will be temporarily stunned. The action is basic but works; primarily useful for dealing with enemies weaker than the party. The true purpose is to get at least one enemy stunned, and then press a command to enter a turn-based battle with an advantage. This is another aspect of the game that mostly delivers.
The typical battle begins with via stunning an enemy, entering a turn-based battle, and using a variety follow-up attacks. After that, the turn order is displayed and turn-based combat begins. Fans of the series will recognize things like turn bonuses, Arts, S-Crafts cancelling, and positioning. But there’s a lot more to it that gets unlocked at a nice, gradual pace. The biggest issue is that a lot of the regular enemies in the later chapters have inflated hit points. What should take a few rounds to complete ends up taking much longer. This is based on my experience playing on the regular difficulty level. But, once again, players can skip most animations and fast forward.
Things outside of combat will feel familiar to anyone. Along with plentiful shops for buying items and gear, there are shops where you can customize your equipment and craft new Quartz. Once again, combining the right set of Quartz will unlock various Spell Arts. It’s really fun to experiment and see which combination gives the best boosts and the best spells. There’s also cooking. I know, I know. Cooking in an RPG can be a silly, often unnecessary feature. That’s not the case here. Estelle and Joshua can put their own unique twist on the massive list of recipes to create new dishes. Also, successfully cooking a new dish for the first time grants a permanent bonus. It’s worth the time to cook, especially since most of the ingredients needed can be bought for cheap at a store. Finally, there are side-quests – and lots of them. When not advancing the story, Estelle and Joshua can take on non-story Bracer Guild requests to build their reputation and get justly rewarded for it. There’s more to do, but I covered the important bits.
The crisp 2D sprites in an isometric setting have been replaced with life sized 3D models and vast, semi-open areas. I’ll always run defense for 2D sprites, but this new look is something special. I played the Switch version on my Switch 2 mostly in handheld mode. It looked amazing whether handheld or docked. The characters are expressive, the special attacks and spells are over the top, and everything just moves and flows well. Things never slowed down even when the screen was crowded with townsfolk or enemies. In regards to music and sound, it’s all as great as we’ve come to expect. Most of the voice acting was excellent, although the one behind Schera’s voice had me scratching my head. Her line deliveries felt forced despite the actor’s pedigree.
My playtime in First Chapter was a little over 50 hours. I reached that time after doing every side-quest and cooking almost 100 percent of the dishes. I skipped/fast forwarded everything that wasn’t important. Had I not utilized those features, then I think my playtime would have been closer to 75 hours. Naturally, the game ends with unanswered questions, cliffhangers, and the usual stuff that you’d expect from a game with “first chapter” in its title. Knowing that the second chapter will have the same QoL features, I’ll be hopping into it. I won’t go as far as to call myself a Trails fan yet. But, if this momentum keeps up maybe I’ll finally get there. The Trails series seems like it should be up my alley on paper. But, there was always something that caused me to stop playing. It took over ten years, but it feels like the series is moving in the right direction.
Overall, 7/10: Trails in the Sky First Chapter is another example of a good remake. While some of the original’s problems creeped in, the new look and gameplay outshone them.
