Crow Country is both creepy and cozy.
August 6, 2026
Whenever I write a review, especially for a game I enjoyed, I find myself getting too wordy. I feel that happening as I’m sitting here getting my thoughts together for The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II. The thing is that I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this game as much as I did. I went into thinking it’d be more of the same with the same characters, the same fluff, the same “world-building” and the same nonsense that the series that makes the series so famous/infamous. I ended up experiencing one of the better games in the series. The 80 or so hours I spent with it didn’t feel that long. Unlike the game/series, I’ll try to not get too wordy but no promises.
Daybreak II has a recap video showing the events from the first game. After watching that, we’re taken back to Edith in the Calvard Republic. We’re subsequently taken back to our hero from the last game: Van Arkride. Since the events from the first game, Van has been hanging out in his office by himself for months since his part-timers have gone their separate ways. Almata’s threats have been taken care of and peace has mostly returned. The lite peace abruptly ends when the A Rank Bracer Elaine Auclair comes with a request – off the record. A series of murders has been committed by a beast that has a similar appearance to Van’s Grendel. Van and Elaine follow the trails of clues to find it and things don’t go well. In fact, they go horribly. When it looks like this will be the shortest Trails game ever, time rewinds. Van finds himself at a critical moment before he and Elaine begin their investigation.
Time rewinding and a monster that looks like the Grendel? The questions pour in at a rapid pace in Trails through Daybreak II. Many of them get answered when Van and his friends reach a Dead End in which everyone dies. I was trying to think of a game that had a similar concept where things end abruptly, and players are taken back to the point where they can decide to alter things. Think of the Virtue’s Last Reward series. It’s a neat concept. Sadly, the concept starts to become silly. Remember, this is a Trails game and that means the game is long. Seeing everyone reach their untimely end lacks that oomph after a while. That aside, the story was still enjoyable. Van is rejoined by his part time employees, as well as a sizable number of others. Fans of Reverie will be excited to see some familiar faces joining Arkride Solutions. I want to point that one of my favorite characters, Quatre, got a ton of development. I had a lot of questions about him from the last game, so it was nice seeing him in the spotlight.
Trails through Daybreak II looks the same as its predecessor. Once again, I played the Switch version on the Switch 2. The new and returning characters look fine; standard Falcom stuff. The same can be said for the enemies. Most of the story scenes play out with little action. As usual, there are some more fluid, cinematic moments thrown in to move things along but these are sadly rare. There were some good music moments, but nothing worth trying to remember.
At this point in the review, I’ll try to be succinct. That’s because there’s a lot of nifty features both new and old in Daybreak II. Falcom took everything from the previous game and tacked on a ton of extra stuff. 4SPG jobs are handled the same, but sometimes they require you to participate in a stealth mini-game. The areas you explore are filled with treasure chests, but some of them need to be hacked by Mare. Mare will hack into a cyber world and you’ll navigate her through a corridor, timing button presses to unlock gates, and have her get to a checkpoint. They’re short distractions that are a lot of fun, and the rewards are worth it. There’s also fishing. Your mileage may vary on fishing in RPGs, but it’s simple and fun in Daybreak II. Plus, the rewards are worth it.
Of course, there’re bonding events to learn more about your team and some select NPCs which help boost the party abilities. Cooking has returned with more dishes to discover and make. Similarly, there are new stores around Calvard you’ll visit for gear. Finally, there’s basketball. This game mini-game is a bit silly but it’s fun to watch a short character like Feri or Quatre go “AND ONE” on a tall athlete. There’s never a shortage of things to do (some I’m probably forgetting) when you’re not moving the story forward. Naturally, as you are moving things along in the narrative there will be moments when things get too wordy. It feels more amplified in Daybreak II because there are more characters. But, I (and others) should expect this by now.
Combat is another area that got improvements from the first game. Personally, I didn’t think it needed that much improving. However, one of the reasons my playtime was around 80 hours was because I spent a lot of time in areas filled with enemies and sought combat whenever I could. (As usual, I played on Normal difficulty and rarely found myself struggling). Most of the time, you’ll be swapping seamlessly between traditional Trails combat and real-time action. Both styles have new features worth mentioning. While hacking away in real-time, performing a perfect dodge will let you swap to a different character who can activate an instant charge attack. You can also activate a Quick Art to throw a spell for magic damage. Typically, after stunning at least one enemy, you can activate your shards to deal additional damage and enter the turn-based combat. With more characters to choose, new Arts that combine elements, new shard skills, new Xypha Drivers, and new character specific Crafts, it’d be very, very easy for me to get into the nitty-gritty of combat. But, I won’t. If you enjoyed combat in Daybreak then you’ll enjoy things in Daybreak II more.
There are story dungeons, but one of the most fun and rewarding areas that offer combat is the Marchen Garten. In this virtual world of randomly generated dungeons, you and your party must fulfill simple tasks (activate switches, fight certain enemies, etc.) to advance to the next area. Doing so grants a reward, and eventually, you’ll reach a boss. Defeating the boss takes you back to the home screen where you can unlock more rewards and upgrades. The rewards you get from going through Marchen Garten let you improve your characters Crafts, get new costumes and accessories, discover new music, and more. While the Marchen Garten is mostly optional, taking the time to go through each area as it unlocks is worth the time because of goods.
If I really wanted to, I could have added more hours to my 80 hours of play time. Finishing the game unlocks some sizable post-game content in the Marchen Garten. As much as I enjoyed the combat, I was ready to take a breath and put the game away. Additionally, there’s New Game Plus that can be used to blaze through the game again and continue Van’s relationship building. I’m curious about his bonds with some of the other characters I didn’t get a chance to spend much time with, but getting to those moments would still take a fair amount of time. It’s another one and done RPG, but that doesn’t make my recommendation any lower. If you enjoyed any part of the first Daybreak, then I’m confident you’ll enjoy Daybreak II. Personally speaking, yes, my low expectations and my unwritten rule of twos might have skewed things for me. But, even without those, I can confidently say The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II is a great entry. The next game in the series has its work cut out for it.
Overall, 8.5/10: A red Grendel. Jumping through time. A virtual paradise filled with danger. Basketball? All this and more come together in Trails through Daybreak II. And somehow, it all works.
