The Legend of Heroes: Trails Into Reverie Review – Review

Bringing together characters from Nihon Falcom’s Trails in the Sky trilogy, Trails from Zero and to Azure, and the four Trails of Cold Steel games, Trails into Reverie serves as a dream-like bookend to nearly two decades of incredible turn-based RPGs. It’s worth highlighting that given all of the history and familiar faces that inform Trails into Reverie, you’ll be likely to derive more enjoyment based on how many of the aforementioned titles you’ve already completed. Reverie represents a wonderful send off for its endearing and expansive cast. Its use of a unique three-pronged narrative outweighs the lack of sidequests, but there’s no ignoring the performance hiccups that regularly crop up, which make the Switch version a clear compromise.

The story takes place after the events of Cold Steel IV and begins with the liberation of Crossbell, the home of protagonist Lloyd Bannings and his Special Support Section squadmates. As the people of Crossbell are about to celebrate their independence, former governor Rufus Albarea marches in with an army at his back and pronounces himself Supreme Leader, with the aim of unifying the entire world under his–and Crossbell’s–rule.

What makes Trails into Reverie distinct from its predecessors is the way in which you play from the perspective of three separate protagonists and can switch between them more or less at will. At times, you’ll be forced to swap among Rean Schwarzer, Lloyd, and a masked figure known only as “C”. Seeing the same plot unfold from a different point of view adds a welcome flavor to the story, and despite some uneven pacing, the end result is a satisfying journey that fans of the series are sure to love. I found the runtime a little shorter compared to many of the earlier games, but fortunately there is a decent amount of extra content to play around with.

Each protagonist has a dark mirror in their possession that transports them to a place called the Reverie Corridor, a multi-floor dungeon that houses most of that extra content. Within the dungeon you can collect orbs from defeated enemies that can be exchanged for mini-games, special cutscenes, in-game items, and even new characters to support you in battle. The floors of the dungeon can also be rearranged to provide a new challenge; missions attached to your time in the Corridor but also your achievements in the main story award shards that can be cashed in for benefits both in and out of the Reverie Corridor. Trial keys can be picked up within the dungeon and allow set groups of characters to take on challenging bouts that can supercharge their abilities. All in all, there’s lots of distraction to be found here, but you can finish the game without partaking in everything the Corridor has to offer.

The combat and presentation of the four Trails of Cold Steel titles are adopted for Trails into Reverie, and there’s plenty of welcome English voicework after the recent pair of Crossbell games launched on Switch without it. Given the sizable cast–including over 50 playable characters–the massive script getting English voices at all was wonderful to hear. One minor addition to combat is the United Fronts mechanic, which allows you to bring in both your current party and back-up members for a major attack that damages foes and provides an assortment of buffs. Otherwise, this top-of-the-line battle system remains essentially (and fortunately) unchanged, and it definitely ain’t broke.

An aspect of Trails into Reverie that really stands out is just how it rewards those who have stuck with the series from the beginning. Seeing bracers from Trails in the Sky’s Liberl Kingdom, Class VII and other classmates from Cold Steel’s Thors Military Academy, and so many of the charming folks in and around Crossbell makes for an experience that feels very much like a high school reunion. Nary an hour passes without an old friend popping up to say hello or join your ever-expanding roster of heroes, and before long members from different groups are amalgamating and heading off to complete separate missions, which offers players the opportunity to outfit a new party and master their unique Craft and S-Craft moves.

It’s no secret that the Nintendo Switch is starting to show its age, and after reviewing Cold Steel III, VI, and Trails from Zero on the platform, I can safely say that Trails into Reverie outdoes them all in terms of performance issues. Overly frequent loading screens occurring between cutscenes–sometimes lasting longer than the scenes themselves–really put a damper on one’s enjoyment of the story, particularly in the final hours of the game. In more populated outdoor spaces, like the capital city of Heimdallr, the framerate dips so much that there’s essentially no difference between how your character runs in normal mode or the toggleable “High-Speed Mode”. When exploration of these city spaces (or really any area filled with NPCs or enemies) is so hampered by the Switch hardware, it’s impossible not to long for a more powerful piece of tech. It should be noted, though, that these issues are much more prominent in handheld mode compared to docked mode.

While it may not be my favorite Trails game, Reverie is still a fantastic conclusion to the adventures of Rean, Lloyd, and the rest of their comrades and confidants. While the pseudo replacement of sidequests with side stories discovered in the Reverie Corridor doesn’t quite offer the same fulfillment, there’s no denying the sheer amount of things to do within this central hub area. It’s also very enjoyable to spend a couple hours with one group in one area of the continent and then shift over to a different group to catch up on how their mission is going. The stopping points where the game forces you to pick up another protagonist’s journey are natural and work well, and the combat and music are as engaging as ever. Any RPG fan who hasn’t played a Trails game needs to find time to remedy that glaring oversight, and know that you’ll have a captivating reunion-like experience waiting for you with Trails into Reverie. Even if it takes finishing a collection of 40-plus hour RPGs to get there.