The Legend of Heroes: Trails beyond the Horizon, the latest entry in the acclaimed Trails series, is coming this Fall! The series has come quite a long way since its first release over 20 years ago, and Trails through Daybreak and Trails through Daybreak II both added an unprecedented amount of new and revitalized concepts. So, in preparation for Trails beyond the Horizon, we're taking a special look back at what the Daybreak games added to the Trails series, from their exciting new gameplay mechanics to the intriguing setting of Calvard!
The Best of Both Worlds
First, let's take a look at gameplay. From the very beginning all the way up to Trails into Reverie, the Trails series has used a turn-based combat system that puts a ton of focus on timing your characters turns (including managing arts with long cast times), lining up powerful AOE attacks, and interrupting enemy attacks before they can go off. Trails through Daybreak, however, turns the series on its head by adding an additional all-new battle system!
The Field Battle system added in Trails through Daybreak gives players the option to tackle what would be run-of-the-mill encounters with new, fast-paced action RPG controls. Rather than carefully plotting out your turns, you can attack the enemy head-on and dodge their blows in real-time, speeding the process of leveling and adding a whole new level of excitement to the combat. This system is further refined in Trails through Daybreak II with the addition of Cross Charges and EX Chains that offer the player even further incentives to skillfully dodge attacks and stun their enemies before transitioning to Command Battle.
That's right: you can pivot to Command Battle mode (the original battle system of the Trails series) at any time you wish! This means that you get all of the fast-paced excitement of a new battle system without missing out on any of the depth and complexity the original system offered.
Vive la Calvard
The Trails series is most renowned for its story, so we've gotta take a look at what Daybreak had to offer in that department as well! Players of the previous entries in the Erebonia arc (such as Trails of Cold Steel III and IV) will be familiar with the Republic of Calvard as a foreign nation that was nearly drawn into a massive war with the Erebonian Empire. This nation has been mentioned throughout the series, but Trails through Daybreak gives players their first chance to explore it! Calvard has a unique identity within the Trails series, as a recent technological boom has taken the steampunk setting of Zemuria into a new age of orbal devices, such as household appliances, race cars, and even smartphones!
Trails through Daybreak starts out in the streets of the capital city, Edith, but follows a breadcrumb trail of intrigue that leads all across the nation, showing the player such varied sights as the rustic idyll of Creil, the technological hub of Basel, and even the oasis city of Tharbad, a jewel in the southeastern desert. Trails through Daybreak II adds the northern port city of Messeldam—a famed location for filming—and ups the ante with trips to the virtual world of the Märchen Garten, a fantasy land twisted by a malevolent outside force.
While exploring the wide reaches of Calvard, players step into the shoes of Van Arkride, a fixer-for-hire known as a "spriggan", who toes the fine line between law, chaos, and the gray in-between. Van is one of the most mature protagonists the Trails series has seen, and the stories of Trails through Daybreak and Trails through Daybreak II both reflect this with deeper, more complex themes that wouldn't have fit well in previous entries. But, as the other members of Arkride Solutions are quick to tell him, Van is not alone in his ordeals. The rest of the cast of the Daybreak games are as fun and varied as one would expect from a Trails title, and their boundless enthusiasm keeps the game from becoming too dark to bear.
Forward Toward the Horizon
That concludes our look back at all of the cool twists Trails through Daybreak and Trails through Daybreak II brought to their venerable series! The Legend of Heroes: Trails beyond the Horizon is coming Fall 2025, so now's the perfect time to get started on Van's previous excursions in Calvard and prepare yourself to see what's beyond the horizon! And if you want to be 100% ready for Trails beyond the Horizon, don't forget to preorder your copy of the Limited Edition from the NIS Online Store!
