• Price: $59.99 USD (digital & physical)
• Developer: Falcom
• Publisher: NIS America
• Release Date: July 7, 2023 (NA & EU); July 14 (ANZ)

A review code was kindly provided by NIS America on behalf of Falcom. We thank them for being able to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

⚠️ SPOILERS FOR PREVIOUS GAMES AHEAD ⚠️

Required Reading & Gaming:

To get the most out of Trails into Reverie, you need to have played Trails of Cold Steel I-IV, plus Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure. NIS America posted the III & IX chapters from Cold Steel IV, which introduce new characters in Reverie. Those are also included in the Backstory section of the main menu. Finally, I’d recommend playing the three Trails in the Sky games if possible. If you haven’t played the Trails games before, I highly recommend them.

Rean Schwarzer and Lloyd Bannings have come a long way from their days as a student and rookie detective. After four games set in Erebonia (Rean) and two in Crossbell (Lloyd), I sure hope they – and their comrades – got some much needed rest/therapy. Because it looks like Rean, Lloyd, and a massive cast are about to face yet another threat to peace in the Zemurian continent…

Trails into Reverie is meant to conclude the Erebonian and Crossbellan arcs. A lot has happened there, and thankfully they included summaries of the previous games’ plots under the main menu. There’s also a gallery section containing gorgeous artwork for the Cold Steel games.

And speaking of bonus features, it’s probably best to purchase this game on the same platform you used to play the others, because having clear data for Cold Steel III–IV, Trails from Zero, and Trails to Azure gets you some nice bonus items to start off with.

Using IV clear data also allows you to partially transfer Rean’s bonding levels as well; whichever female character you chose will have a higher link level in Reverie than they would have without the save data. Everyone who you maxed out the (platonic) bonds with in that clear data also starts with higher bonds than usual. I really appreciate this level of integration between games, and the way the benefits give the player a leg up upon starting this game.

For Whom The (Cross)Bell Tolls 🔔

Rean and his allies put a stop to the Great Twilight and continental war – although not without Erebonian reparations, of course. Now, Rufus Albarea’s men in Crossbell, bitter over what they view as an affront to their Erebonian pride, have decided to occupy Crossbell to force the war to restart.

From his jail cell, Rufus asks his men to stop, but they refuse. After over three months of that Crossbell (re)occupation, Lloyd and the SSS successfully remove the forces holding the city against their will. Crossbell is internationally recognized as its own state again, and they plan a ceremony with foreign dignitaries.

Sadly, Rufus decides to channel his inner Maleficent and crash the party he wasn’t invited to, with his “Ebon Defense Force” at his side. The SSS isn’t enough to overcome their strength, and they are forced to flee and regroup. Crossbell has now been re-occupied again. And this time it will be much harder to regain Crossbell’s freedom…

Troublesome Trails

Meanwhile, Rean and his Class VII companions must investigate some alarming events in Erebonia. Elsewhere, a masked figure using Crow’s old alias (“C”) meets with Nadia and Swin, the child assassins from the III & IX chapters. As the self-proclaimed leader of the “Reborn Imperial Liberation Front,” C hires the pair for a job that leads them to a girl with mysterious origins. Somehow, the events from all three groups’ points of view are connected.

Using the Using the “Trails to Walk” menu, you’re able to switch to one of the other two routes to see what’s happening with those groups at about the same time. There are five acts in Reverie, and the individual routes in each act often prevent you from proceeding until you reach a certain point in the other route(s). I kind of like this method of storytelling – it may have been interesting during the civil war in Cold Steel II – but at the same time, it really limits your freedom.

Trails with a Twist

Combat remains the same for the most part, with the usual turn-based combat, orbal arts, (S-)crafts, Brave Orders, and link attacks. But they also updated the combat system again with the new “United Front” function, which allows you to use United Front Arts, Healing, or Attack commands if you have 5+ people in your main and backup party. “All for one, and one for all!”

You may have thought that the old and new members of Class VII made for a pretty big roster, but now there are even more party options. At some point, all three groups end up in a mysterious place called the Reverie Garden, which allows them to access the Reverie Corridor.

This world’s “function is to present trials, allowing [them] to cultivate the strength to overcome great distortions in [their] destiny.” After everyone can enter enter the Garden, all items, money, and notebook information become accessible to the other groups!

The Reverie Garden/Corridor doesn’t just provide a place for everyone to train; it also includes a mission board, shops, and entertainment options. Out in the real world, the three groups’ parties are limited for plot reasons, but when you enter the Reverie Corridor you can use anyone in your party.

I love crossovers, so being able to use characters from the interconnected Trails series together makes me incredibly happy. Using characters who usually aren’t an option is even better.

When the Reverie Corridor becomes available, I believe you can use it at any time as long as the game doesn’t tell you it’s temporarily unavailable. You go through a few floors and grind like usual, and pick up some treasure along the way. Then there’s a boss fight at the end of each level. It may sound like a standard dungeon, but there are special monsters and areas inside of it that have rare items for you to find.

You can choose to rearrange the corridor, which resets the levels, and respawns treasure chests and enemies too. The treasure chests contain much stronger equipment, quartz, or miscellaneous books and recipes.

I spent a decent amount of time resetting the dungeon over and over again to get more experience, items, and money. What’s really great is that you can get experience droplet items from enemies or by smashing things in the environment, which saves you some grinding time on the characters you use less.

Returning to the Reverie Garden area, you can report any completed missions to earn Reverie Points, and redeem Phantasmal Shards for different perks. Then you can update your equipment and quartz setups, and use any “Sealing Stones” from the dungeon in a gacha-esque mechanic to get even more items. I particularly enjoyed getting the costumes! And certain types of Sealing Stones unlock new Reverie-only characters for your party.

If you need a break from battle, check out the mini games in the garden. Duel your teammates in Vantage Masters, or play some Pom! Pom! Party!, Magical Alisa shooter levels, trivia games, and more. They included the standard beach scenarios and associated mini games here as well, and you can play through “Daydreams” to experience events with different cast members.

The Reverie Garden/Corridor combo is basically a one-stop shop for everything you could want or need, which is very helpful considering that you can’t really travel around like you could in previous games with Spirit Paths or airships.

While previous entries in the series did restrict you from going towards certain areas until necessary, in Reverie the locked scenarios for each group and their limited movement between locales would make it difficult to efficiently grind or purchase better equipment.

Due to the Reverie functions – and having fewer areas to explore – it seems like there are less missable items than usual, and less need for a guide to 100% the game. You also do not accept requests from people (except for one “unofficial” one I found), so I don’t believe there are any to really miss.

Part of the reason I’ve always enjoyed the Trails side quests so much is that they usually help you learn more about your current location or one of the characters – even if they are only a minor character at best. Mint was a side character as of the first Trails of Cold Steel, and I remember completing at least one request for her; she gradually ended up becoming a more and more important side character with each new game.

I’ve grown to love a lot of these minor NPCs doing these requests. It felt strange to not have them there to flesh out the world more. For me it does make it feel less like a traditional Trails game when you don’t have these small details. I was also a little disappointed about the lack of bonding points/events.

I really liked having so many characters to use, but at the same time I don’t think we got much in terms of meaningful interactions between them – especially the ones from different sub-series. It would have been nice to see a few proper hangout scenes during their downtime throughout the game.

As the main story progressed, the scenes with C, Swin, Nadia, and Lapis often provided me with a chuckle or two, but I think I got more information about Swin and Nadia from the above-linked chapters than I did during the game.

I also felt like the plot wasn’t as strong as it could have been. If Rean and Lloyd’s groups had joined forces earlier on, splitting the game into two longer routes (the other route belonging to C), I think that would have been an improvement. The overall story just didn’t resonate with me, was a little confusing, and I had more questions than answers at the end. Ultimately, it didn’t seem like any group accomplished much before the final act.

Additionally, the game’s performance on Switch wasn’t optimal. The loading times were comparable to those of Cold Steel III and IV on Switch. I also observed some frame rate drops as I got closer to the end, and a few characters’ link attacks didn’t appear to work right.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie is not perfect, but I will say that as a long-time fan of the series I was still overjoyed to have all of these characters together to use in battle. The Reverie Corridor and its multitude of activities will keep many Trails fans busy for a while. I definitely plan to continue exploring the corridor and preparing my party for a New Game+ run now that I’ve finished the game. It’ll keep me busy for a bit as I wait for The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails to arrive on Switch later this year.

8/10