The Trails series is my favorite video game series of all time. Its characters, interconnected storylines between subseries, and rich lore continue to impress me (and I can’t forget those evocative soundtracks). It’s been a long journey across the continent of Zemuria since I started the series with Trails in the Sky on PSP in 2011.

Over the past twelve years, we’ve met Estelle and Joshua in Liberl, Rean and his massive cast of costars in Erebonia, and Lloyd’s Special Support Section in Crossbell. Even more recently, Swin and Nadia took the stage with everyone else in Trails into Reverie. Now the focus turns to the Republic of Calvard, which has received reparations after the war with Erebonia. The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak will arrive on Switch in the West in Summer 2024!

They released a demo for the game in Japan, and I just could not resist checking it out. I’m not fluent in Japanese, so I’m using a combination of Google Translate and jisho.org to get the basics of the plot. I don’t believe the West will get the demo too, but I could be wrong. In Japan, you can use the save data from the demo in the full version.

As a lot has happened in the previous games, the main menu includes a section with a brief summary and timeline of the events in the previous series, plus some explanations of technology, places, and organizations. After looking through that content, I started the game. There are 5 difficulty levels ranging from Very Easy to Nightmare.

From what I can make out, the game opens in the capital of the Calvard Republic about a year after the events of Trails into Reverie. A young woman named Agnes Claudel comes to main character Van Arkride’s office to ask for his help. Van completes jobs that the police and military are unable or unwilling to do. Agnes wants his help tracking down an item.

He eventually agrees to take the job, and you’ll get a brief introduction to a small part of the city – and important NPCs – as you make your way to a possible informant. We meet a reporter named Marielle along the way, who could end up acting as Nial/Dorothy and Grace’s counterpart in the Republic of Calvard. I liked what I saw of Bermotti, a bartender who provides Van with information – he reminds me of Olivier a little bit. I can just picture him getting dragged out of Bermotti’s establishment by Mueller at Schera’s behest. 😂

Anyways, Van allows Agnes to accompany him for the basic investigation, but when the trail leads them to an underground area with monsters he tells her to wait in a safe area. However, she’s taken some combat classes at school, and she asks to tag along.

Combat is a little different here, it seems. It’s still turn-based, but you move around the field and simply press A to attack instead of using a command menu like in previous games. Using crafts also seems to go faster, as you just press R and select a craft instead of scrolling through the command prompts like before. Shard Skills are a new addition to the battle system, and seem to be some kind of passive benefits.

You will be able to go up to enemies in the field and slash at them to immediately deplete their HP. I think this is where the info on a mixture of turn-based and action combat comes from for Daybreak, and we’ll be able to choose which mode to use.

Van uses a special AI called Mare in his Xipha battle orbment. The newest generation of battle orbments looks pretty sleek and streamlined in design. It seems like you can’t use arts outside of turn-based battles (but don’t quote me on that). Between the two battle modes I think I still prefer the classic turn-based combat, but the variety is nice.

Of course Van and Agnes end up running into trouble, and a mysterious artifact gives Van extra strength that could turn the tide of battle. This power up looks pretty cool, and it allows you to make several moves in a single turn. Does Van emerge victorious with the additional power, or is he still defeated for plot reasons? You’ll have to find out. 😎

By the end of the prologue, the current request for Agnes has come to a close. Van is interested enough in what comes next for Agnes that he agrees to help her out, and she in turn cons him into taking her on part time. Based on my understanding of their personalities, I think I’m going to enjoy them working together. And with some familiar faces and technologies making an appearance in the Republic of Calvard, I’m even more excited for the game’s localization after playing this demo.