• Price: $59.99 USD (digital & physical; $1 for Switch 2 upgrade)
• Developer: Nihon Falcom
• Publisher: GungHo America
• Release Date: September 19, 2025

A review code was kindly provided by acttil on behalf of Nihon Falcom and GungHo America. We thank them for allowing us to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

Content warning: rated T for “Blood, Fantasy Violence, Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco.”

Newcomers and returning fans of the Trails JRPG series can finally enjoy the game that started it all in a new and improved version for Nintendo Switch. Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is the first of 13 games in the series, and if you’re a fan of games with lengthy (and interconnected) stories, a ton of lore, lovable characters, and dynamic battles, you’re in for a real treat.

The Trails series consists of multiple arcs set in the different countries across the continent of Zemuria. Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter starts us off in the country of Liberl, where main characters Estelle and Joshua Bright hope to follow in their father’s footsteps as Bracers.

Bracers are “combat and investigative professionals” whose authority is recognized by the government. They are capable of making arrests and mediating conflicts between countries. The primary objective of the Bracer Guild is to protect civilians, and Bracers take jobs ranging from monster extermination, solving crime, finding lost items, or escorting people to their destination.

Estelle and Joshua pass the test to become junior Bracers, and when their father suddenly leaves for a mysterious mission he leaves behind some jobs for them to complete on his behalf. The pair will travel to each region of Liberl and help citizens everywhere they go; the smallest of jobs may be the catalyst for something bigger…and more sinister.

The young Bright Bracers decide to travel on foot instead of taking an airship to the next regions, so they’ll learn a lot about what it’s like for the people in these places. The roads between towns are full of monsters that Estelle and Joshua can use to keep their combat skills sharp. You can choose to fight in 1 of the game’s 5 difficulty levels.

One major change they made was adding the option for real-time action battles, a feature first introduced to the series in Trails through Daybreak. Players can choose to fight battles using the real-time action mode or the traditional turn-based mode. (However, you can only face bosses in turn-based battles.)

Besides regular attacks with their weapons, Estelle, Joshua, and their temporary party members are all capable of using Artes (“magic”) and Crafts. 🎨 Using Orbment technology, players can customize the selection of Artes each character can use by equipping them with different Quartz.

I’ve always loved this system, and it’s fun to watch the animation for each Arte. The same could be said about Crafts, which are stronger abilities characters can use after building up enough CP, which are mainly acquired by dealing – and taking – damage.

Support Abilities are another way for characters to help out in battle. Not available in the original version, Support Abilities are passive skills that activate under certain conditions. As characters’ Support Ability levels increase, they’ll gain access to abilities such as counterattacks, finishing off an enemy with low HP, or healing an ally.

Once you’ve had your fill of monsters, you can enter the next town and check in with the Bracer Guild office in the region. You’ll accept the main request for a chapter, and the guild also has a bulletin board with side quests to complete.

Most – if not all – of the side quests are optional. (Apparently they added some new ones to the remake!) But skipping them means missing out on some of the all-important Bracer Points (BP) in the game, which are necessary for increasing your Bracer Rank. Every time you increase your rank, you earn a useful item.

The side quests also help flesh out the country of Liberl some more, and you’ll get to know the minor NPCs in the game (a few will be repeat clients). There are even some hidden side quests!

Historically, one of the hallmarks of the Trails games has been the hidden quests and missables. Players can collect special items that can be traded for amazing rewards towards the end of the game – but only if they have them all.

You can miss items or quests if you don’t find them before certain points in the story. Thankfully, they added these hidden elements to the map in the remake, with blue icons showing you where to find them. They also included great quality of life improvements such as fast travel.

The remake offers a reward/achievement system as well. You’ll earn quartz, accessories, and even a few costumes for completing tasks such as unlocking every orbment slot for a character, turning in a certain number of quests, or opening a number of treasure chests (I do miss the silly treasure chest messages from the original).

There’s a lot to do in this game besides the main quest, such as speaking to each NPC after major events to view their changed dialogue. (I’ve always appreciated how “alive” the NPCs seem in the Trails games when compared to the more static NPCs in other games.) Each Trails game also includes multiple newspaper issues, which cover recent events in the story as well as other local news.

Unlocking new recipes and cooking them to use as healing items is another useful activity from the original game, but they added dish variations and permanent stat increases for successfully cooking a dish for the first time. The cooking animations are great, too!

I really think it’s worth participating in everything that Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter has to offer – otherwise you end up missing out on rewards and entertaining scenes. (Tita’s side quest is one of my favorites!)

Besides the storylines full of political intrigue, the characters in the Trails series are what bring me back to the games again and again. The series offers a wide variety of character types, but I’ve never felt like they leaned too heavily into tropes.

You have the carefree tomboy Estelle, who may seem somewhat immature at first but grows as a person as she continues her journey to become a senior bracer. She often comes up with key observations at just the right moment. Adopted brother Joshua is more serious (and studious), but he’s not beyond making sassy comments.

While I certainly enjoy Estelle and Joshua as main characters, reigning drama king Olivier remains my favorite character. His over the top choice of “poetic” verbiage and reactions never fail to make me laugh.

Another aspect of the Trails series I’ve always appreciated is that they often write complex antagonists – both minor and major characters – who aren’t completely evil. While it’s true that some of them are completely irredeemable, it’s always interesting to see how circumstances cause certain antagonists to hinder our heroes in one instance but help (or at least not interfere with) them in another.

They increased the voiced lines in this remake, from the story dialogue to the lines encouraging party members in battle. The voice acting really helps the characters’ personalities shine through even more. (Again, Olivier was one of my favorites.)

Additionally, the soundtrack remains one of my favorites of all time, with memorable and emotional tracks such as “The Whereabouts of Light.” I always get chills hearing “奪還” (“Recapture”) and “銀の意志” (“Silver Will”).

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter marks the triumphant return of the first game in the series. As a longtime fan, I very nearly teared up watching the opening scenes with the updated 3D graphics. 🥹 The quality of life updates and added features put the game on par with the Switch versions of the other games in the series.

It took me about 60 hours to beat the game; this was including all of the side content. The story does end on a cliffhanger, and they offer us a glimpse of the next chapter of the Trails in the Sky series. Hopefully Western players will eventually get localized versions of the first 2 Cold Steel games on Switch as well.

I can’t wait to play the next chapter of Sky, but in the meantime I may replay this game in New Game+ with Estelle and Joshua wearing the hilarious (and free!) DLC mascot costumes the entire time. The stories may be serious, but they also know when to make our spirits… “Bright.” ✨ 😉

9.5/10