• Price: $59.99 USD (physical & digital)
  • Digital Deluxe Edition: $79.99
  • Digital Ultimate Edition: $129.99
• Developer: Nihon Falcom
• Publisher: NIS America
• Release Date: February 14, 2025

Content warning: rated T; child abuse, cults, anti-immigrant sentiments, mentioned sex work, trafficking, mass murder, terrorism, etc.

After defeating mafia organization Almata, Van and the Arkride Solutions team reunite in The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II, which takes place several months after the events of the first game. Law enforcement agencies continue to clean up the mess left behind by Almata, and our heroes have taken some time off to complete some personal errands. Sadly, this brief respite was just the calm before the storm, with a serial killer now on the loose in the capital of Calvard.

Van starts to investigate the murders because they may be connected to something related to the Arkride Solutions team. There’s a shocking twist towards the end of the prologue that I definitely was not expecting. What happens is so unbelievable, and once I got through the prologue I was even more excited to see where they were going with the story.

The story in Daybreak II is split into different routes, similar to the format in Reverie. Swin and Nadia, who were introduced in that game, now take the stage in this one. They’ll help out the members of Arkride Solutions who stay behind in Edith as Van checks out some leads in other areas of the country with a few other characters.

As usual you can complete the optional side quests, which flesh out the world and even continue the storylines of NPCs from the previous game. The alignment system returns for the second game, which I really like because it’s kind of like a “choose your own adventure” element for the way the side quests end. I will say that I was a little disappointed that it doesn’t have any impact on the main storyline like it did in the first game.

They introduced “topic quests,” which are essentially the same when it comes to talking to NPCs to gather information except you’ll acquire new topics to choose between when you talk to the next person. I thought this was a fun addition. Topic quests aren’t “high stakes,” with possible witnesses conveniently marked on the map for you and no loss of SP for using topics on the wrong people. You just get some extra dialogue from the ones who aren’t relevant to the quest.

Additionally, they created some new mini game features for quests that really made me feel like I was participating in covert operations. You have to follow suspicious NPCs without getting caught, hiding to lower the “seen” meter while also making sure they aren’t out of sight for too long. A new feature called Shard Search allows you to track people’s footprints or other helpful clues.

Then in virtual space you get to “hack,” using an avatar such as Mare or FIO to avoid patrolling guardians and make your way to the end. (The traps you can place are so funny and cute.)

Naturally you’ll find yourself fighting enemies of the human and monster variety as you complete the main storyline and any side quests. They kept a lot of the same mechanics for battles, such as the option of field (action) battles that was introduced for the first time in Daybreak. However, they also added some new features – some of which resolve the complaints I had about the first game.

For one thing, we can now use “Quick Arts” in field battles, which are ranged magical attacks with a cooldown period before reuse. I did wish we could set multiple arts to shortcuts similar to the Rune Factory games, but I was pleased that they made this change. And speaking of Arts, they also created “Dual Arts,” which as the name implies is a spell with 2 elemental affinities.

Some players may be a little disappointed that we still can’t fight bosses in field battle mode (with one exception). Personally it doesn’t bother me too much. Training grounds of sorts become available, where you can at least fight some large enemies with a decent amount of HP in field battles. I love how this area includes rewards (like costumes) and mini games similar to those of the Reverie Corridor.

Of course, the main challenges will come from the game’s antagonists; new faces appear to threaten the team. I was totally shocked by some of the opponents participating in boss battles in this game. I’ve got to say that while I think they did an amazing job casting all of the English voice actors, the particularly malicious villains continue to stand out.

Overall the story was a bit confusing and convoluted compared to the first game. Despite the destruction of Creil Village in Daybreak, I think the story in Daybreak II is actually darker in many respects. It felt more personal. And I feel like I keep saying this in this review, but I was very surprised by the identity of the main villain and their “co-conspirator” of sorts.

In between the dark and serious moments, players can use their free time to participate in optional activities. Unlike the first game, this one lets you go fishing! There are new mini games, and cooking and movies are back. Although the movies are short stories, I still find the addition of voice acting, CGs, and character reactions really impressive. The Mishy movie was one of my favorites in the last game, and Pon the Crop Muncher tugged on my heartstrings in this one.

As far as the Arkride Solutions team is concerned, I was happy to get more background information on their pasts – even when they’re sad. Many of their interactions make me laugh, and when other important characters join them temporarily the entertainment just doesn’t stop. It was cool to see a few minor characters from Liberl and Crossbell made an appearance. And I wasn’t too sure about Director Gotti in the first game, but he actually won me over here.

From what I remember there seem to be less Connection Events compared to the first game, but there are a lot more events that focus on raising 2 characters’ Connection Levels at once here. Considering Van’s “gray” morality, I do wish that we could also have events focused on characters like Lucrezia or Walter. Can you imagine an event with Harwood?!? 😂 Anyways, there are definitely some very heartfelt moments as well; I cried at Renne’s Connection Event in the finale.

Daybreak II improves on many of my minor complaints about the first game and enhances the experience in ways I hadn’t considered. There are some occasional dips in performance (i.e. delayed level up/experience messages). The story wasn’t perfect but it was still intriguing with a special aspect of the route mechanics. I spent around 90 hours on the main story and all optional content, and am quite satisfied with the game. Trails beyond the Horizon is up next, and I can’t wait to spend more time with the crew of Arkride Solutions!

8/10