Technology in the world of Trails is incomprehensible if you try to ground it within your understanding of anything real. “Orbal” tech started in *Trails in the Sky* as a sort of wondrous, clockwork-like machinery that enabled things like airships and cool magic powers. Fast forward a relatively short time, and *Trails Beyond the Horizon* revolves around the internet, mobile phones, motorcycles, and—even—evil livestreamers.
The story kicks off with a politicized launch campaign for a rocketship that intriguingly stores a mech suit in its nozzle. It’s wild stuff, and there’s no real explanation beyond “orbs are strong and we have hella genius scientists.” That’s fine and all, but in a game series known for spending dozens of hours explaining its world in detail, the seams inevitably start to show.
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### A Series with a Rich History
I touched on this before when reviewing last year’s *Trails in the Sky* remake, but the *Trails* series is special. It’s been telling a mostly linear story since Falcom made games that looked like doujinshi software you had to fiddle with the language settings on your PC before running fan translation cracks just to play on North American hardware.
After spending time with *Horizon*, I’ve come to realize I actually prefer those earlier days by quite a large margin—and I’ll explain why.
Long story short: the story is nearing its conclusion, and *Horizon* carries the unfortunate task of setting up that end. It takes its damn sweet time doing so.
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### Complex Ties and Exposition Overload
There’s a lot going on here. If you’re wondering whether you can or should start with *Horizon* as your introduction to *Trails*, I’d advise taking a step back before asking that question—otherwise, you might trigger the cartoon trap door you’re about to fall into.
If you’re coming from the previous two games, the *Daybreak* series, here’s what you need to know. While *Daybreak* focused on introducing the Calvard Republic region, new protagonist Van Arkride, and local problems, now the story shifts toward tying these elements into the broader *Trails* universe.
That means characters from *Sky*, *Zero*, and *Cold Steel* all show up. You are expected to know who they are, why they matter, and be prepared to absorb dense exposition explaining it all.
While *Daybreak II* also included crossovers, this time it’s front and center. Unfortunately, the execution is clunky at best.
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### Repetitive Setup and Pacing Issues
*Horizon* has big plans and twists, but you spend, and I’m not exaggerating here, the entire length of the *Clair Obscur* section (and then some) running into [Group From Previous Game], swallowing dialogue about how [Group] is in town for some mysterious purpose they can’t reveal yet, and repeating this over and over until all the players are finally assembled.
For every genuinely interesting event in the story, you have to endure two or three vague, cryptic, and dry foreshadowing or cameo scenes. Then the real antagonists begin their scheming behind the political drama, calling you an idiot and turning someone into a giant monster or robot for a boss fight as a “reward” for your patience.
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### Combat: A Missed Opportunity
This pacing challenge would be more tolerable if I enjoyed the combat more—but I don’t.
Here’s where my crotchety old man side shows, but I’ve always liked turn-based combat. I’m okay with running up to a monster, bonking it from behind once to gain an advantage, and then taking turns from there.
I also enjoy action games, but this hybrid combat system *Trails* has been developing lately is a big miss for me.
It feels like an attempt to “evolve” or “modernize” turn-based RPG combat—an effective endeavor, as the *Expedition 33* discourse showed throughout 2025—but here, it comes across as an appeal to an audience that presumably doesn’t like turn-based combat and needs to be persuaded to play *Trails* anyway.
The gameplay boils down to button-mashing, key-jangling, and gimmick-juggling, with mediocre action layered on top.
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### Overloaded with Gimmicks
To mask the mediocrity, the developers have sprinkled on a lot of extra buttons and mechanics:
– Tap a button to briefly slow down time.
– Hold a button to cast a weak spell.
– Press another button after a meter fills for a stronger attack.
– Click the sticks to make your character glow and deal more damage for a short window.
But all these barely impact the core gameplay, which remains the same: a three or four-hit combo and dodge roll you mash until you stun something to gain the advantage—the very thing you used to get from a simple bonk.
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### Turn-Based Combat Issues
The turn-based core also has problems, mostly padding-related.
There’s just too much going on, and to justify the complexity, every enemy has an absurd amount of HP. You find yourself endlessly wailing on foes—even bosses—and under the wrong conditions, battles can take forever.
Some systems feel redundant (Artes vs. Crafts), add little value (“Oh boy, I can Blitz an extra attack from an ally for barely any extra damage!”), or overwrite each other (you can use a fast-filling meter to heal and buff—so why bother with items or buff spells?).
It’s like a child overturned a bucket of LEGOs onto a board game and demanded that all those pieces be integrated into the rules.
There’s a real yearning here for the idiom “Keep It Simple, Stupid” from deep within my soul as I play *Trails Beyond the Horizon*.
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### Remarkable Switch 2 Port
As a side note, all this action looks visually impressive, and Falcom absolutely nailed the Nintendo Switch 2 port.
The game targets 120 FPS in handheld mode and hits it with minimal compromises. In TV mode, it targets 60 FPS and nearly always maintains it, with only minor slowdowns—mostly when fire effects appear.
This is an impressive handheld conversion, and it makes me scrutinize bigger developers with more skepticism.
Thank goodness a game with so much padding runs smoothly on a handheld!
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### Optional Roguelike Mode: Grim Garten
Worried the story pace sounds slow? Don’t worry—the totally optional (though only half-optional) roguelike-ish *Grim Garten* dungeon is here to help.
By “help,” I mean it actually slows things down even more, extending your playtime with additional hours of vague exposition and boss fights padded with tens of thousands of HP.
The vibe is cool, though. It’s a heavy metal-flavored corruption of a similar side mode from the previous game that was brighter and more outdoorsy.
It’s still annoying to be forced into, but it does offer some handy grinding that makes the story content around it more bearable.
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### Final Thoughts
It may sound like I hate this game. I don’t.
I appreciate and respect it. *Trails* has been around almost as long as I’ve been reviewing video games, and witnessing its evolution while it sticks to its storytelling guns has been fascinating.
But as *The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon* approaches its conclusion, it feels like a stress test.
When you introduce a dozen different plot threads across several interrelated stories in different geographical regions, bringing them all together becomes a massive, unwieldy task.
There’s fun stuff amid the frustrating parts—like awesome special attack animations, interesting character developments, crazy monster designs, and world-shattering twists.
But so much time is wasted on achingly boring exposition setup, non-optional side content with little substance, and a combat system caught in an identity crisis.
Falcom has done a lot more with much less in the past, and all this excess is wearing me down.
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### Availability
*The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon* releases on January 15, 2026, for PlayStation 4 and 5, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2.
A Switch 2 code was provided by the publisher for this review.
https://www.shacknews.com/article/147340/trails-beyond-the-horizon-review-score