We're in the Endgame Now (Sort Of) I find it difficult to formally review a game like The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon. While it isn't difficult to quantify its elements; the difficulty instead lies in trying to land on how to recommend a game like Trails Beyond the Horizon, the thirteenth game in the franchise and the third game in the Calvard arc that began with Trails Through Daybreak, making the game extraordinarily difficult to recommend to non-diehard fans. However, that doesn’t stop Trails Beyond the Horizon from being an absolute triumph for the series, top-to-bottom. The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon opens with a training exercise three months after the events of Trails Through Daybreak II. Van Arkride, protagonist of the previous two Daybreak games, takes center stage alongside his part-time assistant Feri Al-Fayed and teacher Bergard Zeman as they battle through an Augmented Reality combat simulation for the Marduk Company, a tech giant in the Republic of Calvard on the continent of Zemuria. Then, in the middle of the simulation, it is revealed that Van’s team is actually “racing” against another team on the opposite side of the augmented training area. The game swaps perspectives over to the second team, which features returning protagonist Rean Schwarzer from the Trails of Cold Steel quadrilogy, last seen in Trails into Reverie; his combat partner and former student Altina Orion; and, perhaps most excitingly for diehard fans, Father Kevin Graham. Returning after a long absence Kevin was last playable in Trails in the Sky the 3rd and since then only seen in a piece of static artwork in Cold Steel IV, a piece of dialogue in Trails into Reverie, and another piece of static artwork in Trails Through Daybreak. After the training exercise concludes, the characters all go their separate ways, and the story splits into three routes; Van’s Route, Rean’s Route, and Kevin’s Route, all running parallel to one another, all under the backdrop of the Calvardian government preparing to launch the first ever manned rocket into space. [caption id="attachment_166536" align="alignnone" width="640"] The first ever instance of space travel in the series underpins the entire game.[/caption] The allure of returning characters, especially favorites like Rean and Kevin, might set off alarm bells in some players, as it runs the risk of being fanservice for the sake of fanservice. And, at times, Trails falls into those traps. However, Trails Beyond the Horizon is one of the finest examples of why a long-running, serialized franchise like this is so valuable. Every character in this franchise belongs to some sort of faction, whether they realize it or not. Rean is an excellent example of this; he is a practitioner of the Eight Leaves One Blade, a school of swordsmanship whose practitioners have been appearing since the very first game in the franchise. Rean’s story heavily focuses on his connection to the Eight Leaves One Blade, a story thread that has always felt like it was building to something, though, like many groups in the franchise, it it is never exactly clear what. That said, it helps that when these characters return, it is as if they never left the franchise. Rean’s interactions with Altina and a certain other returnee are pitch perfect examples of this. While it’s clear they’ve all grown up in their time off screen, their interactions are written excellently. Though Rean and Kevin’s routes are immensely important and chock-full of exciting moments, in essence they serve to contextualize the events of Van’s route. After the prologue, it becomes clear that this is essentially Trails Through Daybreak III in all but name. Van’s morally-grey work as a Spriggan, effectively a private detective who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, is the template for every route’s side content, with both Rean and Kevin's groups fulfilling requests in his stead. Consequently, systems from the previous two games, such as conversation topics, light stealth sections, and moral choices, make their return. Van’s sections are longer, while the entire Daybreak cast returns and are all essential players in the arc. Trails Beyond the Horizon has far and away one of the most thrilling, thoughtful, and effective stories of the entire franchise. The epic qualities of the narrative are underpinned by incredibly effective and satisfying character writing, building up to one of the greatest finales this franchise has ever seen. Nihon Falcom’s show of restraint throughout the franchise, refusing to pull the trigger on certain key characters, figures, and reveals, pays off incredibly well here, while still managing to leave the player with more questions than answers by the time they roll credits. [caption id="attachment_166541" align="alignnone" width="640"] Kevin Graham returning is an absolute treat for fans.[/caption] It is a shame, then, that the PlayStation 5 review build crashed multiple times during the playthrough for this review, and twice during the finale. While autosave usually does an excellent job of preventing too much time from being lost, having to fight the final boss a second time just to see the final moments of the final cutscenes and roll credits did hurt the experience, though hopefully these issues will be fixed come launch, as was the case with the PS5 version of Daybreak I. hankfully, the rest of the game is fairly spotless on a technical level, with only some framerate drops in high-density areas and visually complex zones being noticeable. Turn-based combat remains much the same, with three additions; BLTZ, Shard Commands, and ZOC. BLTZ is relatively simple: sometimes a character who isn’t in the active party but is either in reserve or an extra non-playable member, will act as a free link in the turn order, either adding an additional follow-up to a basic attack or boosting Arts and Crafts that the player casts. It doesn’t have much of an effect beyond giving certain non-playable characters something to do in combat, though for some that might be enough. Shard Commands have a much more pronounced effect on combat. Instead of spending up to two full S-Boost gauges to activate shard skills that are more specific to individual character builds like in previous games, players can spend S-Boost gauges to Shard Commands passive effects that boost damage, lessen post-attack delay, and even reduce damage taken from attacks for the whole party over a set number of turns. While these effects may seem overpowered in the player’s favour, certain bosses are also able to utilize the mechanic, and if players want to cast a Shard Command while an enemy one is active, the cost increases by one S-Boost gauge. ZOC is a mechanic that acts as another double-edged sword. It allows for S-Boosting twice in the same turn allows for that character to immediately take a second turn, but certain bosses can naturally activate this effect as well, making it a jolt of excitement and dread whenever either side activates it. Each of these new additions to the turn-based combat framework do an excellent job of integrating themselves, and do a good job of balancing themselves while still feeling fun and adding even more depth to an already deep combat system. The real-time combat elements introduced in Daybreak are at their absolute finest in Trails Beyond the Horizon. In addition to normal attacks, charge attacks, and Quick Arts, activating ZOC in real-time combat slows time down and enhances damage dealt. Furthermore, certain characters, like Van, Kevin, and Rean, are able to activate Awakening, draining the S-Boost gauge but vastly increasing damage dealt and passively healing the awakened character. This makes real-time combat far more viable for defeating normal enemies, though it is still usually faster to stun an enemy in real-time and finish them off with a quick bout in turn-based combat. [caption id="attachment_166542" align="alignnone" width="640"] Combat brings some welcome additions from previous entries.[/caption] The Märchen Garten from Daybreak II returns in a different guise as the Grim Garten, though mostly it exists as an optional side story running alongside the main narrative. The same light dungeon-crawling, rogue-lite esque mechanics return from Daybreak II with a new coat of paint. In addition to less content overall, this time players have to complete Grim Garten before the "point of no return". Overall, it is highly recommended for those curious about the machinations of a certain Secret Society, and the break of pace makes it a fun addition. Presentation is another feather in the cap of this game’s accomplishments. The soundtrack, soundtrack, while not reaching the full highs of series, is easily the best of the Calvard arc, with some boss themes being definite earworms. The English voice acting is excellent. Though it hasn’t been terribly long since Trails into Reverie released in English, Sean Chiplock returning to the role of Rean Schwarzer is a definite highlight, though the cast across the board does an excellent job. However, the star of the show is the fully-animated event scenes. While these have been present since Trails Into Reverie, they are utilized to maximum effect in Trails Beyond the Horizon. They enhance every moment they are used for, and they are an essential piece of how well the finale comes together. For me, The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon is easily the best game in the Calvard arc thus far, and one of the greatest games in the entire franchise, though with the caveat that it is made possible by building on twelve games worth of context. New players should really avoid leaping in here and go back to at least Trails Through Daybreak, but series fans are in for a treat. The narrative is excellent, the combat is in top form, and has never been at a higher level. Plus, with the release of this game, English language players are finally fully caught up with Japan. Nihon Falcom has started simultaneous global releases that will hopefully continue with the next entry, as with everything that Trails Beyond the Horizon has built upon it's incredibly exciting to see what comes next.     Disclosure: This review is based on a free copy of the game provided by the publisher. The post The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon Review appeared first on RPGamer.