The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV Reviews

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is ranked in the 86th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
8.8 / 10.0
Mar 31, 2022

Trails of Cold Steel IV is the grand finale of an epic series, which spans over a decade. As with Marvel movies, the more games you've played from the Trails, the better the experience. That's not to say new players won't enjoy it, as it is a good start to the series. The fans, however, would get way more out of it.

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6.5 / 10.0
Apr 17, 2021

If you’re already a Trails fan, I doubt you will hate the game. Hell, if you’re a Trails fan you probably already OWN the game, but could I recommend Trails of Cold Steel IV to a newbie or even just a fan of the genre? Not really. I’d recommend the Sky trilogy on Steam, or even just the first Cold Steel game to see if the series interests you.

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INVEN
Top Critic
8.5 / 10.0
Dec 23, 2021

At 'The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4', the chaotic era of Erebonian Empire was finally gone. Even though the main story was less persuasive and villains' characterestics was plain, the main character 'Rean Schwarzer' has grown significantly from his past work to achieve a successful conclusion. So, the ending is much more sweet and wonderful than ever. Let have the toast to the Trails of Cold Steel Series greeting its great finale.

Review in Korean | Read full review

7 / 10.0
Dec 19, 2021

This is the grand finale of the Trails series. To represent that extra icing on the cake, there are plenty of content to explore and numerous characters will appear as if we’re at an all-star game. The long and extended stories which bloomed from the Erebonian empire will come to an end, and some of the deeply rooted histories behind some of the important individuals will also be covered with their back stories. Other than Trails of Reverie, this final game packs the most amount of volume and convenience to a comparison. If you’re a loyal fan of the series, you do not want to miss out on the finale to the story.

Review in Korean | Read full review

Oct 20, 2020

Trails of Cold Steel IV doesn't make radical updates to the series' formula. The presentation stylings are all here for better or worse. The finale to this long-running story is easily worth your time.

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May 8, 2021

If you’re interested in RPGs or the Trails series, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is absolutely the game for you.

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9 / 10.0
Apr 30, 2021

Trails of Cold Steel IV marks the conclusion of a huge saga of four games that delivered a lot of emotions. The only way to evaluate the 4th title and final title of a series is to look at the collection as a whole and at the path that brought us to the ending. With that said, we can conclude that Nihon Falcom did an almost flawless job with a story that will stay in my mind for many years.

Review in French | Read full review

7 / 10.0
Apr 19, 2021
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV (ACTUAL Review) [PC] video thumbnail
6 / 10.0
Apr 15, 2021

Unable to maintain player's interest

Review in Greek | Read full review

7.5 / 10.0
Apr 12, 2021

Your enjoyment of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV will directly depend on whether or not you’ve played the previous games in this gigantic franchise. If so, then you’ll actually understand what’s going on and will have a great time with this stupidly detailed story. If not, you’ll either going to love it for its excellent combat system or feel completely clueless as to what’s happening.

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9 / 10.0
Apr 10, 2021

I was elated to complete my journey through this arc, but was saddened by the thought of it all coming to an end. A relatable connection made in each character’s resolve, and will to persevere. A determinable outcome, but a parable that exceeds legend. A must play for the JRPG devout.

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Liked-a-lot
Apr 9, 2021

Let’s be honest, if you haven’t been sold on the Cold Steel series by this point it’s unlikely the forth game is going to change your mind. If you’re new and the Switch is your only option I would suggest picking up the third entry first (or waiting and pray that the first two games get localized for Switch in the West). While more of the same, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV really stands out as one of the best jRPGs I’ve played in a long time, even if the story got a little much at times. Falcon have done a stella job as always and hopefully the fans will enjoy the experience as much as I did. Now I think I need to go lie down.

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8 / 10.0
Feb 3, 2021

Trails of Cold Steel 4 is a decent payoff for a story that spans multiple games, even if suffers from a bloated story and lackluster character development. The gameplay mechanics are still solid making it a great JRPG provided you have the time to come prepared for its massive narrative.

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9 / 10.0
Nov 12, 2020

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV builds off of the previous three entries and finally brings a conclusion to the long-running Erebonian Arc.

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Geeks Under Grace
Derek Thompson
8.5 / 10.0
Oct 23, 2020

Despite the slow start, Trails of Cold Steel IV delivers a conclusion worthy of the series' 16-year legacy.

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Unscored
Dec 8, 2020

Trails of Cold Steel IV is a turn-based RPG with the best combat system created until the date and every player of the genre should try. At an argumentative level, it is a superb game with very well-designed characters, which to top it off is finished with an artistic design. However, the game has an important flaw: as no time has passed between this title and the previous, the novelties are almost non-existent, taking its toll on visual level and especially on a sound level.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

8 / 10.0
Nov 23, 2020

Trails of Cold Steel 4 is far from the best of the series, mainly because it loses some of the impact of what it presents us, but it is still a great conclusion to a captivating story with an extensive and well-characterized group of interesting characters. Make no mistake, we are undoubtedly facing one of the greatest sagas of modern RPGs.  Anyone willing to spend 300 or 400 hours playing Trails of Cold Steel 1, 2, 3 and 4 will be enriched by this experience with a lasting rewarding feeling. It is truly a title that denotes greatness and that has taken on without any fear the difficult task of being able to deliver to its fans a captivating, emotional and different ending. The feeling that will last in the minds and hearts of the players is that we are part of that group of friends and we will truly feel sorry that we will not return to that world again.

Review in Portuguese | Read full review

Oct 23, 2020

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is an exceptional title in the series. The cast of characters is immense and interesting while the story follows it up with bombshells. An already great turn-based combat system is refined and enhanced. This is a must play for RPG fans who have already played Cold Steel games.

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Oct 27, 2020

Ultimately, if you are an existing Trails of Cold Steel fan and you want to finish the story, you have no reason not to pick this game up. This is the ending you’ve been waiting for and more of what you love. If you’re only a returning Cold Steel III fan, you also might as well finish the story and see where Class VII ends up and what happens next. Despite not surpassing the greatness that was CS3, I had a fun time with Trails of Cold Steel IV. It’s a ton of content for the money and well worth playing at least once.

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8 / 10.0
Oct 26, 2020

Overall though, and without too many other spoilers, I enjoyed, laughed, cried, and damn near yelled at the TV over the course of sixty plus hours for the normal ending before even starting to head back for the true ending and conclusion to Class VII’s adventures as we await what comes up next in The Legend of Heroes: Hajimari no Kiseki which released this year in Japan.

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