The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV Reviews
While The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV brings an epic conclusion to the saga, it's not without faults. The fantastic newer elements from the third entry return while this entry refines it into an ultimately better system. It also continues the use of a lot of strange presentation choices that feel almost archaic in 2020. Despite this, players will have an extremely large cast of heroes to work with in a fun setting. It's sort of like the Avengers: Endgame of JRPGs.
All said and done, Trails of Cold Steel IV is more of the same from its predecessor last year while bringing in more of the wider Legend of Heroes series to light. Those without prior knowledge will certainly miss out on a lot but for those who have been around since the start, this is one finale you will not want to miss!
Trails of Cold Steel IV is to the Trails series what Avengers: Endgame was for the MCU, and I’m both happy and proud that Falcom had me along for the ride.
In the end, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is an epic conclusion to the series, but I’m partially glad that it’s over. There are many reasons to play through Trails of Cold Steel IV, from an engaging gameplay loop to an epic story. It takes some of the best elements of the series and combines it for one last hurrah aimed at those who stuck with it for this long.
Trails of Cold Steel IV is a solid JRPG that entertains, throwing a great cast of characters with strong story arcs your way, and worth every second of your time.
Review in Persian | Read full review
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4 rises above some of its story and pacing issues to deliver a compelling end to the Erebonia saga.
Though it may feel like a case of "more of the same" as opposed to some grand, fourth-and-final leap forward, Trails of Cold Steel IV just about manages to achieve success in maintaining that kind of familiar yet high standard the saga has satisfied long-time fans with.
It's taken a long time to get here but The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4 is a well-rounded experience, brimming with memorable characters, storylines and world-building. Despite a few stumbles in pacing and localization, not to mention performance issues, it's an incredible role-playing experience.
Trails of Cold Steel IV is the climax that fans of the series deserve, comprehensively delivering on its promise as the end of a saga while setting up future plotlines that are sure to affect the lore in all kinds of fascinating ways. That said, this is also a rather weird game to recommend. Newcomers absolutely should not play this game first, given that it's a concluding chapter to an ongoing saga years in the making. Longtime fans, on the other hand, don't need any convincing, as they're going to get this game if they've already invested the hundreds of hours of legwork that set it up. Assuming that's you, Trails of Cold Steel IV is a spectacular RPG experience that no fan of the genre will want to miss out on, and we can comfortably say that it's worth your time.
I appreciate that The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is here. I'm glad this is finally over and having this sense of resolution. It's a sense of finality, and it does an admirable job of bringing everything together and to a close. But it also very much is more of the same, only on a much grander scale and with an overwhelming amount of characters and exposition. This is a game for those who have been following along for the last five years and understand it is more about concluding a story than offering major innovations. While it can be exhausting and overwhelming, I would say it is worth it.
Trails of Cold Steel IV is a huge game with so much content for players to consume, a lot of the features do require players to have experienced past games. However Trails of Cold Steel IV is a well executed final entry in an amazing JPRG series, the writers have done an amazing job to include characters from different games seamlessly. Fans of the series are certainly in for a wild ride with this one. Some of the gaming mechanics and systems may be daunting for first time players but it's a highly recommended JPRG that fans of the genre should experience.
On its own, Trails of Cold Steel IV is far from being the best game in the series, but as a conclusion to an epic story with characters that have long since won us over, it's a fitting finale. Class VII remains one of the most endearing groups in gaming, and although they demand so much of your time across four whole games, both the journey and the eventual payoff has been worth it. When packaged together with Cold Steel I, II, and III, this is easily one of the most engrossing RPG sagas of our time.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV doesn't have the same narrative depth as its predecessor, but it remains a solid, long-lived JRPG with a significant amount of characters and things to do.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Enjoyable in some respects, but very disappointing in others, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV does not fail to live up to the series' legacy. Still, it's a little step back compared to the third installment.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Overall, I spent well over one hundred twenty hours playing the Switch port of Trails of Cold Steel IV. While I certainly felt that the game dragged at times, it was ultimately still a solid JRPG experience. At times, “the end of saga” might have felt like it was going out with more of a whimper than a roar, but the conclusion of the True Ending more than makes up for the game’s pacing struggles. I’m glad I got the opportunity to experience the ending of the Erebonian story arc, and even with some Switch-specific flaws, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is yet another truly solid addition to the console’s JRPG lineup. If you picked up the Switch’s port of Trails of Cold Steel III, then the fourth game is certainly worth playing on that system as well.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV pulls off a highly satisfying conclusion to this long running saga but character bloat and lack of improvements hinder the experience.
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
Despite the slow start, Trails of Cold Steel IV delivers a conclusion worthy of the series' 16-year legacy.
Very impressive ending of JRPG saga.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is a great finale to what has been a memorable four game journey. It’s got so many great moments throughout and many of the characters we’ve grown to love get to shine. It could’ve done with a bit better pacing though as I felt like I was just doing busy work quite a bit of the time. The Switch version doesn’t look or perform as well as the PlayStation version that released last year but what you lose in visuals you make up for in being able to pick up and play portably. It also is disappointing that Switch only owners can’t experience the full four game story on the platform currently with only the third and fourth entries being available. I can’t say much else other than if you’ve been invested in this story so far, you’ll be very happy with the payoff and if you haven’t yet jumped into it yet then you’re missing out on one of the best JRPG franchises out there.