The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II Reviews
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II has a list of content that is truly the stuff of JRPG legends. Aside from a few stale moments between the more important tidings of Van’s investigations, this is the single-player JRPG to play this month. Case closed.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II is a piece of very good jRPG, which every fan of the genre should reach for. But still, it is better to get acquainted with its predecessor first in order to enjoy all the plot tidbits.
Review in Polish | Read full review
An outstanding JRPG on PlayStation 5
Nothing about Trails Through Daybreak 2 dampens my enthusiasm for the series as a whole. I will be playing the next one the moment it’s available. This is one of the more disappointing Legend of Heroes titles, given that its biggest failing – the narrative – is typically what you want to play this series for – but even on a bad day The Legend of Heroes is a more interesting and entertaining vision and project than most JRPGs can aspire to be.
Gone are the cross-country tours of Cold Steel 1, and in their place are an overuse of familiar surroundings and lackluster bonding events. Van is a memorable protagonist, but he doesn't have the poignant character moments he did in the first game. It may be that these Trails have simply run out of road, which is sad to say given the RPG heights the series has achieved.
Whilst the story isn't as strong as the previous title, the endearing, well-written characters and exciting battle systems make this a Trails game that's well worth it for long-time fans of the franchise.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II is a case of one step forward and one step back. Mechanically, it's the best put-together Trails game to date, as it fixes the problems in the last game and introduces enough new mechanics so it's fun to play. It also retains and refines the likable cast. Unfortunately, the lackluster time travel mechanic and plot structure weaken the experience. It's still a fun game but ends up feeling weaker than its predecessor.
Daybreak 2 is an uneven Trails. The battle systems and those related to gameplay have improved considerably, but the main story ended up being its weak point. It is a title that partially meets expectations and still remains a good game, despite being a series known for having high-level games. Hopefully the next game will deliver on all the potential that the current arc has built up so far.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II is a great game to play. Filled with constant challenges and quests to explore, this game opens up new ways for the series to bring out realism to the next-gen consoles. I am hoping that the next Trails game will bring out more challenges and more plot twists that will shake my fandom to the core.
A direct sequel that does what you expect, smoothing out some rough edges to offer a more balanced experience than its predecessor.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak 2 is too much of a continuity sequel, so much so that at times it forgets to contribute something of its own, and that's its biggest problem. Even so, it's also an outstanding JRPG that manages to feel modern while embracing the classic.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
With a more gameplay-focused and varied campaign as well as a phenomenally unforgettable cast of stand-out characters, The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II really scratched a lot of itches for me that I didn't even know I had. Or was that Nadia's needles? ⚔️
Trails Through Daybreak 2 had all the right ingredients—engaging combat, deep customization, and a gorgeous presentation—but somewhere along the way, it forgot to justify its own existence. What should have been a meaningful continuation of the story instead felt like a low-stakes detour, lacking the weight and player agency needed to make its twists truly land. I wanted to believe in it, to see past the early criticisms, but in the end, it only proved them right.
The time loop may be repetitive, but the game has a refined mix of action and turn-based combat. And in my humble opinion, the Daybreak series could have started by being localized into several languages, as for the story, the game really feels like an expansion of Game One, bringing things from other games in the Trails series and making it a little confusing for people who are not used to it.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Faced with a game that for two acts seems to go around in circles around nothing, for one seems like an interesting spin-off of itself and for the last two becomes a beautiful DLC of its predecessor, I find it difficult to reach a clear conclusion. Analytically, this game would still reach sufficiency, percentage-wise the content that entertained me is more than that which bored me. However, the "bad" part is at the beginning, which makes it difficult to approach both for another run, and if I have to recommend a first run to someone. In the end, the conclusion I reached is that I liked the overall experience. It is not a masterpiece, I find the choice to drag out the broth to make it a standalone chapter frustrating but what works, works really well. Unfortunately this is not the sequel that Daybreak, a game that today in retrospect I would easily give a 10, deserves. But it's not a bad Trails and fans of the series should give it a chance, even if only as a bridge to the next chapter, Kai no Kiseki, which was released to much greater success and which I can't wait to play.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II is yet another quality installment in the franchise. Not only is there a better look at more of Calvard, but we also learn more about old friends as the cast expands in this game. The plot line may not make a big leap forward, but it wraps up many lingering mysteries from the first game
While The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II doesn't completely sustain narrative engagement throughout, it features one of the franchise's strongest gameplay systems, masterfully combining turn-based and action combat mechanics.
Review in Persian | Read full review
The sequel remains an exciting RPG for those invested in Calvard’s unfolding tale, offering rewarding battles, well-written characters, and plenty of side content.
Trails through Daybreak II is a great little paradox signed by Nihon Falcom. On the one hand, the new installment of The Legend of Heroes refines and enhances the excellent achievements marked by its direct predecessor, representing for all intents and purposes a step forward. On the other hand, it presents a less flawless script than expected with the accompanying return of the related atavistic problem of the stringent and propaedeutic need to have prior knowledge of lore and characters. Van Arkride's new adventure thus experiences a dual nature: a practically unmissable product for those who loved the first Daybreak, a production hardly advisable for all those who have not had the opportunity to approach it instead.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Trails Through Daybreak 2 is very much a middle entry in what feels like a planned trilogy. It doesn’t reinvent the series the way Daybreak 1 did, nor does it push the story forward in a massive way. Instead, it builds upon what came before, refines the combat, and lays the groundwork for what’s coming next.