The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel Reviews
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is a classic JRPG that holds up well in gameplay despite some dated visuals. The story, world-building, and character development in the game is truly next level and should set as an example for other games to follow.
For a simple remaster, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel looks and plays great. I say ‘simple’ because there’s not been that many enhancements outside of the visuals. Sure, we get a perfect 60fps, a crystal clear 4k, and the heavenly ‘turbo mode’ which makes traversing the world so much more satisfying, but there’s no extra content, no new chapters, no enhanced backstory, or platform-specific dungeons/areas to visit. However, a game isn’t as good as it looks, it’s as good as it plays; The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is a bloody brilliant JRPG game which I’m quite ashamed I’ve never actually played before grabbing it on the PS4. The story is very interesting, with lots of separate stories and events going on which all combinate into an intriguing and exciting narrative, combined with very satisfying and strategic combat. The combat itself may look generic and simple from the outside, but once you’ve cranked up the difficulty to eleven, it’s time to turn on your little grey cells as you swap your students on the fly and link them together in order to maximise their efficiency.
If you want to get into the Trails series then Cold Steel is a great first game that we can't recommend enough, as I mentioned earlier just put in the time and you'll be glad that you did.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is hands down the best JRPG this year — and that’s saying a lot considering how many great ones have come out in the past twelve months.
If you like JRPGs (and maybe even if you don’t), you’ll want to find time for this game, though. Falcom haven’t tried to reinvent the wheel, because they wheel doesn’t need reinventing. Instead, they’ve set out to make the most magnificent damn wheel they could, and have succeeded with flying colours.
This is without a doubt the definitive version of Trails of Cold Steel.
In the early hours of Trails of Cold Steel, I was skeptical that it could live up to the lofty standards set by Trails in the Sky. However, after my first year spent as a student of Class VII, I can confidently say that it has, and knowing that this is just the beginning of a new series fills me with great anticipation.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is one of the best RPGs of the last few years, with an amazing story and very well-developed characters, as well as a great combat system, being this the perfect chance to not let this marvelous game goes by unnoticed.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
With this entry into The Legend of Heroes saga, Falcom created something truly special. The believability of the world and characters, the attachment to the people of the empire, and low key storyline build a memorable experience.
The game is a triumph in world-building and character-driven storytelling, and its combat system is versatile enough to support it through its mammoth eighty-plus-hour runtime.
Trails… is a superb example of classic JRPGs done right.
Honestly, I could get Trails in the Sky 1+2 on Steam for that price and have a way better and longer time. For a game, that needs so long to develop into something hooking, yet never lives up to previously set standards, this price tag is just bad. In my opinion The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is worth 29.99, if you completed the Trails in the Sky trilogy, making a recommendation of this let-down a pretty hard one.
There are games where 30 hours seem to fly by in an instant, and there are games where I'll be playing for what seems like days upon end, only to find that I've only put in 10 hours. At the risk of sounding more negative than I'd like, The Legends of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel has mostly fallen in the latter category for me.
A hero sandwich that's way too heavy on the bread.