The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon, the latest entry in the long-running Falcom series, is another shining moment for the franchise. The 13th mainline entry brings together three protagonists from across the franchise to great effect, with each storyline bubbling and building towards an epic finale. The action/turn-based combat mix feels as good as ever, with the heart and soul of these games always being grounded in character. Trails Beyond the Horizon is fantastic, even if the tried-and-true formula starts to get old.
Stars, Ships, And Subterfuge In Trails Beyond the Horizon
Beyond the Horizon has three main plotlines, each with a different cast of characters for most of the game. All of their stories revolve around a mysterious and seemingly rushed space program, missing people, and plenty of cloak-and-dagger motivations, with each narrative line focusing on a different aspect. Van and his merry band of miscreants from the Daybreak series return, focused on the public’s reaction and a running mystery surrounding people going missing and a new anti-immigration sentiment brewing. Rean, the protagonist from the Cold Steel line, returns as well here, more mature and confident, with a batch of other returning faces like Crow and Fie. Rean’s arc focuses more on supporting the space program, but everything isn’t as it seems. Kevin, the final main protagonist from Sky games, teams up with the likes of Rufus, Nadia, and Swin, as they dig into a mysterious mission I don’t want to spoil here.
All three of these storylines ebb and flow on their own before ultimately coming together, with each being a fascinating look at the central shady space program. While Van’s route does start slow, with his Act 1 mostly focusing on catching the player up on the world and its inhabitants, Act 2 quickly hits its stride and doesn’t slow down. Despite the slower pacing, I really enjoyed Van’s start to the story, as one of the best parts of the series is all the side characters and seeing how things change between entries. It feels like coming back to the town you grew up in, catching up with old friends and seeing where everyone is at now after the passage of time. Once things do kick into high gear, the narrative doesn’t stop. We get some fantastic moments that are among the best of the entire franchise, with some tantalizing implications for the rest of the series to come.
Each protagonist and their crew take a different region of the country, jumping between main quests and side missions. The side missions are as strong as ever here, tackling deeper themes such as human trafficking and identity. The Trails series has always handled tougher subjects with grounded emotional maturity, as the Daybreak games are a sterling example, and that’s no different here. Some of these side stories really stayed with me after seeing them through, especially those that dug back into characters and journeys we’ve seen in past titles.
Ebbs And Dynamic Flows
The combat in Beyond the Horizon is as strong as ever, split between overworld action combat and turn-based battles, a mix we’ve seen in the last few Trails titles. Beyond the Horizon feels as fluid as ever in its overworld battles, with some added elements to help them flow even more.
The two major new features are the ZOC, where you can slow down time to a crawl to get in more hits while the enemy does next to nothing. Each of the major protagonists can also pop off a super state, with Van eventually entering his Grendel state on the field, crushing through big enemies with relative ease. Both mechanisms smooth out the overworld pacing by reducing the number of turn-based battles needed to get through a given space.
The ZOC carries over to turn-based as well, as you can switch battle styles at any time. The turn-based battles slow things down, but switching at the right time deals extra damage. The build craft here is as deep as ever, with multiple systems based on equipables that can totally change a character’s magic attacks and their approach in a fight. Using ZOC during a turn-based battle lets a unit move twice in a row, a crucial advantage during certain moments when an extra attack can make all the difference. It’s as good as ever, though largely unchanged from the past few iterations, with a few minor tweaks.
Beyond The Horizon looks as good as the past few entries, but fails to hit the same graphical heights as the Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter remake. Horizon came out first in Japan, reaching the West a few years later, while the Sky remake launched day-and-date internationally. It’s still among the best-looking, but it doesn’t really live up to the new standard. It doesn’t look bad by any stretch, with the cutscenes and special attacks particularly fluid and bombastic, but it’s just fine overall.
The Series Needs Change
The thing is, the Trails series as a whole has reached a point where fatigue can even start to set in for the most hardcore fans. The narrative structure hasn’t changed much in the last few entries, following a number of different protagonists across separate chapters before they come together. The series does need a shot in the arm going forward. It’s less of a problem for prospective new fans, but even then, this is hardly the place to start, given the amount of prior knowledge that’s really needed to properly enjoy. Moving forward, the series has to reckon with an identity crisis that seems to be setting in. For a franchise to be this interconnected, it needs to double down on the main conflict and trust the players to keep up, as we’ve previously seen in Trails to Azure, where the game opens with taking out of the main villains from the previous entry. There are so many characters, plotlines, and threads that need resolving, that trying to onboard new players is a difficult thing to do at this stage. The action combat was a much-needed introduction to combat flow, but the series needs to do the same for its narrative structure, rather than settling on what’s worked for the past few entries.
Outside of the main narrative, the same side dungeon returns that we’ve seen in the last few entries, this time titled the Grim Garten. The successor to the Marchen Garten in every way, the first few floors are tied to the main story before opening up to let the player tackle the remaining floors at their own pace. It’s pretty much exactly the same as it was, with minor changes, where you fight through various stages while clearing certain objectives, like using enough super moves or activating objects. If it resonated with you in past entries, it will do so again here, but it doesn’t really change any minds. It’s fine, a fun way to crush through smaller combat zones while collecting a number of items, costumes, and cosmetics that can be used in the main narrative.
Verdict
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon comes out swinging after a largely divisive previous entry in Daybreak 2, where so much of the story was tied up in time travel shenanigans that didn’t land or advance the plot. The main narrative is interesting and intriguing from the jump, even if the pacing is a bit slow in Act 1. Seeing a number of characters interacting for the first time is always exciting for a long-time fan of the series, with the side content being as impactful as ever. The combat is a blast, as it continues to smooth out pacing edges while empowering build craft and party experimentation with a large roster of potential. While the overall structure does start to wear after a similar run of games in recent years, it’s not enough to take away from how good Beyond The Horizon is. I can’t wait to see where we go next, with a sequel hopefully on the way soon, given how this one ends. Here’s hoping we’re back with this motley crew sooner rather than later.
[The publisher provided a copy of the game for review purposes.]
Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
