After 22 years and 984 hours of JRPG adventures, the Trails series is finally "close to its conclusion," which is why the studio "needed to properly remake" the originals for new players

The Trails series has grown to near-legendary status among JRPG fanatics, and with good reason – it offers a uniquely massive story that's been developing nonstop over the course of 13 games in 22 years. Developer Nihon Falcom's sporadic assertions that the series is nearing its conclusion have become something of a running joke among fans, but the latest game does seem to be pointing toward a climax. In fact, that's part of why the studio is now remaking the games that started it all.

A remake of the first Trails game, titled Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, launched in 2025 to critical acclaim, and a remake of the second game is currently set to release in 2026. According to Falcom president and Trails producer Toshihiro Kondo, speaking in an official interview with publisher GungHo, "one reason" for the new remakes is that "the latest game, Trails Beyond the Horizon, has brought the series close to its conclusion after more than 20 years."

If you want to play through the entire Trails saga from beginning to end, it's a massive time investment. Back in 2023, I estimated the time to play through every game at 658 hours, but the four additional games that have seen global releases since then have increased that number to around 984 hours. Then you'll need to add a few more hours onto that if you play the expanded remake of the first game instead of the original version.

Behind the 1st Chapter: An Extended Conversation with Toshihiro Kondo - YouTube

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"Throughout that time," Kondo continues, "we've always had people say they're interested in the series, but don't know where to start. As we near the finale, we started wondering. Would it be right to end the story without doing anything for them? So, before concluding the story, I felt like we needed to properly remake Trails in the Sky."

Kondo has made a similar case for the remakes in the past, and cited a "shrinking" player base as a contributing factor. It's easy to see the argument. Trails fans are eager to evangelize the series to other players, but those players see 13 massive JRPGs in front of them and often just nope out. The remakes, then, offer an attractive, modern onramp for those on the fence. Exactly how many games those new fans might be committing to before the actual ending comes around remains to be seen, but they do at least have a way to get started.

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