The Legend of Heroes: Trails is an incredibly sprawling JRPG series that can be almost as intimidating to start as it is rewarding once you become immersed in its kingdom-spanning adventure. At its heart, Trails as a series offers some terrific quests to follow, fantastic characters who grow and change over the course of years, and a combat system that's both fun to mash through and satisfying to get strategic with.
Kicking off properly in 2004, the series has just passed its 20th anniversary. With 13 main entries in the series (and some further spin-offs), this is certainly meaty – it'd take something like 710 hours to explore everything Trails has to offer. But don't let that put you off starting, as they're some of the best JRPGs around. A new game, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, just released as a lavish remake of the first game, meaning there's never been a better time to jump in than now.
What is The Legend of Heroes: Trails?
Trails has a similar background to Persona, which, up to its PS2 years, meant even Persona 3 and Persona 4 were actually just subtitles to Shin Megami Tensei. There, it only really grew past being a spin-off subseries with Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5. Especially in English-speaking series, where SMT wasn't as popular, Persona became more recognizable
Developed by Nihon Falcom, Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes, released in 1989 for the PC-9801, is the first game in the wider series – but with The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky back in 2004 for PC (with a popular PSP port a couple of years later), the interconnected Trails series itself began in earnest. It's only with the recently released and incredible remake of the first game, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, that the series has dropped The Legend of Heroes branding for the first time. By itself, it's a move that makes it feel more approachable to newcomers.
While The Legend of Heroes: Trails is split into multiple subseries of its own, everything called Trails features connected narratives that just have a different focus. While each released game builds on the history of the continent Zemuria in a way that's rewarding to follow from start to finish, each game and subseries has its own narrative and story arc that sets it apart. Yes, my friends, Trails is, in essence, structured a bit like some long-running anime.
While its materia-like orbment battle system is good fun to play around with across both real-time and turn-based variants, it's really the writing that's the star of Trails. Across epic, sweeping narratives, or simply checking in with constantly updating NPC dialogue in each town, Trails doesn't just have perhaps the most worldbuilding, but some of the best.
Where to start with The Legend of Heroes: Trails?
This long-running series actually has a lot of different entry points that feel like valid places to begin. Essentially, any distinct subseries is a solid onboarding point. While the games in release order often call back to previous events – some more than others – the game will at least try to explain who returning faces are when it happens. But some entries are easier to revisit than others.
Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is currently the best starting point in the series. But it does come with the caveat that it's just the first part of a trilogy of games (released across PC from 2004 - 2007). Plans to continue with remakes of Trails in the Sky's sequels seem certain, but will take some time to release, meaning you'd need to venture onto PC to play the second and third games sooner rather than later – which feel significantly more old school to play with fewer quality of life options. There's even a 5-7 hour Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter free demo you can try!
But it's worth it, as this is a wonderful adventure to set you on your way and introduce you to Zemuria. Centering on siblings Estella and Joshua Bright, they're Junior Bracers who set out on a journey across their home country of Liberl to follow in their father's footsteps. There's a young adult vibe, but it's more about proving themselves to the Bracer organisation than schooling, as it starts right after they graduate and are accepted into the Bracers. Sort of an Adventurer's Guild, Bracers handle requests from regular people in the world as part monster hunters, part investigators, ranging from slaying creatures blocking highways to finding lost cats. Naturally, though, they end up embroiled in an adventure with much larger consequences.
Trails of Cold Steel is another great entry point, as all four games (released between 2014 - 2018) are readily available across PC, PS4, and Switch and run excellently with lots of quality-of-life perks in their current form. This is much more young adult in its vibes, focusing on the neighboring country of Erebonia's Thors Military Academy Class VII. This special group of military cadets is formed of the country's usually separated nobles and commoners to promote unity, and each chapter has them attending school before taking class trips on a big train to help out the citizens of nearby towns. All turn-based, this is very playable even today, though the third and especially fourth games do bring in a lot of elements from prior entries. Yet, this is where I started, and look at me now.
Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure offer police procedural-tinged action across a well-paced duology. The only downside is these are the most obviously old-school entries in their currently available forms, as even recent re-releases are just enhanced versions of the PSP originals that were released across 2010-2011. With isometric top-down action and chibi character sprites, some will doubtless feel less immersed than the full 3D worlds in most other entries. Still, focusing on the independent city state of Crossbell's new Special Support Section gives it a nice flavor, seeing the party members grapple with their place among the rest of the police force, while undertaking investigations that grapple with the criminal underworld.
Trails Through Daybreak tackles more morally gray quests in a compelling way and leans on real-time fights to supplement turn-based combat. Which is all to say that, if you hate taking turns in battles, this one is best suited for you – though they still feature prominently, action shifting from real-time to turn-based naturally on the field. More recent, these released onto modern platforms across 2021-22. 'Spriggan' Van Arkride, essentially a private detective, takes on quests that the police force won't handle, often having the option to select a moral choice to determine how cases are closed for his clients. This is a great adventure, but it has a less clear-cut arc by itself, as this and its sequel follow on from Cold Steel's epilogue, and will (next year) continue into Trails Beyond the Horizon, which more explicitly folds in returning elements from other series.
What not to worry about before starting Trails
While the first entry in each subseries is essentially a fine starting point, avoid jumping into sequels to each one as you may end up lost – many of them pick up directly where the last one ends. That's obvious for ones with numbers, but it's worth flagging that this means Trails in the Sky, Trails from Zero, Trails of Cold Steel, and Trails Through Daybreak are the best starting points.
That's because Trails to Azure, Trails into Reverie, and the upcoming Trails Beyond the Horizon are all a mix of direct sequels and epilogues that are, thanks to a lack of numbering and how they blend together plot points from predecessors, a little unclear at first glance. As a wild card, I can almost see how Trails of Cold Steel 3, given it kicks off after a time skip, could be an onboarding point. I wouldn't recommend it, but if you need to be absolutely spicy, it's there, I suppose.
Likewise, others may insist you absolutely have to play everything in release order and that's that. I don't agree because I didn't – but it is true that the way Zemuria expands release upon release makes this a satisfying way to play, especially if you're up for playing some old school JRPGs along the way. I know I am.
When later games feature returning plot points or characters, the games do a decent job of introducing you to who they are and explaining lore. These could spoil some continent-affecting developments you play through in earlier titles, but the series is so dense you may end up forgetting about them by the time you get to the game where it happens. To me, it all contributes towards making Zemuria feel like an exciting and living world where there's constantly new avenues to explore. Embrace that feeling. If you first meet a character from Trails in the Sky in your Trails of Cold Steel playthrough and are curious about them, use that to fuel your next adventure!
With Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter showing the series has a great future ahead of it by exploring the past, and Trails Beyond the Horizon promising to wrap up some major cross-series plot threads, it's an exciting time to be a Trails fan.
There's no really wrong way to get involved – just jump in if something seems interesting, and prepare to ingest a lot of story. Just turn the page, and begin.
Looking for more adventures? Check out our best RPGs list!
