The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II Review – A Divided Experience

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II Review

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II is a direct sequel to the first Trails Through Daybreak. This fantasy noir outing picks soon after the last entry in the epic Trails series, and you need to play that game first. It is not a standalone title. It is, however, a very good sequel, if a literally divisive one. This review may contain spoilers for Trails Through Daybreak.

Three months after the events of Trails Through Daybreak, mercenary ‘spriggan’ Van Arkride finds his ex Elaine Auclair outside his office. The good news is that she has a job for him. The bad news is that she wants him to clear his own name. A string of mysterious killings has been rocking the city, and all evidence points to Van—or rather, the Grendel, his monstrous alter ego.

Van sets out with Elaine to prove the Crimson Grendel isn’t him. But the confrontation goes horribly wrong and they both die. A grief-stricken Agnès Claudel activates her mysterious Genesis device and accidentally turns back time. Suddenly, everyone’s alive again, and Van’s getting a major case of déjà vu.

And this isn’t the only sudden tragedy that awaits them. The world is out to get our protagonists and a coup is brewing in Calvard. It’s up to the player to guide the characters away from deadly outcomes and defy fate. And there’s a hacked virtual reality dungeon to deal with, too.

Fantasy Noir Returns

Trails Through Daybreak II follows two storylines. Van travels around, gathering the gang back together, while Swin and Nadia from Trails into Reverie watch over Edith. Both sides of the story feature lots of fantasy geopolitics and plot threads from previous games. Almata may be gone, but its victims remain, and the power vacuum is rapidly being filled.

Poverty and systemic inequality continue to haunt Calvard’s streets. Heiyue has its own drama building as betrayals from within rock the organization. And the enigmatic Grendel Zolga is being manipulated into mass murder by someone behind the scenes.

This game continues the Daybreak tradition of being pretty good at making infodumps interesting. On a related note, it also features more lengthy cutscenes at the beginning of chapters than the previous title.

Fortunately, they’re good cutscenes, and I’m willing to sit through a lot in exchange for evil Grendel murder mystery. It can still be very irritating to finish a chapter, then have to sit through twenty minutes of dialog before you can save and close.

Trails Through Daybreak II is Two Games in One

Trails Through Daybreak II is effectively split into two modes: the regular story mode and the Märchen Garten. This bonus dungeon unlocks more floors as the game continues and serves as the post-game dungeon as well. Players can assemble their own ideal parties from the entire playable cast. Meanwhile, the main story unfolds in different chapters, each with a set party lineup.

Märchen Garten features randomized dungeons, accessories, and Crafts upgrades. It’s also the only source of costumes, which you acquire through a gacha system by gathering shards. You can access it from the field or Van’s laptop. This means you decide when to advance the plot and when to grind.

Each level has one of several clear conditions, from destroying objects to fighting specific monsters. The environments have a certain patchwork beauty to them. And the narrative hook behind the Marchen Garten—a hacking that took control of the virtual world and buried some very sensitive information in its code—is neat.

There are a variety of new minigames. Fishing, hacking, and even following a suspect all have new mechanics. Combat has also been reworked to be even slicker. EX Chains add a new branch of strategy to Command Battles as situational team-up attacks. You can no longer use two S-Crafts right after each other, but you can turn Van into Grendel at will in certain boss fights. And Grendel mode feels great to use. Not only does it radically change the best strategies available, it’s like you’re fighting one boss monster with another.

Field Battles are also a lot more exciting now that you can use Quick Artes. The threat of undodgeable Deadly Strikes keeps you wary instead of setting into a rut. And loading times are way shorter overall, at least on PC.

Something is Rotten in Calvard

Trails Through Daybreak II looks pretty good and sounds pretty good. Unfortunately, it continues its predecessor’s choice to have only some characters—and some scenes—voiced. At times, only half a scene has voice-acting, which is disorienting. When the voice acting is present, it’s good, but I wish it was more consistent.

The battle themes are spectacular, the art direction is nice, and the graphics are decent. Each major character is memorable, if pretty anime. And the Grendel transformation looks fantastic, whether it’s heroic or villainous. Wandering around Calvard, poking around racetracks, abandoned military bases, and market districts, has never felt better. And the Marchen Garten virtual world is beautiful.

This game is long and packed with optional content, including collectibles, skippable scenes, and tons of lore. As usual, there’s a briefing on the story so far available in the main menu. However, more in-depth explorations of previous events are hidden in the Marchen Garten.

For some reason, the screen slowly rotates by default when entering a new scene or shop screen. The problem persisted after I unplugged my mouse. And there seem to be fewer than usual NPCs you can talk to on the streets. But these issues are far from dealbreakers for me.

All in all, The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II is a great extension of the first Trails Through Daybreak. Just don’t try playing it first and you should have a great time.

***Steam code provided by the publisher***