Starting a new chapter in a long-running video game series must be a monumental task for a developer. How do you build a world with a new setting and a new cast, and follow a deeply intertwined storyline for 20 years? It’s a tough question, but Trails through Daybreak answers it with confidence, marking the beginning of an exciting new saga that newcomers and veterans alike can enjoy after the series’ previous saga concludes with 2023’s The Legend of Heroes: Trails of the Dawn. A satisfying conclusion. With a modern combat system that combines turn-based combat with some new real-time elements, a compelling story, and engaging characters, Trails through Daybreak shines as another great RPG in a year packed with such elements.

Daybreak follows a mercenary named Van Arclyde on an epic adventure that’s noticeably darker than previous Trails story arcs. He takes on dirty jobs that local law enforcement can’t, and sometimes works for the underground, negotiating deals with shady middlemen and hunting bounties. This is a welcome change from previous protagonists in the series, who tended to be a bit unrealistic and altruistic.

The story itself effortlessly weaves modern themes into the plot, such as shady characters who use anti-immigrant sentiment to rise to power and the meteoric rise of a new mafia group that threatens the status quo of the underworld. These themes aren’t entirely clear at the start of Van’s journey, but he eventually begins to realize just how much influence the different factions in the world have, and the deeper you get, the more compelling Daybreak feels like a political drama.

It’s an excellent entry point into the Trails series, free from the shackles of having to continue directly from previous games. Daybreak also caters to longtime fans like me by incorporating their lore when it fits the story. For example, it’s set in the Republic of Calvard, a location that was mentioned in previous Trails games but never shown. The situation is similar at the beginning when Vaan fights the local mafia. She is taking performance-enhancing drugs to give him an advantage, and he speculates that these drugs may be similar to those taken by local gangs in Crossbell, referencing both Trails from Zero and Trails to the Deep Azure. It’s a great way to connect this world while creating a blank slate to tackle new stories.

The cast of lovable, close-knit main characters also adds to the action. Standouts include a young girl named Feri Al Fayed, who Van takes in after being banished from her village. She slowly accepts her teammates as a second family over the course of the story. My personal favorite is the bubbly Grimcat, who wears a skin-tight suit and cat mask, a clear homage to Persona 5’s Anne. (Grimcat even calls herself a “phantom thief.”) Her strong-willed personality provides an amusing contrast to her role as comic relief. She’s a terrible liar and often fails when trying to defuse situations. Expect a clever trickster to show up, perhaps.

It’s also great that Daybreak’s relatively small cast makes each character’s development more focused. As the story progresses, they are able to get more attention and have more room for development, which was difficult especially in the Cold Steel arc as the plot progressed and the cast grew. Veterans will also find characters from previous Cold Steel, Sky, and Crossbell arcs making cameos in supporting roles, but they are cleverly placed so as not to draw attention or scare off newcomers.

When you’re not caught up in the political machinations of the main story, you’ll be completing various side quests that will earn you points towards your Van’s Law, Gray, or Chaos stats. These are designed as a sort of morality system, but work in a similar way to how Persona handles social stats. Certain side quests will give you pre-determined values ​​for these stats, and you can see before you get which ones they will increase. However, being high on one attribute doesn’t prevent you from benefiting from the others, so it’s worth taking and completing them all. This approach allows for more freedom because you don’t feel like you’re being forced into a single moral path.

It also gives more depth to Van’s character, affecting how he deals with certain encounters outside of his cool, bad boy attitude. Some quests allow you to choose how you end them, earning you extra points for certain alignments depending on your choice. For example, one quest requires you to corner a cashier who is stealing money from his workplace, only to find out that he was being blackmailed by someone else. You have the option to encourage the cashier to return the money and come clean; either the law closes in, or you choose the grey route and return the money but keep it a secret. I liked being able to make decisions I would probably make if I were in Van’s shoes, as I didn’t feel pressured to follow a strict path like some other games’ morality systems do. (If the money is back where it came from and the business is still going, no one is hurt and no one needs to know, right?)

Daybreak’s quests also feature some great world-building. Particularly entertaining is the storyline where Vaan’s group goes to a remote island to rid it of monsters so that tourists can explore safely. In an amusing twist, a tour guide appears and leads the group on an expedition while they are busy fighting. They periodically stop at certain points to recount local legends, and while the group hopes to learn fun facts, each of the guide’s stories is about something horrifying, like people being swallowed by monsters at high tide or a certain cave being called the Cave of “Skulls” because it is littered with human remains. The lengths and effort that went into making these side quests truly enjoyable is one of the best aspects of the series.

You may then choose to ally yourself with a particular faction, depending on how high Vaan’s morale is in that particular alliance. While choosing a particular faction does not change the overall story, Vaan’s choice may make fights in that particular chapter easier. Some factions have powerful playable characters that make enemy and boss encounters easier, as long as you have access to them. On the other hand, the faction I chose had two characters that were fully AI-controlled, which could be frustrating as I was unable to give them direct command when I needed to. Choosing certain factions over others results in unique character interactions, providing replay value in future playthroughs.

One of the biggest changes to gameplay in Daybreak is the combat system, which is now a hybrid of real-time and turn-based combat. On the field, you can run towards enemies and attack them, but you can also initiate turn-based combat at any time by pressing a button. If you destroy an enemy’s shield first, you’ll start the turn-based portion with an advantage, and the enemy will be stunned and incapacitated for a short time. Unfortunately, these real-time elements are very rudimentary; regular attacks and a charge attack that stuns the enemy are all you can do besides dodge. For a 50+ hour RPG, it gets incredibly repetitive, and I wish more options were introduced throughout the campaign to keep the real-time moments from stagnating.

However, the turn-based combat makes up for this thanks to some notable improvements over its predecessor. There are no more loading screens except for boss fights, so fights in Daybreak transition seamlessly from field to battle. Things go much smoother now that the group is no longer magically transported to another dimension just for the fight. The battlefield is exactly the same size as the room Vaan was in when he encountered his enemy.

The combat system also brings back the series’ timeline mechanic, which remains relatively unchanged but is as good as ever. Bonuses are granted at random points in the promotion timeline. So if you’re about to get a critical hit bonus during your enemy’s turn, you can cleverly manipulate the order by using attacks with delayed effects to move the enemy’s position and hopefully land the symbol on one of your allies instead. This allows for incredibly exciting combat. It’s important to take advantage of these bonuses whenever possible, especially during boss fights and other high difficulty moments.

Another welcome change is that characters no longer have to spend their turns simply moving around the battlefield, but can instead move freely within a certain movement range. Positioning your party in an advantageous position before attacking isn’t an entirely new RPG concept, but this improvement, combined with Trails’ already excellent combat mechanics, opens up a whole new dimension of tactical gameplay.

For example, Vaan’s Stunning Blow has a nullifying effect that can confuse enemies while they’re in the middle of casting a spell, but it also deals more damage if Vaan attacks an enemy from the side instead of from the front or back. This gives this a dual purpose: you can prioritize positioning with the new movement options to increase damage, or you can focus on manipulating the order of the timeline to make it more useful. This allows some attacks to remain useful even if their primary effect doesn’t work in certain situations, which wasn’t always the case in previous Trails games, as running around counted as its own action.

Daybreak’s customization system gives you the flexibility to expand each character’s stats and abilities with different gems. The great thing about customization is that it can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. Each gem has an element associated with a specific stat and ability, and can be inserted into one of the four customization lines for each character (Weapon, Shield, Power, EX). For example, the red gem is associated with the fire element, has properties that favor physical attackers, and gives fire-based properties when placed on certain lines. If you just want to insert the red attack +1 gem into an open slot, that’s totally fine, since your character will get an attack stat boost either way.

However, if you want to go a step further, you need to be strategic about where you place your gems. Daybreak introduces shard skills that act like passive buffs that are affected by different line options. Placing a red gem on the weapon line gives you a chance to inflict fire damage on your regular attacks, while placing it on the shield line increases your chances of avoiding the Burning status. Knowing how to use these passive buffs can mean the difference between winning and losing, especially in late-game boss fights or when playing on higher difficulties.

The synergy between gem and shard skills also makes customization fun. You need to place gems carefully to activate more powerful shard skills. For example, Burst Gain offers a chance to recover HP when attacking, but you need both a red gem and a water-based blue gem in the weapon line to unlock it. I had fun losing track of time as I tweaked each character and tried out different combinations. Bonding events, called Connections, return to Daybreak, allowing the protagonist to casually hang out with other characters in his free time. They’re always great fun, especially for returning fans. A memorable scene sees Vaan meet up with his friend Rene from Calvard’s intelligence department and discuss their double agent status, who coincidentally works for an important politician who appeared in the Cold Steel and Crossbell games. So not only are these bonding moments entertaining and well-written, the Trails series is also able to use its extensive history to incorporate past events to build an even more impressive world, something that very few games with similar features manage to do. So detailed.

Verdict

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Dawn is an exciting new beginning for the series. Featuring a fresh cast of characters including some familiar faces, it will be a welcome addition for potential new fans while also rewarding returning veteran players. While Daybreak’s updated hybrid combat system still has some issues with the real-time elements, the turn-based aspects are better than ever thanks to improved movement options and other impressive improvements. Wrapped in a compelling story full of political drama and a fascinating new setting, Daybreak is exactly what the Trails series needs to reach new heights.