Long-awaited, stylish detective JRPG finally arrives on Steam, and a sequel is already coming

Almost three years after its original release in Japan, The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak is finally out on Steam with an English-language release. The detective JRPG is already racking up an excellent Steam rating, with early reviews sitting at a very positive 95% score. In even better news, publisher NIS America celebrates the launch with confirmation that it plans to bring the sequel to English-speaking territories in “early 2025,” making now a fantastic time to start.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak follows in the long-running Trails series, itself part of the greater Legend of Heroes mantle. It’s brought us some very memorable JRPGs, and Trails Through Daybreak is a great place to jump in if you’re a newcomer. In this latest installment, you step into the shoes of detective, negotiator, and bounty hunter Van Arkride, an investigator who handles “the kind of work that can’t be taken to more legitimate sources.”

Approached by the mysterious Agnes Claudel, Van Arkride is thrown into a search that will pit the pair against everything from governments to private military companies, the criminal underworld, and secret organizations galore. Combat is turn-based first, but outside of boss fights you can flip between turn-based and real-time action, with the game encouraging you to make use of both styles.

The new setting and a mostly fresh cast means that even if you haven’t played a Trails game before, you should have no trouble picking things up. Trails Through Daybreak is also careful to make sure it explains any returning characters sufficiently if you’d benefit from a little added context. Plus, if it clicks with you, there are a whole wealth of past games available for you to explore and learn more about the wilder world – and, as mentioned, the sequel is now set to release in 2025 as well.

Previously available on Steam in Japanese only, the addition of English-language support this week is also joined by some other improvements. The graphics have been upgraded with new shadows, anti-aliasing, static reflections, and HDR support. The team has also worked on improving both aspect ratio support and the look of animations when running at a higher frame rate than 60 fps (with support to go up to 360 fps).

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak is out now on Steam with full English language support. You can head here to pick up your copy – expect to pay $59.99 / £49.99.

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