Take the Van on another adventure.

What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than to share a new JRPG with the one you love? Nintendo Switch gamers will get that opportunity when NIS America and Nihon Falcom release The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II on February 14, 2025.

Last week, Pure Nintendo participated in an online demo of the game. It was quickly evident that fans of the first Trails Through Daybreak will be able to pick up right where they left off with the adventures of Van Arkride and the full team from Arkride Solutions. Don’t think for a second, though, that you’re just getting more of the same.

Let’s take a look as what Legend of Heroes fans can look forward to over the next few months.

  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II is set three months after the conclusion of the first Trails Through Daybreak. This time, the knock on the door comes from Elaine Auclair, alerting Van that a “Crimson Grendel” has been attacking people in Edith. Worse, it’s somehow linked to Van.
  • This doesn’t mean the adventure is centered fully around Arkride Solutions again. Swin and Nadia, who we last saw in Trails Into Reverie, factor heavily into the game’s seemingly separate storyline.

  • Of course, there will be dozens of playable characters new and old. Series fans will be happy to know that some previous NPCs will be playable for the first time.
  • Don’t worry if you don’t recognize everyone, however; returning characters are introduced in a way that will prevent players from feeling lost. You won’t need to have played previous Legend of Heroes story arcs to enjoy Trails Through Daybreak II, but it is important that you’ve played Trails Through Daybreak.
  • As before, building rapport with all of these characters via Connection Events is important for party optimizations. We were told during the demo that the Connection Events cannot all be seen in a single playthrough, but I wonder if a really good walkthrough can make that happen, as with previous Legend of Heroes games.
  • How about the gameplay? The newest gimmick is a timeline mechanic that bounces the characters back to a previous point when they fail in a specific mission.
  • The time-hopping is 100% story driven. It’s not that you fail a mission or battle as a player and move back to try again. Rather, the plot moves them back to try a different route, change the party, or complete other objectives before returning. The characters are vaguely aware of the time jumps, and just kind of go with it.
  • Don’t worry, though. These time jumps will not force you to replay long segments or repeat your steps through a dungeon. For example, out-of-the-way treasure chests you’ve found and opened the first time will remain open the second time. And since the time jumps are factored into the story, they don’t prolong the game. Players can expect the typical 100 to 120 hours of previous entries.
  • Trails Through Daybreak introduced action-based battles to the standard turn-based gameplay, but it was mostly limited to melee combat. Now, players will also be able to use arts in the action combat (through perfect dodges and timed button presses).
  • Did you find that some shard skills left you overpowered in the first game? They’ve been rebalanced. In addition, players can no longer use two S-craft attacks in a row. In other words, expect the boss battle to be a little more challenging this time around.
  • In exchange, new dual arts will allow the combatants to do two types of damage while taking up only one slot. Even better, the battle timeline is easier to understand. No more squinting (or flat out guessing) to determine who goes next.

February 14th is a way off, but that’ll give you time to start (or just finish) The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak. Our gameplay preview host wasn’t able to comment on whether we’ll get a demo of Trails Through Daybreak II, but if NIS America keeps up their general practice, we can hopefully expect that a bit before the game’s launch.

For more information on The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II, including pre-order details on the Limited Edition physical release, visit nisamerica.com/games/daybreak2.