Stepping Off the Trail: Why Falcom Needs a Reset

This will be a review/analysis of the Trails series as we are right now. The current game is Trails Beyond the Horizon. This is currently the most up-to-date in the story of the Trails franchise that we have. I have thoughts on where the series has been, especially since last year. We got Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter remake, so it’s a good time to go over what has happened and what this new game has, what the whole series has been, and what I think would be good moving forward with the series. I think we’ve hit a roadblock. In previous arcs, we had a clear beginning, middle, and end, resulting in a satisfying conclusion and a bridge to the next arc. However, this game lacks a satisfying ending and a decisive conclusion compared to the Cold Steel or Sky arcs, and even the Azure/Zero arc in Crossbell. I’m trying to understand how the story will progress, as the last two games have felt filler or unnecessary, and I think they could’ve combined them into one.

A Quick Review of Trails Beyond the Horizon

[A review copy was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.]

Genres: Action, Adventure, RPG
Publisher: NIS America, Inc.
Developer: Nihon Falcom, PH3 GmbH
Release Date: Jan 15, 2026

Trails Beyond the Horizon is the third entry in the Trails through Daybreak series. It feels like they’re redoing Reverie a second time around, or it’s another culmination of different arcs within the Trails series together. This game feels a little disjointed in the fact that I’m not sure where it really falls in this new arc because, yes, we are playing with Van Arkride and his detective agency, but we still have guest appearances from a lot of different other people from other different arcs within the series. So it feels like this game wasn’t necessarily planned as well as the ones previously.

Let’s start from the beginning. The story isn’t necessarily bad—it just feels incomplete and structurally inconsistent in some areas. The premise is pretty solid, and I appreciate the trajectory of the series: it started with more of an old-school, almost steampunk aesthetic in the Trails in the Sky games, and now we’re in a futuristic, almost cyberpunk era. That shift happened in just about 10 years within the game’s timeline. I like how they show how drastically ttechnology has changed, especially with the introduction of Calvard and Shard Technology—it’s a major leap for the entire world since the Orbal Revolution years prior.

There are definitely strong components to the story and its concepts. The Cold Steel, Sky, and the Crossbell arcs had a much more defined structure, and each game followed a clear pattern. This latest entry, however, breaks away from that. It feels more like a standalone game, but even then, you’d still need tons of background and context to fully understand what’s going on. That said, it stands out as an outlier—it doesn’t feel as connected to the previous games in the way the earlier entries did.

So let’s move into talking about the combat and the gameplay. The combat itself is largely the same from the previous game. There are a few changes here and there, but they aren’t big enough or substantial to where it is a giant leap from the previous game. In Trails Beyond the Horizon, the combat is still structured with two separate combat styles. You have your Action Battle and then you also have your Command battles; they work in tandem. I do like that they expanded the action portions a little bit more, giving you a little more variety when it comes to the amount of attacks and maneuvers and capabilities you are able to do. Command battles, for specifically turn-based battles, are very similar to the previous game; they have added some new additions to the combat to make it a little bit more robust. The area that Falcom has put a lot of effort and emphasis in. They have completely expanded a lot more than they have in the past. This is where the game truly shines. The gameplay is very fast-paced, it’s very fun and fluid, and the animations and the overall quality of the animations have gotten a lot better. I think this game is neck-and-neck with Trails in the Sky remake as the quintessential gameplay experience they have provided for the series.

I also would like to mention that I think the music is, of course, outstanding as usual; there are some misses, but overall, Falcom’s commitment to quality in their games soundtracks is something I really appreciate. I will say that the last three games in particular may not be the strongest of soundtracks they’ve created, but I do think that the quality is still there overall. There’s definitely some really good standout tracks in this game as well.

I think Trails Beyond the Horizon and the first two Calvard games are on the right track when it comes to gameplay, animations, and visuals, but they fall short in storytelling and narrative. One of the things I’ve always loved about Falcom games is their dense, intricate plots; these two entries still have all the moving parts, yet they never quite add up to a satisfying whole by the time the credits roll.

It feels like Falcom has successfully pushed the franchise into the modern era—combat is snappy, the UI is slick, and the presentation is the best it’s ever been—but they’ve poured so much energy into those systems that the narrative cohesion and emotional payoff we expect from a Trails arc have suffered. Daybreak II started this trend, and Beyond the Horizon doubles down on it: both are laser-focused on gameplay first, story second.

If you’re here for polished turn-based combat, clever boss mechanics, and fan-service cut scenes, you’ll probably have a great time. If you need that combat to be anchored by a compelling, tightly woven plot that rewards your investment, you’re likely to walk away underwhelmed. Overall it’s a solid title in the Falcom catalog, but measured against the last decade-and-a-half of Trails games, it lands on the weaker side.

The Trail got cold…

So the real question now is: where does Falcom go from here, and how do they stick the landing of a saga that began in 2004?

Personally, I’d put the annual release cycle on ice until the writers know exactly what they want the next phase—and the grand finale—to accomplish. A breather year (or two) spent remastering or even fully remaking older arcs would buy three things at once:

1. A reset for the dev team, letting level-designers, scripters, and artists iterate on the new engine without the pressure of a new script.
2. A chance for newer fans to experience Crossbell and early Erebonia in the current art style, so everyone’s on the same page when the last curtain rises.
3. Most important, time for the scenario staff to chart a definitive through-line from the mysteries seeded in Daybreak (the Grandmaster, the singularity tech, the outside continent, etc.) to whatever catharsis they’ve promised for twenty years.

Annual releases have finally caught up with Falcom: the calendar, not the creative outline, is dictating pace, and that shows in the thin pay-offs we’ve been getting. Rean and the Cold Steel ensemble popping in for encore fights felt like fanservice rather than an organic narrative necessity. Cameos are fun, but when every other scene is a nostalgia checkpoint, the new cast never earns center stage—and without emotional equity in the fresh faces, the stakes land softly.

Reverie already did the “all-stars collide” gimmick; doing it again in Beyond the Horizon only underlines how little Daybreak’s own cast has been allowed to matter. If the next arc’s thesis is “the world is bigger than Zemuria,” let us actually meet that bigger world instead of recycling Class VII one more time.

Because this is the end-game now. We’re not teasing threads for another decade; we’re closing a saga older than some of its players. A fumbled finale here won’t just hurt sales—it retroactively cheapens hundreds of hours of investment. Falcom has one shot to weave Ouroboros, Aidios, the Sept-Terrions, the singularity, and whatever lies beyond the Hollow into a single payoff that feels both surprising and inevitable. That kind of clockwork plotting needs time, beta-readers, and the willingness to cut favourite toys if they don’t serve the ending.

My hope, then, is modest: skip 2026, announce Sky 3rd Remake, and let the writers room finish the outline before a single dungeon is meshed. Come back when the story—not the shareholder meeting—says it’s ready. If they do that, Falcom still has the chance to deliver a finale the industry will talk about for another twenty years. If they don’t, the trail ends not with a crescendo, but with a sigh.

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