Falcom is entirely aware that The Legend of Heroes is a ridiculously popular franchise. The Cold Steel series has been released on at least five different consoles so far and demand hasn’t dropped one iota. The games are just that good! We’ve been covering the entire Legend of Heroes franchise for years now, and there’s no sign of it slowing down with at least three more games forthcoming including remasters of the first two games from wayyyyy back. And that’s why we’re here again today to talk Trails because developer Falcom and publisher NIS America have re-released The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero / Trails to Azure on the PS5!
We’ve covered both Trails from Zero (full review here) and Trails to Azure (full review here) before. That’s not to say it wasn’t fun to dive right back in from the beginning, but if you need a comprehensive review of either, they’re both here for the clicking. Instead of a full review of both games however, we’re just going to hit the high points and go over what’s new in order to get you on your way and let you decide if the newest release in the Trails series is a must-have or not.
First off, let’s talk about the games themselves. Trails from Zero is the first game in the series and revolves around Lloyd Bannings, an 18 year old detective with the Crossbell Police. He’s been assigned to the Special Support Section (SSS) along with several other unexpected young people, only one of whom is also a police officer. Crossbell is a city/state smack dab between the Erebonian Empire (the Cold Steel arc of the series) and the Calvard Republic (the Daybreak arc). As a tiny independent state it has all sorts of influences and problems and creative issues require creative solutions. That’s where the SSS comes in.
Trails from Zero covers the founding of the SSS and Lloyd, Randy, Tio, and Ellie’s exploits as they slowly uncover the secret plots running behind the scenes in Crossbell. If you really want story spoilers for Zero or Azure, there are plenty online so we won’t give them here, but suffice it to say that the ongoing story of both games is complex, interesting, and full of political intrigue. It’s a hell of a good time and the script and plot are both fantastic. The world -building here is top notch and since this is the second main story arc after the Liberl arc, you’ll see a fair bit of crossover with the Trails in the Sky trilogy as well.
If you’re expecting a complete rebuild from the ground up here like we got with the Trails in the Sky series, you’re going to be disappointed however. The Legend of Heroes Trails from Zero / Trails to Azure is a port of both games to the PS5. That’s not a bad thing however because there are plenty of visual and gameplay improvements. Optional anti-aliasing is available, you can select various texture styles, turn the character glow on and off, adjust the color heat, and even turn shadows and water effects on and off. On the gameplay end, you can change how encounters are triggered, adjust auto-saving, swap out movements options, and even skip the startup logo if you want. High speed mode has also been adjusted, allowing you to change the speed factors in both combat and overworld, rapidly accelerating the game. All of these additional options end up creating a much smoother, cleaner experience without fundamentally changing the game.
Trails to Azure has been given the same treatment as well, with visual upgrades and the same host of small tweaks. The refresher (with spoilers) for Zero is still included as is a glossary of key terms and character profiles. Naturally all the original fun extras are also included such as the save data import function between Trails from Zero and Trails To Azure. That save port also changes some of the dialogue and conversations throughout the game if you’ve finished Zero and chances are you’ll have done that by the time you get to Azure. The game picks up right where the first left off and it’s highly recommended that you play Zero first as much of the story would be confusing or simply meaningless otherwise. To make things even more complex, Trails to Azure takes place at the same time as Trails of Cold Steel II and the political intrigue in the Erebonian Empire definitely has some bleed-over into Crossbell and vice versa. Once again, there’s so much interesting stuff going on that too much discussion of the plot here can ruin not just Azure, but Cold Steel II as well, so we’ll just say that it’s all incredibly well done, arguably better than even Trails From Zero, which is already fantastic.
The mechanics of Azure are a bit more complex as well, with Burst attacks and Back attacks to enhance combat. Burst attacks are a game-changer here in comparison to Trails from Zero. As you fight, you build up Burst points in a meter and then you can release various Craft attacks and Burst options, making your team unstoppable juggernauts. The majority of combat is much the same as Zero however, and speeding up the grinding with High-Speed Mode really streamlines the experience and makes grinding feel like much less of a chore. There’s a good balance between combat, non-combat missions, and story sections in Trails to Azure and you never feel like you’re wandering around aimlessly.
What you’re really interested in here is whether it’s worth your time to upgrade and honestly? It probably is. After playing both The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero and The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure on Switch, it’s easy to see the differences. Characters are noticeably more crisp and clean looking and the background visuals look more impressive than previous versions. Water and lighting effects are noticeably more complex and add an extra dimension to the backgrounds assuming you have all the visual options turned on. The entire game just looks more modern, even with the older pixel graphics and when you directly compare the two, the difference is quite apparent. Load times are also improved here and while the Switch loaded quite fast to begin with, the PS5 load times are clearly only there for transitions and dramatic effect as almost everything loads nearly instantly.
The sound is essentially unchanged as well, which is excellent because both games are scored by the unparalleled Falcom JDK Team. The entire Trails series has amazing music and honestly, arranged soundtracks from all of the Legend of Heroes games are good enough that they’re worth putting into your permanent playlist. Trails to Azure even has a setting to let you see what track is playing at any given time if you want, so you can learn the titles of your favorite tracks. Voice acting is also preserved from previous versions of the game, and while the full game isn’t voiced, the portions that are are top tier. The same goes for the sound effects which are very well-done and perfectly suited to gameplay. Between the soundtrack, visuals, voices, and sound effects, both Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure absolutely deliver.
There are a couple of other small benefits to buying The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero / Trails to Cold Steel Deluxe Edition as well. Unlike previous editions, the deluxe physical version of the Crossbell duology comes with a digital soundtrack of the games, a handful of character cards of the main characters of the game and a mini-artbook. It’s always nice to get a few extras and with the quality of the music and art here, it’s worth your time to buy a physical copy if that’s your thing. As for the rest of us, you have the option of buying both games in a digital bundle at a discount of $10 or buying both separately for $40 each. It’s pretty great that there’s no markup from previous versions here this time and if you’ve seen the prices of both Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure on secondary markets lately, you’ll be glad you don’t have to hunt them down!
There’s no question that The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero / Trails to Azure is worth your money whether you’re buying a physical or a digital version. Having both PS4 and PS5 versions readily available is great but the PS5 upgrade is definitely noticeable and smoother than previous versions of the game with just a few more options that make the experience that much better. With around 90 hours of gameplay for $70 for the collection or $80 individually, you’re definitely getting your money’s worth too. This is the second major story arc of one of the best JRPG franchises of all time and arguably the best franchise, so if you like complex, well-written characters and fun gameplay, you are going to be delighted with The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero / Trails to Azure. And if you’ve already played it? It’s still awesome! Don’t miss out on this collection because it’s a blast!
This review is based on a digital copy of The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero / Trails to Azure provided by the publisher. It was played on a PS5 using a 1080p 55” TV. The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero / Trails to Azure is also available on Switch 2 and PC on Steam.
Nate Van Lindt has been a gamer since the days of yore (aka Commodore 64), and has played a bit of virtually everything out there. He's also an avid comic book collector, both vintage and current, and reads a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy. On top of that, he watches a fair number of movies and TV shows as well. Oh, and he has a family, a full-time job, and lives somewhere in the urban wilds of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, foraging for old video cables and forgotten game soundtracks.