The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4 Review – All Great Things Must Come to an End

A lot has changed since The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4 originally released in the west. While a lot of players learned about Lloyd, and many of the other Trails characters from their appearance in this, or a previous Trails of Cold Steel title; NIS America has since released many of these in the west. The full “Crossbell” arc can now be experienced giving players a deeper understanding of who these characters are. Given The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4 was enhanced for PlayStation 5, is it the perfect chance to experience it, or are things about the same?

For those unfamiliar with the franchise, or understandably forgot over the years, there is a rather substantial overview included in The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4. Each section is dedicated to different aspects outside of both previous adventures. This is a great way to catch up, and I remain impressed with how much content they cover given these are incredibly complicated narratives.

Trust Me, You’ll Still Need This

Once you’re familiar it’s time to start the conclusion of the Trail of Cold Steel arc. One nice touch is the ability to import either a PlayStation 4, or 5 save from The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3. Not overly important, but it’s always nice when little things like that are updated to ensure either side is happy.

The conclusion takes place shortly after the events of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3 where you must save Rean, and put an end to this war. It’s the logical conclusion, assuming you followed the previous titles, or the overview, but it’s a satisfying end to the saga. Best of all, those who find themselves excited by the events can continue the journey with The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie.

Hey, I know These People

While narrative is what ultimately sold this franchise in the west, Nihon Falcom still delivers a traditional turn based RPG experience. Part of what makes things interesting is the importance of tactics. This starts with engaging enemies before they catch you, with encounters difficulty hinging on approach.

In battle players have the option of normal, or special attacks. Doing a normal attack has a brief animation, with the potential for a teammate to join in. Unlike a lot of experiences, each teammate attack allows players to decide which move makes the most sense for this situation.

Often times the best tactic is to look at positioning and use a special move. This is due to many of these attacks impacting an area over a specific enemy. I would often try to bait enemies by putting a stronger character in harms way, and then attack anyone foolish enough to engage. It works extremely well, though on higher difficulties players need to adopt more advanced tactics.

Sometimes that means kill orders, whereas other times it’s playing defensively. Regardless of the path taken it’s fun because there is more to fighting than trading blows, healing allies, and always taking the initiative.

Similar to The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3, the upgraded visuals, and performance were underwhelming. While character models remain nice, the worlds were always on the simpler side making it harder to really refine the visuals. Don’t get me wrong, it’s better, just not so much so I would say it’s game changing.

Performance is in a better overall spot, though the same lag, and dropped frames are present. I still wouldn’t say these are dealbreakers, just that anyone paying even vague attention will notice several of these within minutes of starting this adventure.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4 Review Verdict

Editor’s Note: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4 was reviewed on PlayStation 5, and a copy was provided to us for review purposes. In addition to that, some portions of this review was repurposed in our The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3 review due to similarities/timing of release.