The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero

Trails From Zero might be late to the scene but even now, Nihon Falcom's JRPG remains one of the best Trails games yet.

Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.

Trails from Zero has been well worth the wait. This is a classic Falcom RPG - an engrossing, crime-fighting adventure through one of the property's greatest settings. The experience as a whole does get bogged down in tedious side content and some poorly aged design, but fantastic characters and fascinating story beats hold everything together. Based on our time with Zero, we can't wait for Trails to Azure in 2023.

In a series renowned for its stellar writing, twisting plots, and wonderful characters, The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is a stand-out RPG. Narrowing the focus of its story to one state, and honing in on a smaller cast of characters, makes for a fantastic and engrossing adventure that is about both intimate relationships and huge, secretive scandals. The fact that this is just one half of a duology means that, while the story wraps up nicely here, we have tons of questions that we're itching to get answers to in Trails to Azure. If you haven't played Trails, it's time to overcome that barrier, because there's no better place to zero in on this fantastic series than in Crossbell.

Western fans of The Legend of Heroes can finally officially experience this amazing lynchpin entry of the series and how the Special Support Section came together!

This long-awaited chapter of the Trails series is absolutely worth your time.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero puts together a politically engaging story, fun gameplay, and likable heroes into one epic RPG.

Though Trails' usual splendor of combat options here should come as no surprise, what's striking with this year's remastering is how well this once portable-only entry has translated across to more modern-day portable screens alike.

Trails from Zero is a different beast compared to other JRPGs, and that’s partly due to the way the series works in general. Putting that aside though, Zero is still a great game in its own right. It has it’s own unique set of main characters, the game is filled with character development and world building, there are multiple mysteries at play, and it is very easy to get sucked into life as a police officer. The game is very dialogue heavy, and a large chunk of it is talking to NPCs (assuming you want to get the most out of this world), and honestly that might not be for everyone. Of course you can skip NPCs and only focus on the side stories and main quest if you like, but doing so really does take away from the world building the series is known for. It’s just one of those things that will not click with everyone, and if it starts to feel like a chore, then that will greatly damper your enjoyment of the game.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is a very beefy RPG that is way longer if the speed-up functions are never used. The imaginative premise and complex battle system are what makes it stand out. The text can be really long-winded, even for RPG fans, but it all pays off for the diligent reader with patience to parse it all. Regretfully, there is no English voice acting - a first for The Legend of Heroes. While that is initially disappointing, the realization of the voice acting padding out an already very long RPG quells the desire.