The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4 brings an end to a story years in the making, and it does it with serious confidence. It feels more like a continuation of Trails of Cold Steel 3, especially considering how it builds off the gameplay ideas of the third game, and even improves them.
With three lengthy previous games, Trails of Cold Steel 4 isn't incredibly accessible to newcomers. NIS America has included an entire dossier of characters and previous events that can be accessed from the main menu to help combat this particular problem. However, Trails of Cold Steel 4 is a game that definitely resonates more with those that have been there every step of the journey.
Trails of Cold Steel 4 picks up right where the previous game ended, with the series' main character, Rean Swcharzer, missing in action. The franchise is known for lengthy slow-burn stories, and Trails of Cold Steel 4 epitomizes that idea with a tale filled with political intrigue, secret plots, and plenty of late-game twists. The story is essentially split up into two different halves, with Rean not even entering the mix until a good 25-30 hours in. The opening act starts a little slow, but things slowly ramp up to a crescendo throughout the game.
The Trails series has some ambitious JRPG storytelling, and a lot of it comes to a head in Trails of Cold Steel 4. It's not just the Cold Steel games, however, as this is the title that finally brings the entire franchise together. The main characters of both Trails in the Sky and the Crossbell arc of the larger game universe are vitally important to the story, and they're also playable party members. There are few series that can bring 17 years of storytelling together in such an impressive way, but by this point, Falcom is confident in its storytelling, and it shows with the interweaving plot threads of Cold Steel 4.
Trails of Cold Steel 4 is nothing if not ambitious, and this results in a whopping 39 playable party members. Seeing all these disparate characters interact is a blast for fans of the series, but the sheer number of playable characters can get incredibly overwhelming. It's impossible to get armor and equipment for every member unless players plan on grinding out a lot of money, so prioritizing certain characters and groups becomes vital. Trails of Cold Steel 4 does help with this by forcing players to use mostly pre-set parties at big story moments and adding on a couple more of their choice. The game does a good job of still keeping things guided while allowing as much freedom in party composition as possible.
This massive character selection also ties into combat, which remains mostly the same from Trails of Cold Steel 3. Considering Trails of Cold Steel 4 starts the party out around level 60, players immediately have access to a wealth of different Orbal Arts and Crafts. More are added on as players level up, and the same orbment system used in the series returns yet again. There are a ton of options for customizing characters, and fine-tuning each one to fit strategies. Trails games have always allowed for a lot of customization in combat, but Cold Steel 4 has refined the system even more. Interestingly, Cold Steel 4 feels quite a bit more difficult than the previous game as a result. Combat is more challenging, and it's not as easy for players to exploit the break system. There's a decent challenge throughout the entire experience, and it manages to find a sweet spot.
The main difference from Trails of Cold Steel 3 is that Brave Orders have been toned back a bit. Orders are less powerful from the get-go, but players can power them up by taking on Trial Chests. These chests return from Trails of Cold Steel 2 and require the player to use specific characters in a challenging battle. A nice new feature lets players instantly transport to any Trial Chest they've found, unlike Cold Steel 2, which involved a lot of backtracking if players wanted to circle back to particularly difficult challenges.
Because of the nature of the story, Trails of Cold Steel 4 has players visiting a lot of the same locations from Cold Steel 3. This isn't necessarily a problem, however, as the game relishes the opportunity to show how places change and grow over time. Part of the attraction of the Cold Steel games is seeing how the country of Erebonia is shaped by the events that happen, and Trails of Cold Steel 4 nails that idea by taking having players meet familiar locals and faces.
Minigames from the previous title return, too, like Vantage Masters and fishing, but Cold Steel 4 adds a surprising amount of new ones as well. The Pom! minigame returns from the Crossbell games, and it's basically the Trails equivalent of Puyo-Puyo. While that's the big addition, there are a host of other smaller minigames scattered throughout, like the haunted rollercoaster at the Mishelam theme park.
Bonding events also return, and there's a new set of events that help deepen the romantic relationships Rean can build with certain female party members. Like before, these bonding events are filled with good character moments, and often help drive comic relief. The game is never afraid to slow down and humanize its characters even in the midst of world-ending threats, and it's better for it. Trails of Cold Steel 4 is built on the same engine, and while there aren't any drastic graphical improvements, the art design of Cold Steel 4 really shines through. Some of the new locations are gorgeous, with the hidden village of Eryn, situated in a magical forest, being a particular highlight.
There's still quite a bit of voice acting in Trails of Cold Steel 4, but it kicks in during all of the important story segments, which means that the last stretch of the game has a lot. Unfortunately, the translation for Trails of Cold Steel 4 feels more rushed than Trails of Cold Steel 3. Overall it's quite good, but small errors consistently pop up, like a missing letter or a repeated word, and it's an unfortunate blemish on a game that does everything else with confidence.
It's definitely possible to play Cold Steel 4 without knowledge of the rest of the series, but it's truly a game meant for fans of the series. For anyone that's been following these characters for years, there's some serious emotional payoff, and Cold Steel 4 brings a satisfying close to this arc while helping to set the stage for the future. There aren't any massive improvements from Trails of Cold Steel 3, but Cold Steel 4 refines nearly everything to create a smoother experience overall. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4 is a finale that fans can't miss, and the way the game weaves together narrative threads from the last 15 years is truly impressive.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4 releases on October 27 for PS4. A PlayStation 4 code was provided for the purposes of this review.