Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter
Genre: Action-RPG / Turn-Based JRPG
Players: 1
The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference
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Review:
After 2025’s excellent remake of the classic JRPG Trails in the Sky, one year later we’re receiving a similar remake of that game’s direct sequel, originally titled The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC. That game was first released on PC in Japan in 2006, with various ports and other versions, though the game’s first US release wouldn’t come until 2015 on PC and PlayStation Portable, a year after the PlayStation Portable was discontinued. And much as with Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, this release in 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2 is a ground-up remake of that game that transforms not only the visuals and presentation, but the gameplay as well.
Players are given a quick refresher on the first game’s story before this game kicks off, though I think most players will want to play this series in order, since the plot of this game is a direct continuation of the first game. However, to sum things up, after the end of the prior game where heroes Estelle and Joshua became fully-fledged members of the heroic “bracers” and foiled a conspiracy to enact a coup, in the process discovering that coup’s ties to a mysterious shadowy organization called Ouroboros, Joshua suddenly kisses Estelle goodbye, concerned that his own ties to Ouroboros may put Estelle and her father in danger.
This game picks up the morning after this parting, with Estelle distraught and in denial over Joshua leaving. However, once the reality of the situation sets in, Estelle is resolved to search for Joshua while also confronting Ouroboros. To do so, she initially returns to training, knowing she’ll need to up her game to compete with the sort of threat that Ouroboros poses. Afterwards, she sets off, taking on jobs to help folks she encounters while searching for clues to Joshua’s whereabouts and digging up dirt on Ouroboros.
It’s a solid new direction for the story, and one that places Estelle in the lead role. I’m… of mixed feelings about this. Estelle is a perfectly fine character, but her English-language voice actress still sounds grating to my ears (though again, there’s always the option to swap to Japanese). Thankfully, the rest of the voice cast is excellent, and the overall adventurous tone of the story and quality of the writing keeps things interesting. This is backed by a decent anime-style soundtrack with themes like the piano solo title theme Shine of Eidos, and the voiced Opening Theme.
This is joined once again by some really good anime-style cel-shaded 3D visuals with gorgeous character designs. However, the game’s visuals do have their flaws, and I feel what I said about the visuals in Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter still applies here: The game’s 3D environments are a bit sparse and sometimes plain-looking, there’s plenty of pop-in, shadows often look jagged and ugly, distant enemies animate at a much-lower framerate, and on Nintendo Switch the overall framerate is a bit rough, fluctuating wildly between 60FPS and 30FPS, and rarely hitting that high end. It’s still perfectly playable, and overall it still looks fine, but there’s no question this is the worst version of this remake.
As for the gameplay, this is once again in line with what we saw in the previous game, with combat that lets players choose whether to take on battles in either an Action-RPG style system or in a more traditional Turn-Based JRPG system, and you can swap from the former to the latter as it suits you mid-battle (though apparently not the reverse). This gives players the freedom to not only play how they want, but to take on more difficult battles in turn-based mode to think through actions tactically.
Both of these battle systems have some clever mechanics going on. In Action-RPG mode, players can dodge, and much like Spectacle Fighter games there’s a bit of a bonus if you time your dodges perfectly. Meanwhile, in turn-based mode, players have multiple types of attacks that they can use in conjunction with other members of their party.
For either combat mode, this game’s progression system is vaguely similar to Final Fantasy VII’s “materia” system, where players slot in elemental magic orbs (“quartz”) into their character’s specific grid (“orbments”) to change their stats and imbue them with orb-specific magic attacks, with each character’s grid more conducive to certain types of orbs. I still feel like players are too limited in how much they can use this system to customize their characters, but overall the gameplay here is still enjoyable.
In the end, Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter is ultimately “more of the same” of what we got in 1st Chapter, but that’s not a bad thing – the gameplay is enjoyable and lets players tackle combat the way they choose to, and the characters and story are solid. If you’re a fan of JRPGs, this is absolutely a game you’ll want to play… but really, you’re better off starting with the first game, looking forward to 2nd Chapter as an excellent follow-up.
tl;dr – Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, following in the footsteps of 1st Chapter, is a full remake of a 20 year-old classic that reworks the game from the ground up with massive improvements to gameplay and presentation, making for a superb blend of Turn-Based JRPG and Action-RPG. As this is the continuation of the story of the first game, you’re really better off playing that first, but if you still want more after that, this is an excellent follow-up.
Grade: B+
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The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference
Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition
Genre: Action-RPG / Turn-Based JRPG
Players: 1
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Review:
While the Trails in the Sky remakes are alike in numerous ways, there was reason to believe this sequel might feature a more extensive makeover than the previous game. After all, the $5 Nintendo Switch 2 Edition upgrade for 2nd Chapter is a bit pricier than the $1 upgrade we got for 1st Chapter. How much of a difference will that make? Let’s have a look…
Primarily, the changes you’ll see here are to graphics and performance – there’s no added content or features, no Mouse Mode support, or anything like that. However, that change is quite significant.
The game has both a graphics and performance mode, but both of these deliver graphics and performance well above what was in the Nintendo Switch version. However, graphics mode delivers excellent high-resolution visuals with a framerate that’s still pretty good, while performance mode plays with silky-smooth framerates with a resolution that’s still pretty good. Honestly, there are no wrong answers here.
In addition, there are multiple other graphics improvements for both modes – better textures, more detailed shadows, and enemies in the distance no longer render at low framerates. Overall, the game looks noticeably better on Nintendo Switch 2.
The loading times are also improved, though the Nintendo Switch version’s loading times were already pretty snappy. On Nintendo Switch, it took me 11 seconds to load to the title screen, and another 11 seconds to load a game save. On Nintendo Switch 2, those times were reduced to 7 seconds and 4 seconds.
Overall… these are the same improvements the previous game received in its Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. Is the upgrade still worth it now that it’s $5 instead of $1? Yes, absolutely. And while it’s a little disappointing to have to pay more to get the same upgrade this time, honestly I think the upgrade for the previous game was a steal, so it’s hard to feel too bad about paying a bit more this time. In any case, this is an excellent improvement on a great game.
tl;dr – Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, following in the footsteps of 1st Chapter, is a full remake of a 20 year-old classic that reworks the game from the ground up with massive improvements to gameplay and presentation, making for a superb blend of Turn-Based JRPG and Action-RPG. As this is the continuation of the story of the first game, you’re really better off playing that first, but if you still want more after that, this is an excellent follow-up.
Grade: B+
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