Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter [REVIEW] – A Simply Masterful Second Act

I reviewed Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter late last year and absolutely loved it, so naturally, anticipation had been high for the follow-up, Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, it makes for another very special release. Instead of reinventing the wheel or starting from scratch, this game functions as the massive, emotionally charged second half of a grand adventure, taking the brilliant foundation laid by the first remake and building upon it with a worthy sequel.

Check out some screenshots down below:

If you haven’t played the first game, you REALLY need to stop right here and go do that – this sequel picks up mere moments after that game’s cliffhanger ending, so you can expect some spoilers in this review. Spoilers ahead, you have been warned!

In Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, we find our famously upbeat protagonist, Estelle Bright, dealing with the sudden departure of her adoptive brother and newly realised love interest, Joshua, who has vanished after revealing his dark past. Rather than wallowing in misery, Estelle decides she’s going to take some action, embarking on a rigorous training regime to become a senior bracer and hopefully bring him home. Of course, there’s a lot more to it than that (including the implications of dealing with a shady group known as Ouroboros), but that’s the core concept. It’s good… very, VERY good, and easily stand out as a narrative packed with drama, charm, and plenty of emotional moments.

Estelle’s personal growth across the adventure really is the beating heart of the story. She grows so much from the character you’d have grown to love in the first game, and she genuinely learns to stand on her own two feet, shifting from a somewhat naive rookie to a fiercely independent leader who is very easy to root for. The supporting cast are equally brilliant, bringing their own emotional tales to the fray that flesh out the story in a meaningful manner that never feels like filler. And sure, it is worth noting that because you are essentially retreading old ground and revisiting familiar locales from the first game, it can lack a sense of discovery and awe within the world that you might have experienced the last time around, but even with that sense of familiarity, it really does deliver some of the most gripping storytelling that the RPG genre has to offer.

“Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter is another masterful remake that brings the classic game to a new audience with its brilliant storytelling, excellent gameplay loop, and wonderful visuals.“

Where Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter truly excels is in its gameplay loop, which has been refined to perfection. The combat remains a hybrid affair that borrows the best bits of modern entries, blending real-time field action with deep, turn-based tactical skirmishes, ensuring you get a bit of everything. The coolest new addition here is Brave Rush, a mechanic that costs a couple of gauge points but lets you execute a real-time cooperative strike with a partner – this builds up the enemy’s break gauge rapidly, allowing you to seamlessly transition into the turn-based mode with a massive advantage. Otherwise, it’s more of the same, but given how good combat was the first time around, it’s a good thing… trust me.

Because your party members have effectively carried over their combat experience from the first game, you start off at a much higher level. This means you are immediately handed a robust toolkit of character-specific abilities and perks, entirely skipping the usual tedious tutorial phase of early-game RPGs (and another reason why you should make sure you play the previous game first). It also means you get to access some of the best bits of combat from the word go, which really does help with the pacing – especially after playing through the meaty previous game.

Once again, the turn-based encounters are slick, intuitive, and highly demanding. The boss fights in particular are spectacular set pieces, with some enemies utilising a boost function that drastically alters the battlefield and spikes the challenge. And if you really want to test your mettle, the newly implemented Advanced difficulty is a brilliant middle ground that forces you to engage with all aspects of your gear, status ailments, and buffs in order to survive, offering a tough but fair experience for those who want a bit more of a challenge.

Check out some screenshots down below:

Character progression feels equally rewarding, largely thanks to the expanded Orbment system. Acting a bit like a traditional slotted magic system, your quartz setup now features upgradeable slots for late-game builds, but because characters have specific elemental locks on their devices, you can’t just build a team of overpowered jacks-of-all-trades. It means you genuinely have to think critically about party composition and synergy, bringing a real sense of player agency to the experience where you can’t simply rely on levelling up alone to progress through the game. Backing this up is a robust cooking system and meaningful weapon upgrades that keep your squad in fighting shape, with Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter really offering an abundance of depth within combat and party management across its journey.

On the exploration side, you’ll be spending a LOT of time travelling across the kingdom of Liberl, hunting down hidden side quests and racking up Bracer points along the way. Admittedly, some of the older dungeon designs do show their age by dragging on a bit longer than they need to, though the introduction of a snappy fast-travel system completely saves the day, stripping away the tedious backtracking that bogged down the original release. Throw in some extras like gambling in Ruan, the refined fishing mechanics that make the pastime a real joy, and a surprisingly deep photo mode that lets you pull off some gorgeous snapshots of your surroundings, and it’ll be easy to find yourself wholly invested in the world once again.

Visually, the jump to full 3D is once again a gorgeous treat, with the character models incredibly expressive, your surroundings packed with detail, and the enemy design top-notch. The audio suite is similarly stellar, with the English voice cast delivering top-tier performances that bring everything to life. Add to that the amazing soundtrack, and it’ll be clear that Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter absolutely lives up to (and often exceeds) the incredibly high standard of the previous game.

Developer: Falcom
Publisher: GungHo
Platform(s): PlayStation 5 (Reviewed), Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC
Website: https://trails2ndchapter.com/