100%PC

This game is a serious contender for my favourite game of all time. When I started the Trails series all the way back in 2022, getting to this point felt like an impossible feat, something that would happen far into the future. But now here I am, almost two years later and it's all over. Even though I'm writing this review after I beat the postgame and long after I beat the main game, my feelings for this masterpiece remain the same. This game is the culmination of Falcom's efforts for the 16 years and 9 games they had spent building up this amazing world at this point, and it is exactly what I'd hoped it would be. In terms of combat, it largely remains the same as it was in Cold Steel 4, which is fine, but also it adds the new United Fronts, which perfectly round out this battle system. United Fronts give a real use to AP and are extremely fun and satisfying to use in battles, allowing you to buff yourself quickly while also dealing a pretty good amount of damage. The music in this game might be the best music in the series so far. The Destination of FATE very quickly sets the level of quality for the music in this game, and it does not disappoint. All of the battle themes are incredible, and Stand Up Again and Again is a perfect homage to the Crossbell battle themes. The game also looks beautiful, with massive improvements being given to animation, particularly with new cutscenes which blew me away every time I saw them. Now that we've gotten all of that stuff out of the way, we can talk about the plot. The plot of this game, while nothing particularly special in the grand scheme of the series, is incredible. The Trails to Walk system might be my favourite story-telling system in any media ever, and it is only possible to pull this off so well by working to the strengths of the Trails series and using all of these pre-established characters to tell a brand new story. Seeing multiple perspectives at once and being able to switch at any time really gives you a multi-faceted and unique view on the world at any one point in the story. Routes will affect each other constantly, and it's so satisfying to play through. C's route in particular was fantastic, with C being one of my favourite protagonists in the series so far and the other characters all being interesting and playing off each other extremely well. Rean's route was also a very pleasant surprise for me. Rean was my least favourite protagonist by far before this game, but they somehow managed to make him a far better character in this 60 hours than they ever could in the almost 400 hours of Cold Steel, which has boosted him up to the level of the other protagonists for me. Lloyd's route on the other hand was somewhat disappointing in contrast to the others, but was still by no means bad. The overall story was a very unique one, and went in a direction that the series had never gone before. It felt like it wasn't afraid of the past ties it had to keep up, and also wasn't afraid to promise things for the future, both things that Cold Steel struggled massively with. The True Reverie Corridor was also a very fun experience. There was so much in it to keep you occupied, and it tickled my brain in all the right ways, though I do wish daydreams were better. In comparison to 3rd's doors, daydreams were very much a letdown and didn't really provide much important content. In saying that, however, some special daydreams were extremely interesting and provided a lot of lore and foreshadowing that has made me incredibly excited to dive back into this series in July with Trails through Daybreak. I feel a bit empty now that my Trails journey has come to a temporary end, but it was an incredible one all the way through. Thank you so much for making these games Nihon Falcom, and thank you XSeed and NISA for localising them. The Trails series is a video game series concept that I thought would never be able to exist, much less be done this well. I will forever be grateful for the existence of this series. Playing through it from the first Sky game to the final Cold Steel/Crossbell game was an unforgettable experience that was even better than anything I ever could've hoped for, and I'm very excited to see where the series goes in the future and how it will end.

100%PC

Didn't expect the "the world is a superpowered AI that gained sentiance and Ouroborous wants to play god with it" nonsense. Will be playing again. They're not great games, and they take forever, but I have so much fun playing them & the characters are so loveable.

90%PC

Good gameplay variety and cast of characters. Reverie corridor acts as a good dungeon but does drag a bit in the post-game sections. Decent ending to Rean's story and certain mysteries of Erebonia/Crossbell/Zemuria. The problem is this should have been the 3rd game in the arc and not the 5th game.

C's story is well executed but I have mixed feelings on if he deserves any happy ending after their actions in the last few games.

85%PC

A damn good game mostly because of C’s route. Once again, this game brings everyone you know from Sky thru CS and has a big story involving Crossbell. I’ll be honest and say that the story was convoluted and full of technical jargon that made no sense to me(if I see causality or resonance one more time, I will go mental). If you thought the Twilight Curse was hard to understand, the main story(+postgame) of Reverie makes the former sound like a children’s book.
I still love the characters, the combat and world building in Reverie. The technical jargon is the only reason I rate it a 8.5. Onto to Daybreak!

75%PC

Really fun to see three trilogies of returning characters and hit like... 50+ selectable party members.
Mechanics & plot are a bit "been there done that".

70%PlayStation 4

Audio-visual: 8 Story: 7 Gameplay: 7 Enjoyment: 6

75%PlayStation 5

Reverie is much more digestible than Cold Steel 3 and 4, but it doesn't have the same highs as the Crossbell games and some twists are utterly baffling. Feels like a weird direction to take the series when looking back at Sky and up to Azure. True Reverie Corridor feels tacked on and is obviously Falcom's attempt at a Persona-style mega dungeon. There are also way, way too many characters to choose from. Still glad to have played it for the true conclusion to Crossbell. I'll finish the TRC but I feel satisfied with the ending I've gotten up to the end of the Fourth Stratum. That said, a lot of the story does feel like filler, especially when the player is juggling (no exaggeration) 40 characters at once. I'm not also sure how much impact it could possibly have on Calvard, especially after Cold Steel 4. Still, worth playing if you're a fan of the series.

70%Nintendo Switch

Story 7
Gameplay 7
Music 7
Graphics 8
Fun 7

100%PC

Best JRPG series ever

60%PlayStation 4

Very, very avarage

90%PC

Great ending to the Erebonia & Crossbell arcs. Looking forward to Kuro

85%PC

One of the most comprehensive RPGs I’ve played in a long time, with tons of side and post game content to enjoy.

Combat hasn’t received as many updates you’d expect considering how long the series has worked this way, but the balancing feels much better than prior games.

90%PC

What did I think about the ---> Story: Very Good | Gameplay: Great | Graphics: Very Good | Music: Great | Characters: Very Good | Reverie Corridor: Good
Additional thoughts ---> Ending: Great
P.S. Can't wait for the Calvard Arc!

90%PlayStation 5

The ultimate use of the Cold Steel gameplay and a very welcome and refreshing narrative makes it one of the best games in the series to date. Falcom shows once more that they know how to end an ark, and does it in an original way, with a strong multi-layered story that makes us crave for more. Of course, this craving is intended because there will be more! This game also has the best music in the series, so I can't recomment it enough!

100%PC

Nice ending for both Crossbell and Cold Steel.

85%PlayStation 4

5th and final game of the Erebonia/Crossbell saga.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit burnt out by this point.
Cold Steel 3, 4, and Reverie each made me question whether or not I should even continue commit this much time in the series, and I took "halfway" breaks in all of them.

Reverie did a lot of things right, but it feels way too fan-servicey.

Story: 8
+ The characters, tons of it. Only Trails can shove 50+ characters in a game and actually make me care for most of them.
- Plot feels more like a spinoff story to provide a platform for players to play as 50+ characters.
- Crossbell cast getting super shafted in character development, creating a new inner struggle at the expense of diminishing their characters.

Gameplay: 8
+ Assembling dream teams does feel kinda nice but...
- I don't like infinite corridors and rng loot boxes in my trails games.
- I don't like micromanaging quartz across 50+ characters.

Presentation: 9
- Visuals and animation hasn't improved much, if at all, since CS3.
+ Great music, as always. Not the best in series but still up there in the genre.

At the end of the day I'm glad I stuck with it and pushed through, it was rewarding and got me hyped for the next story arc.

80%PC

8.1

90%PlayStation 4

Pretty good. No major twists, but interesting.
Really good setup for Calvard.

80%No Platform Specified

The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie is one of the best games in this almost 20-year-old franchise and a great RPG. While its overall story is a bit of a retread, its amazing pacing, and in-depth battle system, make it a satisfying conclusion to the Crossbell and Cold Steel arcs. It also makes good use of its admittedly way-too-large cast of playable characters. That said, newcomers who are unfamiliar with the series will certainly be lost without having played the previous games. However, it's well worth doing so in order to experience one of the best RPG universes ever crafted.