Last year, before the release of the main game, GungHo Online Entertainment and Nihon Falcom released a demo for Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter. Last weekend, they released a demo for Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter. It has taken me some time, but I managed to finish the demo. Let’s talk about it.
Where We Left Off
DISCLAIMER: THIS WILL SPOIL KEY MOMENTS FROM TRAILS IN THE SKY 1ST CHAPTER. If you want to know where to start in the Trails series, I have a guide you can look at.
Last time we left off with Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, Joshua told Estelle about his past as an assassin for Ouroboros, a secret society that works in the underground networks of Zemuria. After he told her this, he kissed her with a sedative attached to his lips.
Estelle wakes up in Joshua’s room at the castle in the capital of Liberl, Grancel. The end of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is Estelle, Joshua, and their friends joining together to stop a coup against the Queen. It was successful, which made the rest of Liberl celebrate. Thanks to the celebration, nobody is too focused on Joshua’s disappearance. This makes it easy for him to leave the castle.
Estelle now has one goal in Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter: find Joshua.
Finding Joshua
Luckily, Estelle is not alone in her desire to find Joshua. The first new character you meet, Kevin Graham, sees Estelle in her grieving state and decides to look after her. Kevin is a wandering priest for the Septian Church. Some towns and villages are so small that they don’t have churches, so they ask priests who have combat capabilities to wander to villages and give them support.
Cassius eventually gives Estelle a way to solve her goal. Get strong and go after the society. To help her in this endeavor, he asks the Bracer Guild to provide assistance and sends her to a Bracer Guild training camp. She is joined by Anelace, who doesn’t want to fall behind Estelle since she has also recently been promoted to a Senior Bracer in the guild. When they return from the camp, Estelle and Anelace are immediately put to work.
You are given the choice of working with Scherazard, Estelle’s old mentor, or Agate, a bracer who was influenced by Cassius. I chose Agate since, in my mind, it would make sense that she needs someone who won’t go too easy on her. Agate and Estelle are directed to help out the Bracer Guild in Ruan as well as find any connection they can to Ouroboros.
Searching For The Ouroboros Society
The gameplay loop of Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter will feel familiar to players of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter. You will take Bracer requests on the bulletin board and be able to decide if you want to handle any of them. There will be required missions you have to do to progress the story. It will be up to you on how to handle them.
The requests range from helping the city inspect a bridge to taking out monsters on the road. Each time you accomplish a request, you earn Bracer Points or BP. As you accumulate more BP, you increase your Bracer Rank. The Bracer Rank ranges from G to A.
The cooking mechanic is back; it doesn’t feel changed as of yet. You are able to eat any food you find in a shop and learn its recipe. If a character in your party cooks the food successfully, it gives you the food item, as well as a permanent buff to your entire party.
What Is New?
One of the first things I noticed on the map is that icons now have an arrow that points up or down depending on if it is on the floor above you or below you. Very helpful to know when a red exclamation mark shows up. This way, you know what direction you need to go and what floor it is on.
One thing I love about Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, from both the original SC and this new remake, is the party balance. In Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, the majority of your time was spent in a two-person party. It was Estelle and Joshua, and sometimes you get a friend or two to join you for a small period of time for story missions. Once you are done in a city, you leave the friends and go back to being in a two-person party all over again. That is not the case here. The prologue has you set up as a two-person party with Anelace and Estelle, but for the most part that is it. You start with your chosen second party member alongside Estelle, and shortly after, Olivier joins the fold. There will be side quests where Kevin will work as your fourth party member, but for the majority of Chapter One at least, you will be in a three-person party. When you get to the last section of Chapter One, you will be in a four-person party. When the chapter ends, rather than letting your friends leave and Agate and Estelle be the next ones to leave the town, all four of you leave together.
I love this. The fights, the strategy, and the boss encounters are generally balanced for a four-person party. Having four-person parties as being the norm instead of the exception makes the fights feel so much better balanced. I don’t feel cheated that there are five enemies who all get to go while I only have Joshua and Estelle getting a single turn. This makes me so excited to get back into the action when the full game launches!
I have to mention this as a new thing here, even though future players of the remake series won’t notice it now, but the localization has improved. Not only have certain scenes been rewritten from the first game, but the quality of voice dialogue and writing has improved in this entry when compared to the last one. The terms have been changed to bring it in line with the current games in the Trails series. Also, the pronunciation has been changed to make it more accurate to how it was pronounced in other entries as well.
One thing I loved is how the craft animations changed. To expand upon what I mean by this, I want to use Hurricane as an example. Hurricane looked gorgeous in Trails in the 1st Chapter. They improved the effects and the animation fluidity so that it looks even better in this title. That isn’t all, however. Once you level up Estelle to a high enough level, she changes her Hurricane craft to the craft True Hurricane. This adds a whole new animation; it starts similarly, but rather than doing her normal staff rotation, she rotates and spins on her bowstaff and then does a new wink animation, which moves to a faster Hurricane animation. I loved how it looked immediately. Nihon Falcom put even more effort into how the animations look and feel, and you can tell.
My Thoughts
Trails in the Sky SC was my favorite entry in the Sky arc. I am so hyped for this remake. Nihon Falcom has put so much love and attention into this remake, and it shows with every animation, every new addition like added sidequests or interactions, and every other thing I will likely try to find. I thought that they knocked it out of the park in the first remake, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, but man, they have shown how much more they can do.
These remakes make it so much easier for me to recommend this series to new people. There is a lot of quality and fun to be had in going through these games in this manner. I get so excited thinking of moments I know about in SC remade in this engine. I can’t wait to see them all play out! If you are still on the fence with these games, don’t be. Try the demo for Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter on the platform you own and give it a shot. Trust me, you will be glad that you did.
Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter will launch on September 17, 2026, on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, and Steam.
