The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero

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Critics Recommend

Average Score

Total Reviews: 26

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Trails from Zero is a phenomenal entry into the Legend of Heroes series – featuring superb sound design, art, and storytelling.

Play It

Critics Recommend

Critic Reviews: 26

Critics Consensus

# Reviews: 26

Trails from Zero is a phenomenal entry into the Legend of Heroes series - featuring superb sound design, art, and storytelling.

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Critic Reviews for The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero

Critic Reviews

Score Distribution

26

Reviews

Average Score - 84/100

84%

Ranges

8.5/10

CJ Andriessen (Destructoid)

Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won’t astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.

September 27, 2022 |

Full Review

Trails From Zero might be late to the scene but even now, Nihon Falcom’s JRPG remains one of the best Trails games yet.

September 21, 2022 |

Full Review

Recommended

Henry Stockdale (Recommended)

9/10

Lyle Carr (God is a Geek)

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is a sensational JRPG from top to bottom, and one that fans can’t afford to miss.

September 20, 2022 |

Full Review

CJ Andriessen (Destructoid)

8.5/10 - (Read Review)

Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won’t astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.

Henry Stockdale (Recommended)

Recommended - (Read Review)

Trails From Zero might be late to the scene but even now, Nihon Falcom’s JRPG remains one of the best Trails games yet.

Lyle Carr (God is a Geek)

9/10 - (Read Review)

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is a sensational JRPG from top to bottom, and one that fans can’t afford to miss.

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Read the Reviews (26 total)

Outlet	Author	Score	Date	Quote	Read
Chalgyr’s Game Room	Pierre-Yves Lanthier	9 / 10	09-21-2022	Nihon Falcom’s The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero was worth the wait and I’m happy that NIS America Inc. have localized both it, and the upcoming Trails to Azure in 2023 for us.	Read review
Checkpoint Gaming	Charlie Kelly	8.5 / 10	09-27-2022	As a franchise newcomer, I found my entry point with The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero utterly fascinating, tantalising, and enjoyable. Within are some of my favourite blending of mechanics and tidbits within turn-based combat I’ve seen yet. It’s a comfy RPG that you can lose plenty of time to, sinking into the moving character narrative, all set within the colourful world of Crossbell. Character models will occasionally show their age and menus are a little funky. Still, it’s easy to forgive and just hang out with Lloyd and friends, saving the better part of humanity. Team SSS forever.	Read review
COGconnected	Nicola Kapron	70 / 100	09-20-2022	All in all, The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is a unique experience. If you love worldbuilding, modernizing fantasy worlds, and urban fantasy, you should check it out. If you’re allergic to long cutscenes and extraneous infodumps, you should avoid it. Love it or hate it, Trails from Zero clearly knows what it is and what it’s doing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go buy all of Trails of Cold Steel so I can find out what happens in Zemuria next.	Read review
Daily Mirror	Eugene Sowah	4 / 5 stars	09-21-2022	The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is a great entry in the series that builds upon legacy gaming mechanics and combat systems.	Read review
Destructoid	CJ Andriessen	8.5 / 10	09-27-2022	Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won’t astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.	Read review
Digital Trends	George Yang	4 / 5 stars	09-20-2022	The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero puts together a politically engaging story, fun gameplay, and likable heroes into one epic RPG.	Read review
Digitally Downloaded	Matt Sainsbury	5 / 5 stars	09-24-2022	As one chapter in something that is almost experimental for video games – a genuine epic, spanning decades of game development, a half dozen consoles, and a dozen titles – Trails From Zero is a very fine entry indeed. The rich complexities of the narrative engage the brain, while the charming writing and characterisation also make for an entertaining experience. The story is everything to this series, so it’s just as well that is spot on, though thankfully the combat is enjoyable in its own right, and it’s all backed by excellent aesthetics. If you are new to The Legend Of Heroes, this isn’t a bad place to start. If you’re a veteran of the series you must surely love how one of the best games in the series has finally got the full localisation it always deserved.	Read review
Eurogamer	Henry Stockdale	Recommended	09-21-2022	Trails From Zero might be late to the scene but even now, Nihon Falcom’s JRPG remains one of the best Trails games yet.	Read review
Gamer Escape	Josh McGrath	10 / 10	09-27-2022	Like many, I’ve been waiting for Trails from Zero for years. After falling off hard from Cold Steel due to its insistence of returning to a school setting multiple times, I had high hopes Zero would return the magic of the Trails games I felt from the Sky arc.	Read review
GameSkinny	Josh Broadwell	9 / 10	09-20-2022	Trails from Zero is one of the most captivating RPGs, whose thoughtful use of setting and skillfully balanced storytelling make it a peer to the classics from the genre’s golden age.	Read review
GamingBolt	Ravi Sinha	9 / 10	09-20-2022	The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Hero is one of the best titles in the franchise and an incredibly well-made RPG overall. Experiencing the tale of the Special Support Section has never felt better, be it in terms of combat, writing, or presentation.	Read review
God is a Geek	Lyle Carr	9 / 10	09-20-2022	The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is a sensational JRPG from top to bottom, and one that fans can’t afford to miss.	Read review
Hardcore Gamer	Jordan Helm	4 / 5 stars	09-20-2022	Though Trails’ usual splendor of combat options here should come as no surprise, what’s striking with this year’s remastering is how well this once portable-only entry has translated across to more modern-day portable screens alike.	Read review
Hey Poor Player	Andrew Thornton	4 / 5 stars	09-25-2022	Even after more than a decade, The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero is an RPG well worth the time of fans of its series and newcomers alike. A great cast of characters and an interesting story, along with a ton of quality of life improvements, make this still feel as modern as anything coming out today. While the main plot could have come into focus a bit sooner, and I do wish that the return of some beloved characters hadn’t come at the expense of our core cast, I’m already excited for the next chapter, Trails to Azure, which is set to release next year.	Read review
Hobby Consolas	Alberto Lloret	84 / 100	09-20-2022	Trails from Zero may have been outdated in some aspects, such as the technical plot or some design decisions, but it is still a small RPG gem to discover, thanks to its superb story and dialogues, which marry with a very interesting world. If you overcome its slow start and repetitive tasks, you will enjoy a great adventure.	Read review
IGN Italy	Biagio Etna	7 / 10	09-20-2022	A porting with some nice improvements to keep up with the times, but still dedicated to a nostalgic audience of classic JRPGs.	Read review
Nintendo Life	Alana Hagues	9 / 10	09-20-2022	In a series renowned for its stellar writing, twisting plots, and wonderful characters, The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is a stand-out RPG. Narrowing the focus of its story to one state, and honing in on a smaller cast of characters, makes for a fantastic and engrossing adventure that is about both intimate relationships and huge, secretive scandals. The fact that this is just one half of a duology means that, while the story wraps up nicely here, we have tons of questions that we’re itching to get answers to in Trails to Azure. If you haven’t played Trails, it’s time to overcome that barrier, because there’s no better place to zero in on this fantastic series than in Crossbell.	Read review
NintendoWorldReport	Jordan Rudek	8 / 10	09-20-2022	Fortunately, Lloyd and the rest of the SSS make for likable characters that you can’t help but root for. The dialogue-heavy second half of the game can drag a little bit, but the cumulative experience is still a positive one that I would recommend to RPG fans. With Trails to Azure coming in 2023, the stable of Falcom titles on Switch continues to grow, and there’s Zero reason to be unhappy about that.	Read review
PSX Brasil	Thiago de Alencar Moura	65 / 100	09-20-2022	The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero is a very bad remaster of a very good game. While the story of the SSS and the journey through Crossbell must be played by any fan of the series and the gameplay holds up surprisingly well even today, the PS4 version leaves so much to be desired that it is only recommended for those who can’t afford to play it on another platform.	Read review
Push Square	Robert Ramsey	8 / 10	09-20-2022	Trails from Zero has been well worth the wait. This is a classic Falcom RPG	Read review
RPGamer	Anna Marie Privitere	4.5 / 5 stars	09-22-2022	In the end, Trails from Zero delivers exactly what it promises: a unique opportunity to visit a story arc most western The Legend of Heroes fans never got to experience. Those who are looking to fill in the notable gap in the series will delight in discovering a plenitude of characters getting their fifteen minutes of fame.	Read review
Screen Rant	Austin King	4.5 / 5 stars	09-20-2022	The only real issue with Trails From Zero is one that most other games in the series have, too	Read review
SpazioGames	Gianluca Arena	7 / 10	09-20-2022	It’s a shame that NIS and Falcom both decided to bring Trails from Zero in Europe only after the vastly superior Trails of Cold Steel series. This way a very solid if formulaic JRPG as this does not get the attention it deserves, due also to a lazy remastering process.	Read review
The Outerhaven Productions	Scott Adams	4.5 / 5 stars	09-20-2022	The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is a solid entry into the Legend of Heroes series. It has superb sound design, art, and storytelling. It has a really good detective oriented main character that pays off quite well in the end.	Read review
Twinfinite	Khayl Adam	4 / 5 stars	09-22-2022	Trails from Zero is kind of a miracle in its own right, the fact that we got a Western release after so many years, and that Trails from Azure is right around the corner, still feels surreal. But, for all its strengths, this is still a game from more than a decade ago, that was originally designed for the PSP. If you can get past that, then Trails from Zero won’t disappoint, and whether you are a series veteran or a newcomer, it provides a wonderful world in which you can truly lose yourself for hours at a stretch.	Read review
Video Chums	A.J. Maciejewski	8.3 / 10	09-23-2022	The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is a superb entry in the long-running franchise that made me pumped for Trails to Azure as well as Trails into Reverie and the inevitable release of the Kuro no Kiseki series. There sure are a lot of these games but I still can’t get enough.	Read review

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Game Info

Game Description / Storyline:

When Lloyd Bannings is assigned to Crossbell’s Special Support Section, he and his new teammates must prove themselves as they fight to overcome the injustice of a city gripped by corruption.

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