The concept of a multiverse is one that often seems to fit video games very naturally. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart and Bioshock Infinite both took good advantage of it to open their stories up to new possibilities, for example, but The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak 2 has hopped on the multiverse train with some mixed results. At times, its story doesnt seem to go anywhere for hours on end, but it has some of the best character development the series has ever seen in exchange for that momentum. Daybreak 2 also introduces meaningful improvements to its hybrid action/turn-based combat, making it more engaging than ever before. The outcome is an RPG with pacing struggles, but still manages to be a good sequel in an already great series.Daybreak 2 takes place shortly after the events of the previous game, following your mercenary hero Van Akride and his friend Elaine as they encounter a mysterious but familiar-looking red monster. In an entertaining twist, that first encounter actually ends with both Van and Elaine dead, with Vans assistant, Agnes, somehow rewinding time in an act of desperation to save them. Its an explosive setup that introduces the timeline-hopping mechanic in an interesting way. But rather than making the most of a multiverses potential for effective and emotional storytelling like the excellent Zero Escape series, Daybreak 2 mostly uses it as a deus ex machina to let the party opt out of sticky situations. What we said about The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak (2024)PlayThe Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak is an exciting new start for the series. With a fresh cast of characters joined by a handful of familiar faces, its a welcoming point for potential new fans to jump in while also rewarding veteran players for returning. Daybreaks updated hybrid battle system still has a few kinks to work out with its real-time elements, but enhanced movement options and other impressive tweaks make the turn-based aspects better than ever. Wrap that up in an engaging story full of political drama and a compelling new setting, and Daybreak is exactly what the Trails series needed to reach new heights. - George Yang, June 28, 2024Score: 8Read the full The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak review.This causes the main story to be too drawn out over the roughly 60-hour campaign, and the mystery behind that crimson monster takes an unfortunate backseat as Van constantly dies in different timelines and tries to find a way to avoid his fate sometimes going out in overly silly ways, like randomly stepping into a room filled with explosives. Being forced into bad endings like this just adds tedium, and hopping back in time gets particularly annoying in Chapter 3 as its sporadic use makes the storys flow feel choppy.However, even when the overarching tale falls flat, Daybreak 2 is filled to the brim with some of the best character development in the series. For example, the groups researcher and tech geek Quatre comes to terms with his upbringing and his abusive cultish parents, while Feri, a young and naive mercenary, finds her inner sense of self after being kicked out of her family in the previous game. This is essentially the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 of the Trails series: It doesn't move the larger plot forward much, but the more personal, character-driven stories it focuses on instead are excellent.Daybreak 2 manages to keep its growing roster under control.It also manages to keep its growing roster under control by elevating some minor characters into full party members. A few old ones have been brought back as well, including Swin and Nadia from Trails into Reverie, who finally feel like complete characters here as their arcs cleverly conclude. Speaking of Reverie, Daybreak 2 follows a somewhat similar story structure the first two chapters are actually split into two different routes, with Van leading one and Swin and Nadia the other. Its a smart decision, and another example of how Daybreak 2 skillfully handles its expanding cast.There is even a version of the Reverie Corridor called the Marchen Garten, which brings characters from the split routes together to fight through a rogue-lite dungeon full of randomized floors with a boss monster at the end. While this dungeon is completely optional, there are plenty of worthwhile incentives to tackle it. The main rewards are skill points, which let you permanently boost the capabilities of your partys attacks. You can also unlock cosmetic goodies like alternate costumes and in whats always a breath of fresh air, those can only be earned in-game in the Marchen Garten as there are no real-world microtransactions at all.The Trails series is known for its in-depth side quests, and Daybreak 2 is no different. They offer incredible amounts of worldbuilding, along with useful rewards such as rare items to help out Van and his friends on their journeys. One memorable side quest was about a company wondering why its migrant workers were leaving for a competitor that was offering them better pay, and it led to a deep dive into the multicultural history of Calvard, the country where Daybreaks story takes place. Van and his friends eventually stumbled upon a human trafficking scheme to take advantage of the migrants and dismantled the operation. It showed that despite Vans more morally gray methods, he has a strong code of ethics and knows when to stand up for whats right. With Vans unique approach to mercenary work and the complex situations that come with it, it makes sense that the LGC morality system returns as well, but it lacks a similar impact this time. After completing a side quest, you can sometimes decide its conclusion, which then makes progress towards Vans Law, Gray, and Chaos parameters. For example, Van could recommend that a victim in need of medical help go to the hospital, increasing his affinity for Law, or instead that they visit an underground doctor, which could increase his affinity towards Gray or Chaos. In the first game, Vans affinity impacted which allies would join him in the later chapters, but theres disappointingly no such trade-offs in Daybreak 2, which makes the LGCs inclusion puzzling as it literally doesnt affect the story.Its the little thingsTrails Through Daybreak mixed up the series traditional turn-based combat by weaving in real-time action elements, much like Falcoms sister series Ys. You approach an enemy out in the field and attack enough times to stun it, then transition to the much more fleshed out turn-based portion and if that sounds familiar, its a system the incredible Metaphor: ReFantazio took some cues from just last year. But while it was admirable to try something new, Daybreaks attempt at action felt quite barebones, so its nice that the sequel has added a few new mechanics to help make that real-time kickoff have a bigger impact. For starters, when an enemy is stunned, you can now execute a powerful dual attack called Ex-Chain between two characters, which brings a much more exciting and quick end to battles than ever before. Dodging enemy attacks at the last moment also lets you swap control of characters and unleash a powerful strike that guarantees a stun. While the bulk of the combat system and the majority of its depth still revolves around the turn-based elements, these additions to the real-time action make it feel like the perfect appetizer to a main course.This sequel doesnt mess up what makes combat fun.Like previous games, turn-based battles involve a turn order timeline for you to plan around. During battle, various bonuses will appear on the timeline, such as critical hit guarantees and zero-arts, which make it so magic spells that usually have long casting times can be fired off immediately. It provides an extra layer of strategy as you have to take into consideration which bonuses align with which characters on the timeline. For example, if a bosss next turn is going to line up with a critical hit icon, you can either use an attack with the Delay effect to try and push back its action (potentially making it line up with an ally instead), or try to inflict the Freeze status effect so that it cant act on its next turn, wasting the icon. Learning how to manipulate the timeline order makes combat much more engaging, and it is crucial to winning some of the harder late-game fights.The positioning of your party still plays an important role in combat, too, as some attacks have various additional effects when used in certain spots. For example, Aarons Falcon Talon skill does extra damage when hitting enemies from behind. However, even if he cant position himself at their backs, it also has the ability to inflict Seal, which is the Trails version of paralysis. Each skill has multiple effects like this, so even if you dont manage to take advantage of all of their effects in one turn, theyre still incredibly useful. None of that is new to Daybreak 2 necessarily, but its important that this sequel doesnt mess any of it up either. The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak 2 Gameplay ScreenshotsThe customization system remains virtually unchanged from its predecessor as well, but it still offers a great degree of flexibility when building out your party. Each character has four lines: Weapon, Shield, Drive, and Extra. By slotting elemental gems called Quartz in certain lines, your characters can learn Shard Skills, which are passive abilities. For example, slotting two water elemental Quartz in the Shield line nullifies the freeze status effect, but putting three in the Extra line provides HP regeneration every turn. Its fun to play around with the various Quartz to see which combinations you can create to unlock different abilities.To take your customization game to the next level, youll also have to take elemental values into consideration. For example, a simple Attack+1 Quartz you can purchase from the shop only has a fire elemental value of one, but a rare Burn Quartz you might find in a late game dungeon has an elemental value of five. In order to unlock one of the most powerful shard skills, called Executioner, which grants a follow-up attack on stunned enemies, youll need six fire and 12 wind elemental values in the Weapon Line. With at most four slots per line, thats impossible to achieve with those puny Attack+1 Quartz, so finding more powerful Quartz and experimenting with them adds a nice layer of progression, making your characters feel even stronger as they reach the finale.One step forward, one step backDaybreaks bonding events are back, called Connections here, and once again let Van hang out with his allies between big events in order to get to know them better. They offer a lot of character development outside of the main story, like one event where he spars with Trails into Reveries Shizuna. Afterwards, we learn about how her assistant, Kurogane, is actually an amazing cook alongside being a masked assassin. Shizuna also talks about her Black God One Blade fighting style and how it compares to others in the same school, referencing the Eight Leaves One Blade fighting style of Trails of Cold Steel protagonist, Rean Schwarzer. Small details like these really expand the Trails lore in a way that other ongoing series could only dream of.Thankfully, Daybreak 2 has also brought back minigames that its predecessor noticeably removed. Not only is the fishing minigame back, its been revamped and simplified for the better. Instead of laborious button mashing to reel in fish like how so many other RPGs approach it, you just have to time your button presses well within a certain area multiple times to catch the fish. Its a much smoother experience and less tiring on my thumbs.Best Game Order to Play the Trails SeriesThis is the best order to play the Trails games in to best understand the events taking place in the Zemuria saga.See AllSadly, the other minigames are hit and miss. Its new card game, Seven Hearts, involves stacking elemental cards to deal damage to your opponents. Its a faster-paced and welcome substitute to Blade from Trails of Cold Steel, but it isnt as fleshed out as the collectible Vantage Masters minigame from Trails of Cold Steel III. There is also a rather plain but innocuous new hacking game where you simply avoid hostile robots and reach the end of a maze, but the basketball and tailing minigames are the true offenders. The former is entirely too easy, and the latter is just as bad as it might sound. Youll occasionally be asked to tail a suspect and hide whenever they look back at you, and these sequences are always just boring, annoying time wasters that I wish werent included at all.