Nippon Ichi Software America announced The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4 is coming to North America this fall for PlayStation 4 and sometime in 2021 for Nintendo Switch and PC.
The news comes from an exclusive Game Informer report. There’s also a trailer, but be warned: it contains spoilers for the end of Cold Steel 3 as well as the as-yet unlocalized Ao no Kiseki. The rest of this post will contain mild spoilers as well.
Cold Steel 4 picks up right where Cold Steel 3 leaves off. Protagonist Rean Schwarzer is missing, the Erebonian Empire is on the brink of war, and Chancellor Gilliath Osborne is moving towards the finale of plans decades in the making.
And that’s exactly why Cold Steel 4 is so full of spoilers. It’s the culmination of events begun way back in the first Trails in the Sky game. It’s an inevitable issue for a series as interconnected as Trails, but on the bright side, it also means Cold Steel 4 has the biggest cast in the series yet (excluding the upcoming Hajimari no Kiseki).
You’ll play as old and new Class VII, the four main heroes of Crossbell’s Special Support Section, and the main protagonists from the Trails in the Sky games, among several others. Like Cold Steel 2 before it, Cold Steel 4 introduces new elements to combat as well, including ultra-powerful Lost Arts.
And as always, there’s a wealth of mini-games to help you unwind, like the return of Vantage Masters and fishing.
All versions are getting a regular “Frontline” edition that comes with
- The game
- “Echoes of Erebonia” digital soundtrack
- Physical copy of the Black Records
However, the Frontline Edition isn’t up for pre-order yet.
There’s a special limited edition for $99.99 as well, which gets you:
- The game
- Ashen Awakener steelbook
- Collector’s box
- Twilight Resonance (official soundtrack)
- The Complete Black Records art book
- Daybreak cloth poster
- 7 art cards
Trails of Cold Steel 3 upped the ante in almost every way from its predecessors, with storytelling, characters, streamlining, and combat. It’s not just a school story anymore, and we’re definitely looking forward to experiencing the end of this fairy tale.
You can check out the original Trails of Cold Steel 4 announcement and trailer over on Game Informer. Stay tuned to GameSkinny for more Trails of Cold Steel news as it develops.
