After months of teasing, Falcom, at its shareholders' meeting on December 18, has finally officially announcedZero no Kiseki: KaiandAo no Kiseki: Kaion PS4, along withHajimari no Kisekion PS4.The Legend of Heroes: Hajimari no Kisekiis the “Gaiden” game that Falcom’s President Toshihiro Kondo previously teased.As such, note that this article might contain spoilers for theKiseki/Trailsseries andTrails of Cold Steel 4.
The Legend of Heroes: Hajimari no Kisekiis a brand new game in theKiseki/Trailsseries and will be launching on PlayStation 4 in Japan in Summer 2020. While it wasn’t officially confirmed,Hajimari no Kisekiwill probably launch at the end of September 2020 seeing that’s when Falcom always launches their games for over a decade now.
Hajimari no Kiseki’s story is set on the Zemuria continent, after the “Great Twilight”, meaning it’s set after the events ofTrails of Cold Steel 4.Hajimari no Kisekiwill feature three different protagonists. These three protagonists are purposefully unnamed for now, and Falcom only referred to them as “The Hero”, “The Liberator”, and “The Hermit”. This is the typical FalcomKisekiwriting style of using nicknames even though we know full well who these characters are. At least the first two.
In fact, the screenshots on theofficial site forHajimari no Kisekiconfirms who the three protagonists are. “The Hero” refers to Rean Schwarzer, “The Liberator” refers to Lloyds Bannings, and “The Hermit” refers to a masked character.
Each of these three protagonists will have their own story route taking place at different locations in the Zemuria continent. Players will be able to switch between the three routes at any time thanks to the game’s “Cross Story” system. These three stories will happen simultaneously, giving players three different viewpoints of the same time frame.
Moreover,Hajimari no Kisekiwill feature over 50 playable characters, some of which will be brand new characters. To crown it all, each one of these characters will have their own playable “Episode” story, delving inside their backgrounds and personal history.
Falcom also mentionedHajimari no Kisekiis a new beginning which will (slowly) lead to the conclusion of the wholeTrailsseries. The game’s stories will show us how the citizens of Crossbell are faring now that they are nearing independence again, how the Erebonian empire is dealing with the loss of its biggest pillar, and what is the “next stage” of the Orpheus Final Plan that the Grandmaster of Ouroboros spoke of.
An artwork, more screenshots, and a logo forThe Legend of Heroes: Hajimari no Kisekiwere shared by Falcom and can be found below. Theportal siteof theKiseki/Trailsseries was also renewed.
This all sounds incredibly awesome and ambitious, even considering Falcom’s huge, detailed storytelling in theKiseki/Trailsstory so far.
The Legend of Heroes: Hajimari no Kisekiwas first teased by Falcom’s President Toshihiro Kondo inMarch 2019 with artworks. He explained back then that Falcom is currently working on two newKiseki/Trailsgames. The first game to launch would be a “Gaiden” game, which turned out to beHajimari no Kiseki. Meanwhile, the other game will be the beginning of a Calvard arc/set in the east of the Zemuria continent, with a new protagonist.
Hajimari no Kisekiwas furthermore teased withscreenshots and story hints from Kondoin June 2019, at theKisekiSeries 15th Anniversary Event. Lastly, Falcommentioned in Novemberthat a newKisekigame would be announced before the end of 2019 and launch by September 2020.
The Legend of Heroes: Hajimari no Kisekiwasn’t announced in the west yet. We might get announcements from NIS America at PAX South on January 17-19. The latest game released in the west isThe Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3,which is available on PS4 andis coming to Switch in early 2020.Toshihiro Kondo also previouslytold DualShockerswe might getZero no Kiseki: KaiandAo no Kiseki: Kaiin the west.You can read the full interview here.Falcom also wishes to make anewYs Vs Kisekigame.
