The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III Review

By Anton Carino

Player(s): 1
Platform(s): PlayStation 4

Before we jump into this review of Trails of Cold Steel III, here’s a quick disclaimer: This is my first experience with a Legend of Heroes game, let alone a Trails of Cold Steel game. There are fans of the series who believe that each individual game has enough of their own story elements for them to stand alone without having to rely on knowledge of previous games. But it surely rewards veterans of the series. But I’m mainly writing this with the intent of informing new players what they’re in for both with this game in particular and with the rest of the series based on what I can gather.
 
The story takes place in a world that seems to be a mix of industrial aesthetics with fantastical elements. In this world there are empires and such that are politically involved with each other and go about conquering stuff. That’s pretty much the extent of what I’m willing to summarize about the world because this series is super, super dense with lore and political intrigue that will no doubt go over the heads of some players, mine included. What’s infinitely more interesting are the inhabitants of this world. The game stars Rean Schwarzer, protagonist of the Trails of Cold Steel series. The story takes place after his graduation from Thors Academy, following which he goes to the Branch Campus to start his new life as an instructor. His students include the very tsundere Juna Crawford, Kurt Vander, who looks and acts like he’s a part of some royal family, and Altina, a mysterious girl who Rean seems to have crossed paths with in previous games and will no doubt go through that “following orders to following own heart” character arc.

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