After a decade and 13 different games, the Trails series is getting a full-blown remake of the very first game, Trails in the Sky FC, and it’s the perfect chance to jump into the beloved RPG franchise. And, as it turns out, there’s even an extra incentive, as a secret movie in the upcoming game has already confirmed Falcom is working on a remake to the sequel, Trails in the Sky SC. It’s great to see, as the two game’s stories are directly linked, and each one is essentially one half of the full experience. And with Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter releasing this month, the sequel might be on the way sooner than you think.
The trailer for the second remake was posted on r/Falcom, but as a warning I’d highly recommend not watching it if you aren’t familiar with Trails in the Sky, and plan on playing the remake. Other than that, this article will be completely spoiler-free.
To make things completely clear, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is a complete from the ground-up remake of The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, which first released on PC in Japan in 2004. It wouldn’t come to the West until 2011 on PSP. The sequel, Trails in the Sky SC (second chapter), released in Japan in 2006, and then came to the West in 2015.
The confirmation of an SC remake comes just two weeks after Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo, talked about wanting to do one in an interview with Automaton. It seems Kondo was likely being a little cheeky with his comments, since apparently the company already had plans, and even a trailer, ready to go for the release of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter.
“Since Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is a remake of the first Trails in the Sky. If we didn’t follow up with a remake of Trails in the Sky SC, people would go, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,”’ Kondo says in the interview. “So, we do want to do a remake along the lines of Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter. Back in 2004, we ended up keeping players waiting quite a while for SC after the release of Trails in the Sky’s PC version. This time, we want to avoid such a long gap. As for remakes beyond that, I’d say it depends on fan demand.”
The second half of the comment is particularly interesting, as it seems to imply Kondo and Falcom want to get the second remake in the hands of fans as soon as possible. It should be noted that 1st Chapter was announced in August 2024, which means just over one year from announcement to simultaneous worldwide release. If we’re looking at a similar timeline, the SC remake would be out in roughly October, 2026.
However, considering Kondo’s comments, it seems incredibly likely Falcom rolled development right into the second game after finishing first chapter, using many of the same techniques and systems — the two original games are closely related too, after all. With that in mind, it feels more likely that we could see a Spring-Summer release date for Trails in the Sky SC Remake.
While the SC remake feels like a given, considering that game’s story picked up immediately after the first one ends, the much larger question is around whether the studio is planning any future remakes — namely Trails in the Sky the 3rd. Even though the Sky games are “technically” a trilogy, the third game is definitely the odd man out, even in terms of the larger series.
Instead of a traditional RPG format, Sky the 3rd is much more of a dungeon crawler, where you don’t follow Estelle and Joshua, but Father Kevin Graham of the Septian Church. To date, it’s the only game that’s starred Kevin as the protagonist, and he hasn’t even appeared in another game until the upcoming Trails Beyond the Horizon, releasing January 2026.
But Sky the 3rd is one of the most fascinating games in the franchise because of its dungeon exploration format, and how it mixes that with narrative vignettes that drastically help flesh out the series’ lore and world. Ahead of the new games in the franchise, I’d personally argue Sky the 3rd is one of the most important entries to be familiar with — and it’s also just a great game to boot.
While it’d be great to have the entire trilogy in one remade format, it doesn’t sound like Sky the 3rd is a guarantee, and its existence will likely depend on sales of the first two games. But I’d recommend not even waiting for a third remake. If you play 1st Chapter and then SC next year, and dig both games, just jump right into Sky the 3rd on Steam (that’s the only way the game’s available in the West). It’s one of the shorter entries in the Trails series, at only a thirty to forty hour time commitment, and it’s well worth it.
No matter how you slice it, though, it’s great to see Falcom investing more time and resources into remakes. As beloved as the Trails series is, it’s come a long way and the older games definitely show their age in more ways than one. The demo for Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter already shows how smartly Falcom has folded everything its learned back into the series’ first entry, and hopefully, the studio can learn even more from this process moving forward.
