Even although NIS America has said their plans to launch The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails late subsequent 12 months for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, do you know it’s technically already out on PC? Yes, the corporate printed studio PH3’s PC port on Steam early late final 12 months – completely in Japanese. I picked it up at launch however by no means actually supposed to play it earlier than it obtained its English patch; however on account of a number of circumstances, I had an excuse to play via the sport on my Steam Deck. Despite what I’d heard concerning the recreation heading in – the way it was, in some ways, a Zwei!! 3, and solely had a tertiary connection to the remainder of the Trails collection at finest – I wasn’t ready for what Nayuta truly is as an Action RPG.

First issues first; you’ve learn the title. Whether you’re new to the Trails collection, or a veteran who’s performed all of them, everybody begins on equal floor with Nayuta. Any connections it might or might not must later entries don’t matter, as Nayuta as a recreation is fully standalone. You can begin right here with none worries; and even in case you decidedly dislike Trails, there’s nonetheless loads of purpose to present the sport a shot. The gameplay, story and presentation are all vastly totally different from Zemuria’s long-running epic. 

Gameplay-wise, whereas Nayuta has all the staples of an RPG – ranges, stats, tools that modify mentioned stats – it’s most likely higher to name the sport an motion platformer with RPG development. Instead of exploring a big open world, Nayuta is a stage-based affair, through which gamers will obtain a grading on relying on their efficiency throughout the degree. There’s platforming, puzzles involving hitting switches, maneuvering packing containers, and contending with no matter environmental gimmicks a given stage possesses. RPG development is dealt with by each story progress gating Gear Craft talents, in addition to incomes stamps in your tally card you’ll be able to return to Nayuta’s swordmaster in trade for brand spanking new abilities, buffs, and even occasional tools.

There’s a really good loop to all of it, particularly owing to Nayuta’s background as a PSP unique upon its authentic launch. One comparability that’s certain to come back up is with Nihon-Falcom’s different 3D platformer – Gurumin – and there’s definitely loads to check. For as a lot as there’s to check Nayuta to Falcom’s Zwei!! franchise – with Noi appearing in an analogous function to the secondary playable characters in each Zwei!! titles and the power to eat meals to each restore well being in addition to acquire EXP – there’s simply as a lot Gurumin DNA current as nicely. Whether it’s the enemy designs, the hub world that gamers can return to for facet actions and rewards, or in fact the a lot increased reliance on platforming gameplay.

Falcom has all the time been an organization that has been fast to reuse gameplay ideas in its titles. The Legend of Nayuta might be the perfect instance of that working in a recreation’s favor. For occasion – Nayuta’s fight completely mops the ground with Ys Seven. Not solely does Nayuta steadily acquire a lot of Adol’s moveset from the Napishtim-era Ys video games, however he learns his personal distinctive set of strikes, whereas additionally retaining dodging and blocking from the extra trendy party-style Ys video games. It’s the perfect of each worlds, and arguably Nayuta remains to be the best-feeling 3D motion fight that Falcom has ever made. Especially as soon as gamers have full management of Nayuta, with all of his and Noi’s Gear Crafts? The recreation feels stable sufficient to play firstly, however by the point you’re within the post-game and into New Game+ it’s actually a pleasure to mess around with.

Between how nicely Nayuta feels to manage, some stellar artwork path, wonderful degree design that absolutely makes use of all the participant’s motion, boss fights that really feel completely tailor-made in your fight choices, and a captivating methodology of re-using property within the Seasonal Shift system, by the point I used to be performed with Nayuta I used to be hard-pressed to think about something I’d actively disliked concerning the recreation. It’s simply in my top-3 Falcom video games in the mean time, and one thing tells me it can keep that approach into the foreseeable future. Even the story – with its diminished focus – was nonetheless an excellent time, although by this level it was straightforward to see a lot of its twists coming.

There’s much more to be mentioned concerning the recreation, however the one factor I need to stress is that if there’s one recreation I’d suggest to just about each RPG participant to maintain a watch out for subsequent 12 months, it’s this one. The Legend of Nayuta appears like the kind of recreation you may suggest to everybody; and but I can very simply see the title fall between the cracks with what’s seeking to be a really stacked 12 months for JRPG releases in 2023. That could be a disgrace, as a result of even when it’s not essentially the most bombastic Falcom launch that NIS America is placing out subsequent 12 months – it’s undeniably one of many firm’s finest. The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails is a Falcom traditional, and one no one ought to need to miss.