The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information

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At Thors Military Academy, Erebonia’s best learn everything from the art of war to liberal arts. First year Rean Schwarzer learns he’s been selected to join the controversial Class VII, and they’ll need to deal with more than just class warfare--they’ll need to safeguard their country from chaos.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is a jrpg, anime and rpg game developed by Nihon Falcom and published by XSEED Games, Marvelous USA and Inc..
Released on August 02nd 2017 is available only on Windows in 2 languages: English and Japanese.

It has received 5,445 reviews of which 5,161 were positive and 284 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9.1 out of 10. 😍

The game is currently priced at 39.99€ on Steam.


The Steam community has classified The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel into these genres:

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel through various videos and screenshots.

System requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows
  • OS *: Windows 7 or later
  • Processor: Intel Atom x7-Z8700 2.4 GHz
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Shader Model 5 (GeForce 400 / Radeon HD 5000 / Intel post-2012 series)
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 17 GB available space
  • Additional Notes: 1280x720 / 30 FPS with portable settings

User reviews & Ratings

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

41 hours played
April 2026
I finally reached the first Cold Steel game. Coming into it I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did, because it seemed it was low ranked for many people who are into the Trails series. Having finished it now, I can safely say I do not agree with a lot of things those people say. What's more, I legit don't even understand how you can rank this game low, unless I'm missing something coming in the future. The amount of improvements in gameplay over the previous 5 games is insane, so much that I don't even know if I'll ever go back to the previous ones unless it's for the story (which is amazing in those games for sure!). I had a phenomenal time, an engaging experience pretty much all thoughout, and the story was great. Pretty much a perfect setup game. Here are some more thoughts I wrote down: - Transition into 3D. The graphics are pleasant and have a non generic art style. Rudimentary but nice to look at with good colors and lightning. The environment and world design is good and cozy. - The combat feels like a BIG upgrade! It's more engaging due to Link attacks and C Skills being more interesting. Status effects are not useless anymore (every boss in most of the previous games were immune to everyting, which made half your moves useless...) as now enemies/bosses have % based resistance to those effects instead of only 0 or 100% resistance. The movement Grid is removed allowing for full movement which honestly felt great. Combat was FUN! Loved it. - The Quartz system has been revamped with Master Quartz having a bigger role due to it also giving arts in itself. The Elemental Jewel Art System is removed. Characters don't all have the same arts anymore or useless arts either. - The new cast is great and fun to get to know. Like them more than the previous arcs cast already. - The fast travel system is improved, and together with the fast forward mode, it makes for a smooth gameplay experience. - The 3D movement looks and feels awkward, due to the move left and right buttons (A and D) forcing the camera to turn with the character, as well as clunky running. This is not a problem in battle, just when exploring. Honestly it was more annoying at the start, you kinda get used to it. - The Persona series has definitely influenced the game, as there's now bonding events, day/calendar cycle, and the main cast are highschoolers. I'm not even a Persona 5 fan (I liked 4 way more), but still will admit all these elements feel like a + to what Trails already had to offer, and improves variety. - Feels like there's way less voice acting overall, and it's mostly reserved for main story important cutscenes. That the player has to do a lot of reading without any voice over is a shame. - The music is some of the best music so far for a Trails game, a collection of everything from chill town tracks to epic battle tracks. - Overall a great first game to setup the story. The story is good, and the overarching plot thickens. - Important if you are playing with keyboard and mouse, turn off camera auto adjust in the Launch Settings for the game, as it even says there it's recommended. --- Here is my current game tier list: S- Sky SC A- Sky 3rd, Cold Steel 1, Azure B- Sky FC, Zero C- D- Honestly, this game is WAY over hated for some reason, maybe just because it was the most popular idk. People say "the game is a slow burn" but then they somehow rank other slow games at the top, games were doing sidequests is way slower, and also the speed up button does exist here, maybe they played without it i don't know. I guess this is the game that makes me realize everyone values different things in these games and that's why community rankings are all over the place, which is not a bad thing. For my own preference, playing Cold Steel 1 made me realize how little I missed the Zero-Azure cast, compared to how much I missed the Sky cast when starting Zero. The gameplay of Cold Steel 1 made the game way more fun than any other game in the list so far, and the story and characters were very good. It's the first game of several in the arc, but a great game on it's own! --- Next up is Cold Steel 2, more of the same I hope!
94 hours played
Nov. 2025
WARNING: The game ends on a major cliffhanger. Make plans on also buying the second game in the series to avoid a total meltdown. The first two games also play out in the same time line and events of Trails from Zero and Azure, so they will spoil each other. I am in total awe of the writing staff for the Trails series at Nihon Falcom. The writing gets better and better with every entry in the Trails games up to this point. Cold Steel 1 is a slow burn. It introduces you to the cast and overarching world events, setting the five part series for a (hopeful) epic clash between powers and countries. It's like playing through a World War II epic series in which the first game ends at Pearl Harbor. So player be warned. Having said that, the characters and story is in all honesty so well written that it must absolutely be played and enjoyed for what it offers the players. The developers aren't afraid to take risks with such an immense undertaking as the Trails series. In the first series you were part of the Bracer organization, pretty much community service oriented bounty hunters. In the second series it diverged to being a member of the police force community outreach program, keeping with the familiar flow and play style of the game. In this third series you go back to high school in a military academy as a test program to forge a more cooperative military element to civilian outreach and service. Three distinct scenario's, set in three different countries with the same focus and theme. Yet in the backdrop of all three is a slowly growing ember of political sabotage that threatens to engulf the whole world into war. And now the series turns that smoldering ember into a raging flame. I can't believe that a developer can spend so much time and resources, building huge 70+ hour games into a massive overarching story, who's writing and characters just get better and better with every entry into the series. I am in awe, truly and honestly, and recommend any and all of the Trails series up to this point without any hesitation. It's a true masterpiece in player accessibility, storytelling, and world building that players will never forget.
116 hours played
Nov. 2025
The game which started it all <3. (Played CS1 -> CS2 -> Trails in the Sky 1,2,3 -> Zero, Azure-> CS3 -> CS4) The whole saga is peak, the plot is amazing, the music is so so good, the gameplay is super fun and the characters are really well written. So if you enjoy JRPG's like me, then you definitely should give it a try It became my favorite game franchise. For those who never played a trails game, you have 2 options: you can start playing Trails in the sky 1 or CS1 like me. Both are valid but i recommend start with Sky
121 hours played
Oct. 2025
Let me start off by stating that this is NOT a game for everyone. It is very heavily story based...as in you could very well be looking at an hour and a half of dialogue at times. (before a boss fight...fighting...after a boss fight...next chapter...more talking...finally your character is back in control). But, if you are looking for that type of game, then this is definitely the game for you. I will admit that this game took me longer to get "hooked" than Trails in the Sky. It took about 10-15 hours for Sky to "grab" me. Cold Steel took about 20-25 hours til I finally was really hooked. Love the turn-based, love the "world building", love the character interactions, love the political story, and I love the new game + aspect. Great JRPG!
89 hours played
Oct. 2025
There's a huge bug where if you get to the end credits of this game, you're forced to keep playing the sequels for literally hundreds of hours so you see where the story goes.

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Frequently Asked Questions

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is currently priced at 39.99€ on Steam.

No, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 39.99€ on Steam.

Yes, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel received 5,161 positive votes out of a total of 5,445 achieving an impressive rating of 9.14.
😍

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel was developed by Nihon Falcom and published by XSEED Games, Marvelous USA and Inc..

Yes, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is playable and fully supported on Windows.

No, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is not playable on MacOS.

No, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is not playable on Linux.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is a single-player game.

Yes, there are 24 DLCs available for The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel. Explore additional content available for The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel on Steam.

No, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel does not support mods via Steam Workshop.

No, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel does not support Steam Remote Play.

Yes, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.

You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel.

Data sources

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Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.

Last Updates
Steam data 11 June 2026 03:32
SteamSpy data 10 June 2026 08:41
Steam price 13 June 2026 20:46
Steam reviews 11 June 2026 19:47

If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.

  • SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
  • SteamCharts - Analysis of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel concurrent players on Steam
  • ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel compatibility
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
Rating
9.1
5,161
284
Game modes
Features
Online players
86
Developer
Nihon Falcom
Publisher
XSEED Games, Marvelous USA, Inc.
Release 02 Aug 2017
Platforms