For anyone who has been hanging out for the Nintendo Switch release of The Legend of Heroes IV, the good news today is that NISA has confirmed its release date. It lands on April 9 in North America and Europe (those of us in Oceania will need to wait a little longer – April 16 here).
This is the concluding chapter to an absolutely brilliant JRPG series. As I noted in my review of the game on PlayStation 4: Really, the Trails of Cold Steel series is like one of those favourite fantasy books that you can read and re-read over and over again. Whether that be Lord of the Rings, Magician, Thomas Covenant, Drizzt Do’Urden’s novels, Earthsea or Game of Thrones, they (and Trails of Cold Steel) all share a quality that makes them eminently relatable and comfortable. There are some excellent themes scattered through the game with regards to the impact of conflict, political and moral relativism, individual heroism and the strength of the group.
The Switch port will be the same game, but given that it means Trails of Cold Steel IV on the go, it’ll be reason enough to double-dip. Now we just need XSEED and NISA to work something out so that the first two Trails of Cold Steel games can come to Switch as well. Swapping publishers midway through the series hasn’t worked out for the better here.
– Matt S.
Editor-in-Chief
Find me on Twitter: @mattsainsb
