When Nihon Falcom first unveiled Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter last year, the remake’s vibrant 3D graphics and elaborate animations felt like such a big step up to some fans that the developer had to come out and say, yes, we really are making this ourselves. Like other recent Trails releases, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter uses Falcom’s proprietary engine, but its pretty visuals are actually not the result of large technological breakthroughs or a switch to higher-spec development. We asked Nihon Falcom president Toshihiro Kondo about the details.
“In terms of technology, our recent The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon was developed with PS5 standards in mind, but compared to that, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter was tuned so that it could run on Nintendo Switch as well. Even so, I think the colors and motions came together so well that fans started joking about us outsourcing development to another studio (laughs).” According to Kondo, when it came to the remake’s character models and motions, he gave his development team less detailed instructions than he normally does for mainline entries. But with 2004’s Trails in the Sky having such a long history and solidified image, the team put 20 years’ worth of their understanding of the original game into the renewed graphics. Additionally, the synergy between new, younger developers on the team and veteran staff led to more elaborate camera work and animations than the series has seen previously.
But essentially, developing Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter’s remake was a return to simplicity for Falcom. As Kondo comments, “It taught me that games aren’t necessarily just about specs. It made me rethink how to present both content and graphics. Although its scenario is simpler compared to Trails Beyond the Horizon, the game has a straightforward playability that feels refreshing even after all these years. Games that pursue richness and complexity are fun too, but Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter’s simplicity made me think, ‘this kind of game is pretty neat too.’ That’s why I really feel it was worthwhile to do this remake.”
When asked about the engine Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is running on, Kondo explains, “we’re using our own engine, the Falcom Developer Kit (FDK). From Trails of Cold Steel (2013) to Trails into Reverie (2020), we used Sony’s PhyreEngine. But with Trails through Daybreak (2021), we built everything related to graphics rendering and sound playback ourselves, and that became the base for our proprietary engine. So rather than a brand-new engine, it’s more like we’re reusing Trails through Daybreak’s engine as our standard engine. For Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter’s development, we only made small shader adjustments to fit the graphics, there was no big version upgrade to the engine. In principle, the remake is the same as previous titles on the inside, I think it’s just the change in presentation that made players feel like the graphics became much better.”
Trails in the Sky the 1st launches September 19, 2025 for PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch and PS5. The game will also receive a Nintendo Switch 2 edition, which can be purchased as an Upgrade Pack for $1.00.
