21 years later, remake of beloved JRPG classic Trails in the Sky gets first playable demo – it’s 5-7 hours long, and fans say it’s a certified banger: “Oh my god it’s phenomenal”

A playable slice of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, the remake of the 2004 genre-starter that launched the entire Trails saga, is now available, allowing you to roam freely through the prologue.

Creator Nihon Falcom and publisher GungHo sneak-posted the Trails in the Sky remake demo this week on PC via Steam and PS5; a Switch edition is promised “at a later date.”

You might likewise wonder how a simple prologue can eat up 5–7 hours. My retort: this is a 2025 do-over of an old-school JRPG—of course it’s hefty.

Everything you accomplish in the demo carries forward to the final release, provided you purchase the game on the same platform you sampled it on, so no forced replay—unless you wish to.

My anticipation for the remake has been sky-high ever since December’s reveal, and even knowing the remake clocks in at a whopping 80 hours, I’m only more hyped to revisit one of the greatest JRPG franchises ever from an all-new angle. And the first reactions? Utterly glowing.

“Falcom have DELIVERED,” proclaims the headline of The Kiseki Nut’s deep-dive, praising the remake’s overhauled visuals, revised localization, fresh animations, and the hybrid turn-based/free-form combat system.

Likewise, lengthy impressions over at Xbox Era andRPG Site are overwhelmingly upbeat, too.

For a snappier summary of the communal verdict, Reddit is more or less unanimously wowed by the demo.

“IT’S INCREDIBLY GOOOOOOD!!!!!!” one ecstatic post beams.

“Holy heck, this is unreal,” adds another user.

“I’m legit tearing up. It feels legendary already. What a flawless remaster—pure treasure,” a fellow poster raves.

I still haven’t sunk enough time into the demo to serve up a full take, but after roughly an hour last night, the Trails in the Sky remake already feels like JRPG nirvana. It’s drop-dead gorgeous and runs silk-smooth on my standard PS5 in 120 FPS mode, and while its mountain of systems mildly intimidates me, I’m also hooked. That’s par for the course with any genre heavyweight nowadays.

Judging by every report out there, genre die-hards just received a multiple-hour slice of updated royalty this week, and, as a self-declared JRPG lunatic, I’m clearing my whole weekend calendar as we speak.

Keep going after this with a recommendation from our rundown of the greatest JRPGs of all time.