The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails

The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails, is a great game with solid world-building and an amazing soundtrack to back it up. The characters are enthusiastic and fun, and the gameplay, while somewhat simple, is enjoyable nonetheless. A couple of very minor design issues have carried over from the original PSP version, but they don’t take much away from the game.

The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails is a fast-paced action-RPG with plenty of pick-up-and-play appeal, and one that fans of the genre won’t want to miss. The writing is sharp, the characters are interesting, the action is hot, and the boss battles are excellent. Fans of the middle era of Ys games in particular will want to put this at the front of their wishlist, as it does a great job of capturing the spirit of those feisty affairs.

The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails on Switch is actually Falcom's first internally-developed game for the platform, and it is an excellent version of a PSP classic. If you've ever wanted to sample some of the developer's older games and enjoy action RPGs, this is worth your time on both Switch and PS5.

The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails is a prime example that, even when games don’t age with grace in terms of visuals, they can still offer an amazing experience. Great characters and writing, fun combat and platforming and tons of content make this one of the most entertaining games of the genre. If you love action JRPGs, make sure not to miss this one.

With a fairly enjoyable main narrative that plays second fiddle to engaging gameplay and effective presentation, The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails may be slight in terms of length when compared to other Trails games, but it’s a spinoff that matches them in quality and enjoyment. There’s something compelling about its relative simplicity and all of the small things you can do from moment to moment that all complement each other and help your character progress, both in terms of story and capability. With Ys and the Trails games typically being separated into action and turn-based combat, respectively, I’d love to see either series experiment with the other form given how well it comes off in Boundless Trails. Young Nayuta’s adventure is well worth experiencing for yourself; just don’t forget to pack a lunch.

Despite a bit of jank, and a bit of outdated game design, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with The Legend of Nayuta, and I would recommend it to anyone who’s even remotely interested.