The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel will launch for PlayStation 3 and PS Vita in North America via retail and digitally on December 22, XSEED Games announced.
In Europe, NIS America will distribute the game, but a release date has not been announced.
Alongside the standard edition, the RPG will be available in a limited “Lionheart Edition” including a 100-page art book featuring art from the game and its 2016-due sequel Trails of Cold Steel II, a 1.5″ emblem pin representing the Erebonian Empire, and a collector’s box designed to house both the first game and its sequel.
Here’s an outline of the game, via XSEED:
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, known in Japan as Eiyuu Densetsu: Sen no Kiseki, builds on Nihon Falcom’s acclaimed Trails franchise by improving on the series’ formula while delivering the same sort of expertly told narrative series fans have come to expect. Taking place on the same continent as fan-favorite Trails in the Sky, Trails of Cold Steel is the first game in the series to explore Erebonian soil, giving players a chance to delve deep into the inner political conflicts of this oft-mentioned and powerful empire.
In the game, players take on the role of specially-selected elite military students at a time of great turmoil, enjoying school life and bonding with fellow students to earn new abilities in battle, then utilizing those abilities via speedy, tactical turn-based combat with the newly-developed “ARCUS” system. This new story arc in the Trails series also delves into the expansive lore that has become synonymous with the series. Best of all, the epic storyline can be unraveled with Cross-Save functionality between the game’s “PSVita” system and PS3™ system editions, allowing players to play at home or on the go.