Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter has a great PC port, but it is a step back from PH3 releases

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Today marks the global release of *Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter* from GungHo and Falcom. This launch is significant for a couple of reasons: it’s Falcom’s first time releasing a game on multiple platforms worldwide, and it’s the first PC port they’ve developed internally in years. Traditionally, Western publishers have handled Falcom’s PC releases, coinciding with the English console versions. I’ve become accustomed to excellent PC versions thanks to PH3, who typically manages the Trails and Ys PC releases in the West.

I’ve played both the demo and the full PC version, and I wanted to share my thoughts in a slightly different way for this PC port review. I’ll cover my recommended Steam Deck settings and overall impressions of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, focusing on what the port did well and where it fell short.

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter PC features and graphics options

After playing the demo and now the full PC version of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, it’s clear this is a fantastic port. It’s easily one of the best PC releases of 2025, rivaled only by Trails Through Daybreak II – a game known for its excellent PC implementation.

The PC version of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter offers a good range of display options. You can choose between fullscreen, borderless windowed, and windowed modes, and set the resolution from as low as 320×200 up to 4K. It also supports wider aspect ratios like 21:9 and 16:10, although there can be some visual glitches. Players can also customize the refresh rate, cap the frame rate between 30 and 144 FPS (or remove the limit entirely), and adjust the field of view. HDR is supported, offering a similar experience to other recent PC releases of Falcom games, and it works well on the Steam Deck OLED.





Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter offers a good range of graphics options. You can choose from preset settings – low, medium, high, ultra, or create a custom setup. For detailed control, you can adjust rendering settings like draw distance, detail level, lighting, shadows, and even scale the 3D rendering from 50% to 400%, with the actual resolution displayed. There are also separate effects settings to tweak features like screen-space ambient occlusion (SSAO), screen-space reflections (SSR), depth of field, and anti-aliasing (with options for off, FXAA, SMAA, and SMAA + TAA).

I noticed something cool when I was playing Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter – the game remembers where I left off and skips straight to the action, bypassing all the intro stuff like splash screens and logos. It’s clear whoever ported this game to PC really paid attention to how PH3 handled other recent Falcom releases, which is awesome because it makes getting back into the game so much faster.

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter PC port features missing compared to prior Trails games

While the PC version of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is a great way to play this fantastic RPG, it’s missing some of the PC features found in other NIS America Trails and Ys games. Specifically, it doesn’t offer customizable resolution settings, and ultrawide support is limited – it lacks options and doesn’t support 32:9 displays. There’s also limited 16:10 support, some visual issues with lower resolutions, and problems with how fonts are displayed in menus. Some 2D graphics appear blurry unless you manually adjust the resolution. Finally, it’s missing features like a music volume control, options for sharper portraits and minimaps, a handheld mode preset, detailed turbo control, and any upscaling technology (like XeSS).

Just so you know, the screenshots you’ll see are from the PC version of Trails Through Daybreak II and are meant to highlight what the PC port offers.



Players familiar with the PC versions of Falcom games might notice some missing features in this release. The PC versions offer a lot of quality-of-life improvements, both technically and in how menus and 2D elements are handled, and it’s a bit of a step down without them. While I hope they add support for 16:10 resolutions and better ultrawide displays, I don’t anticipate seeing more advanced features like the in-game BGM display option added in future updates.

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter Steam Deck recommended settings

Don’t expect Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter to consistently run at 60fps on the Steam Deck. Trying to force it to 60fps compromises the visuals too much. Instead, I focused on achieving a stable 45fps on the OLED Steam Deck and 40fps on the LCD model, and I’ve shared my recommended settings to help you reach those targets. I’ve also included an option to downsample to 1080p, which improves the appearance of 2D elements, though this does come with a slight performance cost, as expected.

To get smooth performance – around 45 frames per second at 90Hz on the Steam Deck OLED, or 40fps at 60Hz on the original LCD Steam Deck – I used a mix of medium, low, and high graphics settings at 800p resolution. The area just outside the city of Rolent is surprisingly demanding, so I made sure to test these settings there, as well as during tougher boss fights later in the game. Here’s what I used: medium draw distance, level of detail (LOD), and light distance; low shadow map and volumetric lighting; and high anisotropic filtering, with the rendering scale at 100%. I also enabled FXAA anti-aliasing, SSAO and SSR at medium settings, and depth of field. You can turn off depth of field if you prefer. With these settings, the game mostly stayed above 45fps and looked good, although you might notice some occasional pop-in of objects and shadows while exploring. It’s not a major issue, but it is visible.



If you’re playing at a higher resolution but want to reduce the load on your system, I suggest using a render scale of 70% while keeping your other settings the same. To get a 16:10 aspect ratio while downsampling, choose the 1920×1200 resolution – it might result in slightly fewer frames, but it looks fantastic on the go. If you’re not familiar with downsampling, here’s how to do it for Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter: go to the game’s properties, then under the ‘General’ tab, set the resolution to 1440p (you don’t need to use 4K). Make sure the option to apply this resolution to both your main display and any external displays is enabled.

Even though the Steam Deck doesn’t consistently reach 60 frames per second, it offers a smoother gaming experience than the Switch or the upcoming Switch 2 when played handheld. If you prioritize stable performance without frustrating pauses or slowdowns, a PC handheld like the Steam Deck is the better choice.

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter ROG Ally impressions

Although the Steam Deck struggles to consistently hit 60 frames per second with good graphics, the ROG Ally can achieve this in *Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter* with a few adjustments. I tested using the ROG Ally’s 25W turbo mode. To get a smooth 60+ fps at 1080p, I suggest setting the render scale to 70% and using the medium graphics preset with shadows set to low. While you could play at 720p, the 2D graphics appear blurry, so sticking with 1080p and lowering the render scale is better. If you prefer higher visual quality and are okay with 30fps, use 1080p with the medium preset and low shadow settings; this should keep the frame rate around 40fps or higher.

The PC version of Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is very good and ranks as the second-best PC release of 2025. However, it doesn’t quite reach the high standard set by previous Falcom PC releases, particularly those handled by PH3 – Trails Through Daybreak II remains the best. Considering this is Falcom’s first PC port in a long time, it’s a great effort, though it lacks some of the polish and detail we’ve come to expect from PH3’s work.

The first chapter of Trails in the Sky is now available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and PC (via Steam). You can find our detailed review, a helpful DLC guide, and more information about the game on our website.

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2025-09-19 23:27