RPG
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
Give it 1 hour
Gets good by 1h almost every game dips in hours 2–3
Fully opens up by 10h rated like by long-time players
Reach the ending 50% of players who started
Started playing 86% of owners
Steam reviews 95% positive of 5,947
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 5 reviews are negative (19%); after 20h it's 1 in 20 (5%).
- Fully opens up by hour 10.
- 50% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “The Way to Thors” (Completed the prologue) and “Unconventional Studies” (Completed Chapter 1): from 89% to 73% of starters.
- 86% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 5,961 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 297 reviews: 69.5h for positive, 66.3h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (85.8% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Freshman Orientation Arrived in Trista for the first day of school. 100%
- The Way to Thors Completed the prologue. 89% −11
- Unconventional Studies Completed Chapter 1. Most players quit here 73% −16
- The Verdant City Completed Chapter 2. 66% −8
- Beyond the Railways Completed Chapter 3. 60% −6
- A Midsummer's Revels Completed Chapter 4. 56% −3
- Signs and Omens Completed Chapter 5. 54% −2
- Progressive Chaos Completed Chapter 6. 52% −2
- Put to the Test Completed the final chapter. 50% −1
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (51)
story milestone ending side
- Freshman Orientation Arrived in Trista for the first day of school. 100%
- The Way to Thors Completed the prologue. 89%
- Tactical Thinker Won a battle with a tactical bonus of x2.0 or greater. 83%
- Unconventional Studies Completed Chapter 1. 73%
- Frequent Fighter Won 100 battles. 70%
- The Verdant City Completed Chapter 2. 66%
- Beyond the Railways Completed Chapter 3. 60%
- A Midsummer's Revels Completed Chapter 4. 56%
- Flawless Jewel Raised a master quartz to level 5. 55%
- Link Master Raised any two characters to Link Level 5. 54%
- Signs and Omens Completed Chapter 5. 54%
- Progressive Chaos Completed Chapter 6. 52%
- Put to the Test Completed the final chapter. 50%
- Making the Grade Earned an S-Rank on any chapter. 45%
- Eightfold Obliteration Defeated 8 enemies at once. 45%
- Follow-Up Master Used over 500 follow-up attacks in battle. 43%
- Advanced Beatonomics Won 500 battles. 42%
- Breakout Performance Used 100 S-Breaks in battle. 39%
- Heart of a Lion Received the Lionheart Medal of Heroism from Principal Vandyck. 34%
- The Cutting Edge Acquired the strongest weapon for any character. 34%
- Quick as a Flash Initiated 300 advantage encounters (including double and triple advantage). 28%
- R is for Romance Forged a strong bond with Alisa. 28%
- Valedictorian Achieved student rank A0. 28%
- Lake Lord Caught all varieties of fish. 26%
- Cafeteria Commando Obtained all recipes. 23%
- Class Act Completed all quests, both extra-curricular and during field studies. 23%
- Trails in the Couch Played for over 100 hours. 19%
- Here With You To Knight Forged a strong bond with Laura. 19%
- Magic Moment Forged a strong bond with Emma. 17%
- Crown of Fortitude Completed the game on hard or nightmare difficulty. 16%
- More Than a Fie-ling Forged a strong bond with Fie. 15%
- Rush Master Used Rush in battle 100 times. 14%
- Chest Grabber Opened every treasure chest in a single playthrough. 12%
- Honorary Literature Club Member Completely filled the book section of the notebook. 11%
- International Bank of Rean Acquired over a million mira. 11%
- Hot for Teacher Forged a strong bond with Sara. 10%
- Neithardt Would Be Proud Won 1000 battles. 9.2%
- Mentorship Forged a strong bond with Towa. 9.0%
- The Young and the Reckless Forged a strong bond with Millium. 8.9%
- Bad Crowmance Forged a strong bond with Crow. 8.5%
- Crown of Nightmares Completed the game on nightmare difficulty. 8.2%
- Burst Master Used Burst in battle 50 times. 8.0%
- Can't Touch This! Canceled enemy arts and crafts 100 times. 7.7%
- Noblesse Oblige Forged a strong bond with Jusis. 7.6%
- Music to My Ears Forged a strong bond with Elliot. 7.5%
- Wind Beneath My Wings Forged a strong bond with Gaius. 7.3%
- Social Note-working Completed all of the character profiles in the notebook. 7.2%
- Field Guide to Erebonian Wildlife Completely filled the monster guide. 7.1%
- Equal Opportunity Forged a strong bond with Machias. 6.9%
- More Like Rean QUARTZ-er Gathered all 28 varieties of master quartz. 6.8%
- Cold Steel Conqueror Mastered Trails of Cold Steel and earned every achievement. 4.0%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-19.