RPG
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV
Hooks you right away
Gets good instantly from the first hour
Reach the ending 70% of players who started
Started playing 88% of owners
Steam reviews 91% positive of 2,547
What the data shows
- 88% of first-hour reviews are positive — about the same as players with 20+ hours (91%).
- The opening is criticised less than in 88% of games we track.
- Few early reviews, so this is a rough estimate.
- 70% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “Nightfall” (Completed the prologue) and “The Trials of Class VII” (Completed Act 1): from 94% to 85% of starters.
- 88% 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 2,555 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 300 reviews: 89.1h for positive, 94.8h 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 (88.1% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Joint Operation Infiltrated Orchis Tower. 100%
- Nightfall Completed the prologue. 94% −6
- The Trials of Class VII Completed Act 1. Most players quit here 85% −8
- A Shattered Blade Completed Fragments. 85% −1
- Guiding Starlight Completed Act 2. 77% −8
- Seekers of the Dawn Completed Act 3. 73% −4
- Night of Promises Completed Eventide. 73% −1
- Scattered Petals, Dying Flames Completed the finale. 70% −2
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (53)
story milestone ending side
- Joint Operation Infiltrated Orchis Tower. 100%
- Nightfall Completed the prologue. 94%
- Clashing Steel Won 100 battles. 90%
- Master Strategist Won a battle with a tactical bonus of x3.0 or greater. 88%
- The Trials of Class VII Completed Act 1. 85%
- A Shattered Blade Completed Fragments. 85%
- Extra Special Operations Earned an S-Rank on any act. 84%
- Tag-team Trouncing Used over 500 follow-up attacks in battle. 78%
- Guiding Starlight Completed Act 2. 77%
- Order Up Used Brave Order in battle over 100 times. 77%
- Hit the S-Breaks Used 100 S-Crafts in battle. 76%
- Seekers of the Dawn Completed Act 3. 73%
- Night of Promises Completed Eventide. 73%
- Heavenly Jewel Raised a master quartz to level 10. 72%
- All Broken Up About It Inflicted Break over 800 times. 71%
- Scattered Petals, Dying Flames Completed the finale. 70%
- A New Dawn Reached the true ending. 68%
- Raiders of the Lost Arts Gathered all 5 lost arts quartz. 66%
- Unbreakable Bonds Raised any two characters to Link Level 7. 65%
- The Early Bird Gets the Win Initiated 300 advantage encounters. (Including double and triple advantage) 64%
- The Magnificent Class VII Achieved a Special Ops rank of A0. 57%
- Fully-charged Rivalry Won 700 battles. 55%
- Angler God, Master of the Aqueous Realm Completely filled the fishing section in the notebook. (All 30 types of fish + Rod Lv. Max) 53%
- Teamwork Makes the Fiends Hurt Used Burst in battle 50 times. 53%
- Dynamic Duo Used Rush in battle 100 times. 50%
- Shutterbug Took all landscape photos and reported them to Rex. 50%
- Keeper of the Records Completely filled the books section in the notebook. 49%
- Trials in the Chest Opened every trial chest. 48%
- Ashen Chef-alier Completely filled the recipe section in the notebook. 47%
- Mr. Suitcase Completely filled the cards section in the notebook. 46%
- Wings of Hope Completed all quests. 43%
- Orbal Beau Spent the evening before the final battle with Alisa. 42%
- Pom! Pom! Pro! Won against all opponents in Pom! Pom! Party! 42%
- Pride of the Horned Lions Achieved a Unity Grade of Unbreakable. 41%
- The Legendary Rean QUARTZ-er Gathered all 31 varieties of master quartz. 38%
- Sword-crossed Lovers Spent the evening before the final battle with Laura. 33%
- War Coffers Acquired over a million mira. 32%
- Spellbound Spent the evening before the final battle with Emma. 31%
- Musse to My Ears Spent the evening before the final battle with Musse. 30%
- Lifelong Drinking Partner Spent the evening before the final battle with Sara. 30%
- Fairy Tale Ending Spent the evening before the final battle with Fie. 29%
- Tsunderbolts and Lightning Forged a strong bond with Celine and Duvalie. 28%
- Bunny Love Spent the evening before the final battle with Altina. 28%
- Him & Herschel Spent the evening before the final battle with Towa. 28%
- Arnor Ardor Spent the evening before the final battle with Alfin. 27%
- Juna-versal Feelings Spent the evening before the final battle with Juna. 27%
- Family Ties Spent the evening before the final battle with Elise. 26%
- Playing with the Boys Forged a strong bond with Kurt, Ash, Elliot, Machias, Jusis, Gaius, and Crow. 21%
- Empty Chest-er Opened every treasure chest. 21%
- Ally Almanac Completely filled the character section in the notebook. 19%
- Slayer of Nightmares Completed the game on nightmare difficulty. 17%
- Chronicle of Battle Completely filled the battle section in the notebook. (Besides the Extra category) 17%
- Divine Blade Mastered Trails of Cold Steel IV and earned every achievement. 8.6%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-19.