NIS America released a brand new playable demo, available for free, of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III over on the PlayStation Store for PS4 owners. The highlight of the demo is that whatever progress you make during your play-time, it will carry over into the full version of the game when it releases on October 22nd, 2019 this fall.

Nihon Falcom’s JRPG also received an accompanying trailer that walks gamers through the basics of the demo, and what you can expect to experience.

You can check out the trailer below.

The trailer outlines how you’ll take on the role of Rean Schwarzer, a graduate of the military academy who eventually becomes an instructor there.

One of the neat things that they added to the game is a compendium for the The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel series. You can read up on the story from the previous games, as well as get caught up on the places, characters, and events that all led up to The Legend Of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III, which is a nice way to give newcomers and veteran fans alike a quick refresher without forcing them to play through 80 hours worth of content just to get a handle on the story.

The demo will feature some of the new mini-games that have been added to the game, including fishing and a new competitive card game.

The demo also sports a dungeon where players will be introduced to the new and improved combat UI. Layouts are made more streamlined, so it’s easier to select attacks or strategically position party members on the field quickly and easily.

Even though you’re limited on how many party members can be in the fight, in between turns you can actually swap out active participants in battle with party reserves, plucked from the characters who are following you around but may not be in the actual battle. This is a pretty neat feature and reminds me of the final battle sequence in Final Fantasy VI where each time someone died another party member would jump into the fight.

But it’s not all rehashes and redos in Trails of Cold Steel III. They’ve also added new features to the game such as the Brave Order, which allows you to spend Brave Points in exchange for limited-time party-wide buffs.

As reiterated by Tech Raptor, the demo will walk gamers through the full prologue up to completion, and whatever you save during that portion of the game will carry on over to the full version once it’s made available on the PS4 starting October 22nd, 2019.

It’s just a shame that it’s not launching on the Nintendo Switch. Oh well.

For more information feel free to visit the official NIS America website.

(Thanks for the news tip Guardian EvaUnit02)