Dragon Slayer, one of the oldest Japanese RPG series, is being brought back to life after 40 years

A fresh take on an influential action-RPG

Trails in the Sky developer Falcom is reviving its long-dormant Dragon Slayer franchise more than 40 years after the first game launched in Japan. Falcom announced the project as part of its 45th anniversary celebrations, though it provided no details about when the new Dragon Slayer might be released or what to expect from it.

The original Dragon Slayer is a pretty big deal in the history of RPGs. When it first launched on the PC-8001 in 1984, it was one of the only action-RPGs around, in contrast to the roguelikes and command-based dungeon crawlers that preceded it. It was never released outside Japan, though its top-down presentation and puzzle-filled dungeons influenced the likes of the original Legend of Zelda and shaped Falcom's production for years to come, albeit indirectly. The studio experimented further with action-RPG gameplay with Xanadu, Sorcerian, and others following the original Dragon Slayer, all of which were loosely connected as part of the Dragon Slayer series, despite sharing little in common plot-wise.

Dragon Slayer eventually spun off into The Legend of Heroes series, which itself morphed into the Trails series and became one of Falcom's pillars alongside Ys, another action-RPG series. Falcom released Zwei and a sequel, with a few other standalone original games over the years. But it largely stopped dabbling in other franchises by the 2010s, alternating between a new Ys game and a new Trails game (with Tokyo Xanadu being an exception, which Falcom announced a sequel for during February's Partner Direct).

A combination of factors, including new publishing partners writing stories designed to appeal to global audiences, brought Falcom's games to new audiences in the last five years, most recently with Trails in the Sky: First Chapter and Trails beyond the Horizon. However, despite the company seeing a staggering 670% profit increase after Trails in the Sky First Chapter's global launch, Falcom president Toshiro Kondo is eager for the studio to remain realistic in its expectations for future sales and growth. Kondo told Automaton that he knows Falcom can't compete with larger, better-funded studios in China and Korea, and rather than trying to, he just wants to keep making games with what he called the spirit only Falcom games can have.

"While it’s important to be rational and create things together as a coherent organization, works infused with individual flair and the desire to ‘create something you like no matter what’ carry a truly unique charm," Kondo told Automaton earlier in 2026. "That’s why our company values personal preferences, or in other words, individuality."

And there's good reason to think that plan is worthwhile. Much of Falcom's profitability over the last few years came from licensing fees for its Trails and Ys games as they launched outside Japan, so bringing one of its oldest, most influential series back to life for audiences who were never able to play it in years past makes sense.