Tales of Arise is an action-rpg developed by Bandai-Namco and released for the PC, PS5, PS4 and Xbox consoles in September of 2021. This review will have very minor spoilers, all information that is revealed within the first hour of gameplay.
In Tales of Arise, you play as a character called ‘The Iron Mask’ who later gets a name as Alphen. He has been living as a slave in the fiery mountainous region of Calaglia, toiling away in the mines under the yolk of an oppressive regime. That regime is the one of the Renans, a technologically advanced race from a neighbouring planet, who defeated the Dahnans in a war three hundred years prior to the start of the game, and enslaved the populace. The populace was then split into five distinct regions, each with it’s own ruler.
The first character that you meet in the game is Shionne, a gun slinging Renan who is unable to be touched, as her body involuntarily produces electric thorns. Luckily, the main character Alphen is unable to feel pain, and any damage she inflicts she can also heal, so they end up becoming a team. This is quite fortunate, as it turns out their goals align, they both want to defeat each of the lords enslaving the Dahnans in each realm.
Whilst there is a lot more to the plot, at the heart of it is the characters. You meet a fair few playable characters as the game progresses, and I found them all interesting. Each of them has lessons to learn, and their backstories and personalities are slowly opened up over the course of the game. None of them fit a specific stereotype, and watching them interact with each other is really great. It makes you want to keep playing, not particularly to see the big set pieces, but the smaller character moments really make it. Throughout the game world there are moments where you can trigger these optional stories, by clicking R1 when the command pops up. This will result in a comic-book style interaction, and I honestly found them to be some of the best moments in the game.
Splitting the game up initially into five regions allows for each one to have a specific environmental type. These range from deserts, to mountains, caves, forests, cities and more. Each region does look distinct, and the game does a good job in making it feel like you have reached a new ‘place’ each time you go to a different region. In terms of the overall aesthetics, it’s sort of sci fi meets fantasy. There are knights, with suits of armour and swords, yet there are also trains, and laser guns, and castles. It’s a huge mash-up of different influences, and yet it somehow works. Some people may be put off by this, but I personally enjoy it. It’s clear the developers were having fun, and didn’t feel the need to stick inside any particular box.
Being an action-rpg, Tales of Arise has plenty of combat. The mechanics are opened up slowly, but essentially you walk up to enemies roaming in the overworld, and then fight them in a ring. You have full control over your character, and can run around, and use an attack button to start hitting with basic combos. Then there are abilities, which are more powerful, but need a little bit of time to recharge. Later on other mechanics are introduced, like boost attacks and special moves, and the essence of the combat is building all of this up into mighty combos, by getting your team to synthesise attacks together and take out enemies quickly. It’s a lot of fun, and although by this point a lot of games have introduced this sort of real time battle system into role-playing games, I think this might be the best implementation yet. There is simply so much to do, and it always feels like you are just scratching the surface.
Progression takes the form of emblems, which are essentially just fancy skill trees. These unlock over the course of the game, and new skill trees can be unlocked optionally, by fulfilling certain objectives. You can then spend skill points on different skills, and customise to an extent how you want to progress based on your combat style. The game lets you switch around which party member you are playing at on the fly, and it also lets you swap out skills mid-battle, so the strategy really comes down to how well you have levelled up, and which skills you have purchased before the big battles.
The music in Tales of Arise is simply brilliant, with plenty of sweeping orchestral scores mixed with smaller, sweeter tracks which add character to every single area in this world. The graphics are quite nice, they are pushing the anime aesthetic hard, but it remains very clean, and performance on the PS5 in performance mode is great. I like this style, but it can be subjective, so take a look at the images in the gallery and make up your own mind if its for you.
Ultimately, Tales of Arise is one of the best implementations of this sort of action-rpg yet. It doesn’t do anything to break the mould, but rather polishes every aspect of this kind of game. Everything from the combat, to the world-building, and story is simply excellent, and there isn’t a huge amount more they could have done. After Tales of Arise, this genre probably needs a radical shake-up if it wants to evolve, because at this point it’s probably reached the pinnacle of what it can be. But what a pinnacle it is!
You can visit the official website here. For another PS5 action-rpg, why not take a look at Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade.
