TALES OF ARISE

Format PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series

Developer/publisher Bandai Namco (Bandai Namco Studios)

Origin Japan

Release 2021

Since its Super Famicom debut in Japan, over a quarter of a century ago, there have been two constants for the Tales series: anime characters as colourfully distinct as their hair, and a realtime combat system, going against the grain of a genre still largely tied to the turn-based traditions. Tales Of Arise, the series’ first new mainline title in five years, didn’t shed either aspect of its identity to win over a wider audience.

Nonetheless, while Arise producer Yusuke Tomizawa wasn’t personally dissatisfied with the direction the series took in the last generation, he was conscious that it would need reinvigorating if it was to break out of its niche. (Something our own treatment of the series may endorse – the most recent instalment to appear in these pages was Tales Of Xillia, almost a decade ago.) “In order to reach more people around the world, I felt it was necessary to enhance the graphics for the next generation and to make its systems easier to understand,” Tomizawa tells us.