Tales Of Arise was announced in 2019, then delayed into 2021 last due in part to development challenges posed by Covid-19. Now it seems the Japanese action RPG is resurfacing. There’s a new trailer below, with promise of more to come this spring.
Arise’s story focuses on two warring planets, and its two protagonists are a male slave from the medieval world of Dahna and a woman from the technologically advanced world of Rena. Those are the characters you’re seeing in the trailer above.
This is the 17th game in the Tales series, which began in 1995. The last entry was Tales Of Berseria, which we liked quite a bit when it came to PC in 2017. Our review praised its characters (while criticising some of their outfits), and lamenting its slow start:
“And that’s a real shame because, despite its flaws, Tales of Berseria has numerous interesting stories to tell. If the developers had cut the flab and focused almost exclusively on the cast of characters – with some combat thrown in – then I think this would have been a must-play. As it is, I think it’s still worth playing if you’re a fan of story-focused JRPGs, as long as you know you’re strapped in for the long haul. I felt more connected with the game’s characters than I have to any group in a long time, and it’s worth putting up with a few hours of pain for that pay off.”
I tend to bounce off JRPGs in their first few hours, but I continue to dream of one getting its hooks into me. Maybe Arise will finally be the one that gets me.