Tales Of Arise was announced in 2019 and then postponed to 2021 due in part to the development challenges presented by Covid-19. Now it looks like the Japanese action RPG is resurging. There’s a new trailer below, with the promise of more to come this spring.
Arise’s story focuses on two warring planets, and her two protagonists are a slave to Dahna’s medieval world and a woman from Rena’s technologically advanced world. These are the characters you are seeing in the trailer above.
This is the 17th game in the Tales series, which started in 1995. The last entry was Tales Of Berseria, which we liked a lot when it came to PC in 2017. Our review praised their characters (while criticizing some of their clothes), and regretting its slow start:
“And this is a real shame because, despite its flaws, Tales of Berseria has a lot of interesting stories to tell. If the developers had cut the flab and focused almost exclusively on the cast of characters – with some combat launched – then I think that it would have been a mandatory game. 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 ready for the long term. I felt more connected to the game’s characters than I have it for any group in a long time, and it is worth putting up with a few hours of pain to make it pay. “
I tend to jump in JRPGs in the early hours, but I still dream of one holding me back. Maybe Arise will finally be the one who catches me.