It’s been two years since Shionne, Alphen and the gang graced our screens in Tales of Arise, but it might as well have only been five minutes. Booting up Beyond The Dawn, everything is wonderfully familiar and bursting with the same colourful quality that helped revitalise the Tales series. Characters and locations fell back into place with ease. So much ease in fact, that it can feel a lot like there’s not much new to talk about here, apart from the story. Let’s take a look.
So you wrap the story on a big epic Tales game, literally save the worlds, and roll credits. But not often do we get to see what life is actually like when everything is tied up in a neat little bow. Beyond the Dawn shows us just how messy humans can make everything even when you think they were handed peace on a silver platter.
One year on, everyone still hates everyone it seems. For some reason (humans are awful), Dahnans and Renans can’t just suddenly get along, and lynching, scapegoating, and racism are rife in this new world. Within the first few moments of Beyond the Dawn, Alphen and Shionne find themselves caught up in the plight of a desperately persecuted young Renan called Nazamil. The story of Beyond the Dawn is essentially seven hours of help-Nazamil-find-acceptance-and-belonging when she is shunned from both the Renan and Dahnan sides of the conflict, even when that goes terribly wrong for our helpful band.
Without going too far into spoiler territory, Nazamil has a Renan father and a Dahnan mother, so she’s your quintessential mudblood. She has different coloured eyes to really drive this point home, as Renans have always had light eyes and Dahnans dark. She also has some powers I won’t go into for fear of spoilers, but they actually were relatively pointless with regards to the story Beyond the Dawn wanted to tell.
For the returning characters, much of their purpose is lost in Beyond the Dawn. Some have found a little gainful employment, such as Kisara training recruits, but most are either just reading books like Rinwell, or they didn’t have much life to go back to, so they’ve just sort of become travelling meddlers. It can seem a little odd that the returning cast feels virtually superfluous to the story, and only Nazamil really has anything of interest to say or do. It’s no wonder they all jump at the chance of helping her, just for a bit of something to fill their aimless days.
Gameplay hasn’t really changed, but if you enjoyed Tales of Arise, there’s no real reason you wouldn’t enjoy this one. Roam the semi-open world between cities and realms, collect items, craft and chat, and then engage the local zeugles (still a terrible term) in a skirmish. Some of the locales have changed as per the premise of this aftermath story, and the team is tasked with cleansing what they call mausoleums, which are basically dungeons that represent remnants of the Renan world that haven’t quite fused with Dahna. These are in most cases single route dungeons, unless you want to branch off for maybe three seconds for some very obvious treasure. The mausoleums have a story purpose, but it’s very simple and really just a rehash of some of the end of the main game.
Combat is a similar story. Far too similar. By the end of the 60+ hours I put into the first game I’d mastered, exploited, and then got bored of the combat system. It’s the same process of basic attacks, Artes, and team moves, used together to break enemies and then unleash a dual-party finisher on them. There is nothing different in this strategy in Beyond the Dawn, and adding another seven hours of the same cycle of combat wore thin very quickly. I even felt myself slowly lulled during the tensionless treks through the mausoleums, and the rote fighting that I could almost keep doing in my sleep. It is nice that a generous fast travel system did mean much of the travel between realms and mausoleums can be skipped. Of course, skip too much and you are left underlevelled for what bosses there are.
Thankfully the full voice cast return and slip into their old roles without any issues. They are a talented team that you’ll probably recognise from a dozen other anime and JRPG properties at this point, but they are the cream of the crop. I can also report Motoi Sakuraba lends their talents once again to the soundtrack, and while there aren’t loads of new tunes, the ones I noticed were good.
The trouble with DLC in the aftermath of an epic, is events can feel a little aimless and pedestrian in comparison. Beyond the Dawn suffers from being way too similar to its predecessor and not addressing any of the criticisms that were levelled at it. You could argue DLC isn’t the place for that, but it’s a very safe addition to the story, and one that does almost nothing new, and has almost nothing to say.
It’s still the same quality, the same cast you’ve come to enjoy, but if there were parts you didn’t like, they’re all still here too. I wouldn’t have minded changes or at least variations on CP and how it worked (a kind of pooled magic for the party). I wouldn’t have minded if the superfluous and un-user-friendly skills trees had been done away with completely. I would have really liked to see new combat, new boost and finisher moves, and some tangible reward to keep me fighting, but alas it’s all the same.
But where for some, familiarity can breed contempt, for you this may be the opposite. If you loved the original game, and don’t agree with faults I raise, then you may love this too. Don’t believe the inflated play time estimates – it’s around seven hours for the main quest, possibly ten of you take time to do the uninspiring side quests and grind the necessary levels. While I might have preferred Bandai Namco spend all the intervening two years on a new mainline entry, or a new IP, Beyond the Dawn is still a fairly enjoyable additional few hours to spend with the best Tales game in the last decade.
Beyond the Dawn was never going to be an epic on the scale of a full Tales release, but it’s sad that this is the last taste of Arise’s world that I’ll remember. A poor story with little reason to be told and virtually no new features at all make this hard to recommend. It may look the same as the main game on the surface, but the soul just isn’t there.
Tales of Arise Beyond the Dawn is available now on PlayStation 5 (review platform), Xbox Series S|X, and PC. You need to own the base game to play it.
Developer: Bandai Namco
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy from the publisher.
For our full review policy, please go here. If you enjoyed this article or any more of our content, please consider our Patreon
It’s been a very long time since a Finger Guns JRPG Trailer Fix – but with the sheer volume of JRPG trailers in the last 48 hours I just had to. There’s a lot to look forward to in the coming six months or so. Join me as we take a look at the spectacle on show in the best of genres, across a packed Nintendo Direct and Sony State of Play.
In the last two weeks, Tales of Arise has sold more than a million copies making it the fastest-selling Tales game in the series to date. It’s testament to just how starved we are these days for good RPGs, and it makes this review, just a few short weeks after release, seem awfully redundant. I have to hope there are many years worth of more players who will come across this, just needing that extra push either for or against, and an excuse to believe in RPGs again.
Bandai Namco’s Tales Of series has a rich history of gorgeous colourful JRPGs, from Symphonia on the Gamecube which started my love of the series, to the wildly popular Vesperia on the Xbox 360; titles like Phantasia, Eternia, Destiny and Abyss, each and every adventure is always brimming with heart, wonderful characters, intricate politics and epic narratives. It’s hard to believe but it’s been 25 years since Phantasia first debuted on the SNES and Bandai Namco have marked the occasion with the first new mainline Tales game in five years, the longest period without an entry in that entire time. Tales of Arise is something of a departure for the series, a very soft reboot in the modern era using the Unreal Engine, eschewing tired tropes that have carried the series for decades, and updating the core mechanics in the wake of modern hardware.
This is the first Tales game for current-gen consoles, and the first to truly look like it belongs in the generation it’s in. But looks aren’t everything. A great RPG has to have an epic story, wonderful characters and a deep combat system that’ll last you the dozens of hours necessary to reach the end. Does Tales Of Arise have all these things? Yeah, and then some.
In true Tales fashion, two planets, so close as to be visible in each other’s skies, come into contact in the most violent of ways (seriously, this setup is in at least three other games). Dahna, the larger bountiful planet is subjugated by Rena, the smaller, more technologically advanced planet. The Renan’s have ruled for 300 years in Dahna – the perfect premise for a rebellion against an oppressive empire story, which is the bones of the best JRPGs.
In tried and tested JRPG tradition the huge and evil Renan empire subjugate and enslave the Dahnans, and it’s time to fight back. To make things worse, the empire enslaves the Dahnans in order to siphon Astral energy off them, all in the name of a spectacularly cruel game of thrones – out of five realms and five lords, the one who harvests the most astral energy, and therefore who has caused the most hurt and pain – gets crowned the next Emperor. In a nice Assassin’s Creed twist, there isn’t one big bad but five, all of which you’ll need to hunt down and kill throughout the game.
Tales games, and RPGs in general, are as strong as their characters. You need to care about these folk for dozens of hours after all. Tales of Arise does not disappoint, featuring a heavy-handed style as usual, but a wonderfully diverse cast of six party members. The two leads are as convoluted and conjoined as it’s possible to be, but seriously there’s fodder for about three games in this premise. Alphen, a Dahnan slave, is blessed/cursed to be unable to feel pain. He’s exhaustingly heroic and serves as the main protagonist. Shionne is a ruling class Renan, who is cursed with Thorns, a pain-inducing magic that drops anyone who touches her, leaving her emotionally distant. Of course, Alphen can’t feel that pain, see where I’m going here? It could be a terrible fantasy love story, but it’s epic fantasy instead. Shionne holds a power that she cannot wield, a flaming sword that burns its wielder, powerful enough to overthrow the lords, and only Alphen can hold it. They need each other, and with their opposing cultures, need to learn to accept each other and eventually become friends. They need each in order to have a hope of fighting effectively. The writers have given both leads a debilitating handicap, and then given the cure to the other.
There’s four other party members too; Rinwell, a lovable mage with a secret past and a pet owl; Law, a rash impulsive youth with daddy issues; Kisara, a Dahnan guardian soldier trying to learn how to be her own woman; and Dohalim, a Renan, who to say much more about would verge on spoilers.
The structure of Arise feels different – instead of a world-spanning quest, it’s a continent of despotic Lords to defeat, most of which feel quite close together. Travelling from city to city, liberating the realms one tyrant lord at a time is really rather satisfying. My fights, especially with the second Lord Ganabelt, were often frantic affairs, where I would think I was truly out, only to come back into the fight with some well-timed CP items. It’s testament to the story up to that point, that I had quite a bit of emotional investment in fighting him and taking him down was oh so sweet.
While it’s possible to call the story a little tame, considering it deals with slavery and genocide, it does try – it’s just hampered by the colourful style and lack of blood or shadows and darkness. Genocide looks really odd when no one is even shown getting injured. Alphen also has amnesia which is a hackneyed and boring plot device even when it sets up emotional reveals later in the story. While the premise is certainly cruel, Arise’s attempts to venture into adult theme territory remain pedestrian and tonally dissonant.
That said there are some great moments throughout the story. Each realm is almost its own episode, and some were exceptionally intricate, such as the third realm. There are enough twists to make it satisfying, especially to Tales fans. One early cool scene, when Alphen first wields Shionne’s flaming sword, literally comes about by him pulling it from her chest. This made me think of the really retro Tales games, where magic was a bit more dangerous.
Put Tales of Arise next to any of the previous entries in the series and the difference is stark. Arise is a gorgeous anime beauty on current-gen consoles, using the Unreal Engine to great effect. Much like Scarlet Nexus earlier this year (check out our review), Arise uses a sort of soft-focus cel-shading to make it look like an anime come to life. Check out any trailer to see what I mean.
It seriously sets it apart as a kind of soft reboot for the series. That said, a lot of tried and tested Tales formulas are here, just mostly done better than in the past.
Skits are back, for example, enhanced and re-worked. Instead of the oft-used still anime faces bantering during the long adventuring, Arise replaces these with a kind of half animated, half visual-novel style. It’s similar in many ways to the comic book style that Bandai Namco employed in Scarlet Nexus. They’re also quite a bit better written than they have been in the past, more punchy and relevant, revealing lore and character, rather than just bantering about nothing like they often used to be.
The map system is also top class, and puts a lot of RPGs, with their forced back-tracking and hidden secrets, to shame. Every map is accessible from the point you earn it, you can fast travel to any map already unlocked at almost any time. Haven’t got the CP necessary for the boss? Fast travel out, rest up, and then fast travel back into the fray again (there are a couple of times this isn’t possible). It also makes questing a breeze. Every item, battle, boss, or person of interest in a quest is mapped and you can fast travel between them – quests can be completed in moments, leaving you the spoils and more importantly, time to carry on with the story. Good thing really, because they are incredibly boring for the most part. Go-here-kill-this, or fetch-this-item quests, quests are made frustratingly necessary because they are by far the most effective way to earn skill points, exp and money.
There are some quests, often just sending you straight back into a dungeon you’ve just cleared, that require you to defeat a large enemy. These are often high-health attack sponges, but completing them nets you permanent CP upgrades, which is really essential.
I’ve mentioned CP twice now without explaining what it is, and just before we talk about combat is the right place. One of Tales of Arise’s most unique systems, CP or Cure points, is a kind of shared magical currency for each dungeon, or at least until you next rest. Only a few rare items restore it.
Think of this shared points pool as a group MP dump. Any healing or buff spell will deplete the overall stock, and when there are no more healing points left, you are in big trouble. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced an RPG that had a shared system like this, and it’s certainly interesting. Whether I’d ask for it back again in a sequel or another Tales game, I’m not sure. There were multiple times I found myself fine for CP as I navigated a dungeon, only to run out before the end. As I said earlier, you can just fast travel in and out, but doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose? You’ll want the full total available when you tackle one of the tough bosses for sure.
Lastly for CP, annoyingly some character’s field actions, such as removing a barrier in a dungeon, or healing a slave, deplete your CP! Meaning you then have the added headache of running it out all the faster in pursuit of items and secrets. Your goodwill towards others negatively affects your survival in dungeons.
The rest of the combat system will be familiar to a Tales fan, but it’s also new and more fluid than in previous entries. Again, if you’ve recently played Scarlet Nexus, you’ll notice a mirror system or two (it’s like those two games were developed concurrently or something).
You have a basic attack, a dodge move, and three of the staple Tales Artes, power moves that you can spam. You have a constantly replenishing supply of points for using these, unlike in previous entries where this has often been very much a limited supply. You can switch from Alphen to any of the other characters on the fly at any time during battle. Indeed it means that you essentially have six party members, although the actual system is four who can fight and take damage, and two in support that you can call in.
And the calling in takes the form of the Boost gauge. Boost Gauge allows for everyone to get involved. Each character has a slowly replenishing move that you can use when ready or if you need a particular aid in battle. For example, Shionne can shoot flying enemies out of the sky with her rifle and Law can break through shields and armour to leave enemies temporarily open to attack. The way you call them in works much like Scarlet Nexus’ combo and assault attacks, pressing a face button direction or shoulder button. Each one continues your combo, breaks enemy defenses, and adds to your AG points to keep up your own Artes. It incentivises not spamming one type of attack, but instead to switch between all of them, cycle through and make the most of them.
I mention breaking enemies, and there is a sort of defense system, that once broken allows you to pummel the crap out of a monster for a short time. Deft management of this is essential. A small diamond shape will fill when you are break defence, and when full if you hit the face arrows, you get a randomly assigned assault move, far more powerful than usual attacks, and usually enough to finish the enemy. The lead character can build up their own meter and then have an ultra mode for a few moments, and a super-powerful move at the end of it, although this is often punishingly hard to pull off, due to needing a double button prompt at the same moment as an Arte hits.
The soundtrack of Tales of Arise is composed by series veteran Motoi Sakuraba. He has been the composer behind all the mainline Tales games, but also the Star Ocean series, Valkyrie Profile, and the Dark Souls games. The music throughout Tales of Arise is stirring and accomplished, especially the theme song that was covered by Lindsey Sterling at Opening Night Live last month. While there aren’t that many tracks that are all that memorable, the soundtrack is lush and vibrant and because of his pedigree, sounds just like a Tales game.
In general, I found the voiceover artist’s work throughout the game to be fantastic, six very strong performances for the party members, and a number of great supporting cast. Some of the villain’s voices left a bit to be desired, unhinged and manic and often a little ridiculous. If you play other RPG series you will likely notice the staple set of voiceover artists such as Patrick Seitz who voices Dogi in the Ys games and Olberic in Octopath Traveller, and Ray Chase who voiced Neir in Replicant, and Genchiro Ashina in Sekiro, and Erica Lindbeck who plays Futaba in Persona 5 and Jessie in FF7 Remake. In short, it’s an accomplished and respected group of voice actors and the story’s in good hands.
While Tales of Arise does a lot of things right there are some issues. The skill tree where you spend those hard-earned Skill points is dull, confusing and lifeless. Based on you achieving certain, generally unexplained titles (which is an old Tales staple), you then receive an emblem, a skill or stat upgrade, and a little set of five others you can spend points on. For the most part, these just come whenever with no discernible reasoning – while a couple are explained such as cooking 10 meals. While some things are Artes and Skills which are very useful, others are such tiny stat increases, and to such strange places, as to seem not worth your time. Rare is the Attack up, defense up etc, that you might want and expect. It’s also designed in a very lifeless way, just a simple grid of these emblems you have to sort through.
Another issue I had was that despite the uplift seen in character models and locations using the new engine, the same cannot be said for the rest of the NPCs, even ones you spend a good deal of time with. They have bland, almost expressionless faces that make them look like they come from a different game, only a few stages on from a Mii. Animation on NPCs and also generally in the Skits is very stilted and could have been a lot more engaging. The colour palette is also very bright, lacking much in the way of shadow and contrast.
Tales of Arise continues the series track record of fun, emotional tales, with wonderful characters, and a generally easily absorbed plot that will keep you moving to the end. It’s relatively surface-level and rarely features the kind of depth you might expect in a more seasoned RPG, like Final Fantasy 7 Remake or Persona 5. When it does go deep, it’s tonally jarring to deal with dark themes such as slavery and genocide without the realism necessary to portray them accurately. It’s hard to show the reality of brutal labour and slavery without any blood or wounds, and a colour palette that doesn’t involve anywhere near enough darkness or contrast. The reality of the situation is largely handled off-screen and left to your imagination.
That said, Tales of Arise is a markedly more adult game than its predecessors that takes a massive step forward for a franchise that was starting to seem stale. It also evolves the combat system further than ever before, streamlines masses of the more boring content although without removing it entirely, and modernises Tales gimmicks, like skits, into content more accessible for all. It’s a shame this meant a dumbed-down skill tree, and almost nothing available in stat manipulation.
But maybe that’s where this Tales shines. It’s straightforward, you know what you’re getting. Arise is an evolution, full of quality-of-life updates and a more adult story that is sure to bring on new fans, but it also doesn’t change anything so dramatically as to alienate its existing ones. Many of those fans have grown up with the series, and the more adult tone makes me feel the series has grown up with them. It’s accessible and a sudden jump in quality, a lot like Tales of Symphonia was on Gamecube – massively expanding Tales’ reach, and rising from a stagnant period. With Tales of Arise and Scarlet Nexus in one year, Bandai Namco are basically on fire.
With a beautiful new style, a more adult narrative, wonderful characters, and a modernised tone and feel, Tales of Arise brings the franchise smashing into the current era. It’s still got the tried-and-true Tales flavour, both good and bad, yet innovates with fluid combat that feels fresh. The best and most essential Tales game in well over a decade.
Tales of Arise is available now on PS4, PS5 (review platform), Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X and PC via Steam.
Developer: Bandai Namco Publisher: Bandai Namco
Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.
If you enjoyed this article or any more of our content, please consider our Patreon.
A gameplay summary trailer has landed for Tales of Arise, ahead of its full release on September 10th for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X and PC.
Safe to say the anticipation has been slowly building ever since the release date was revealed, and our own Toby has been chomping at the bit to get his hands on the full game.
Two planets visible in each other’s skies, two civilisations colliding in war and political upheaval, and two heroes, Shionne and Alphen, who must forge a path to peace. One world Rena is far more technologically advanced than the other, Dahna, and treats it’s people as slaves.
Every Tales game gives it’s battle system a new name, and with the Linear Motion Battle System, the much-beloved Tales combat is back.
We’ve got a ton of coverage on the game on this site so if you want to catch up with hit all follow the link right here.
RPG Trailer Fix time and it’s been a packed week – new vids from Scarlet Nexus, Biomutant and Nier Replicant releasing today! Plus Tales of Arise has a release date this year! So let’s get into them without further ado.
Scarlet Nexus
So first up a new look at Scarlet Nexus’ battle system and exploration gameplay. You get a real feel for the psychokinetic powers in this straight gameplay footage, that hasn’t really come across in the trailers. I also love the anime-style flash to Kasane’s face when she unleashes particular attacks. To be honest pounding enemies over the head with a spinning chandelier looks like great fun!
Nier Replicant
Neir Replicant is out today (23rd April) and the accolades trailer has come in. Reviews across the board seem to praise its heartfelt story and lament its 11 year old quest design. All are agreed though, this is the best way to experience the game that then spawned Nier Automata. Check out the launch trailer below.
Biomutant
Next up is Biomutant – an openworld RPG populated by cute little anthro critters, this is coming to PS4 and Xbox One on May 25th. The new trailer showcases the incredibly beautiful world of the game, and its unique style and feel. It manages to make the game look wonderfully peaceful and majestic in between the crazy kungfu and mechs. Take a look below.
Tales Of Arise
Finally we have a double whammy of Tales of Arise. First a release date trailer (see our full story here) but the video below also shows the gorgeous special editions that some fans might be able to get their hands on. Preordering nets you some cool winger costumes and accessories for the two leads, Shionne and Alphen, as well as some recipes. The Digital Deluxe version comes with 8 costumes for all members of your team, while the ultimate edition comes with another 18 or more costumes from school-themed, to going to the beach, to samurai flavour. We hope you like costumes!
Then there’s the Hootle Edition, with soundtrack, metal case, stickers, Hootle Plush, collectors box, art prints and artbook, as well as masses of in games content for Hootle. And finally the Collector’s Edition, with Soundtrack, artbook, steelbook, and an exclusive 18cm figurine, plus all the digital content from the Ultimate version.
Secondly, just below you’ll find a seven-minute gameplay showcase, which really demonstrates how different this Tales Of entry is going to be and how fluid and up-to-date that battle system looks.
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Could it be that we were right about the end of the Tales retrospective that Bandai Namco has been having on Youtube for the last few months? A Tales of Arise release date? Well, yes as it happens.
The trailer below dropped today, revealing the release date as September 10th 2021 in the West, just one day after Japan gets the game. This gives Bandai Namco some breathing room after the release of Scarlet Nexus on June 25th, and it gives us time to play it. Also in the announcement, Tales of Arise is confirmed for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X as well as PS4 and Xbox One. Check out the trailer below.
For a little story context, this is meant to be a darker take on the Tales Of formula. Two planets co-exist in each other’s skies (a motif seen in a number of previous entries) but one planet Rena, rules over all of the other, the subjugated Dahna. Arise stars two unlikely allies from both sides of the conflict who must work together to free Dahna from tyranny. Shionne is a Renan who inflicts pain on those she touches, and Alphen is a Dahnan slave who feels no pain. Expect a larger team, including at least the mage and the martial artist seen in the trailer, and a quest to liberate an entire planet. We can’t wait!
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A number of trailers dropped while we were putting together the first of this list, so now, here they are all together. Your RPG Trailer Fix! If you like your RPGs, then 2021 has a great variety coming your way, with recent trailers below. Also check out our list of forthcoming 2D RPGs on Switch.
Fantasian
Diorama adventure RPG Fantasian wowed the world this week with multiple trailers showing a beautiful and literally handcrafted world, and some incredible looking RPG action courtesy of the Final Fantasy creator, and Mistwalker lead, Hironobu Sakaguchi. Try not to salivate too much. Also its exclusive (for now) to Apple Arcade!
Monster Hunter Stories 2
Monster Hunter Stories 2 is a standalone RPG set in the Monster Hunter franchise universe, featuring an original story and RPG mechanics. This lovely trailer dropped yesterday – check it out. We’re getting major Grandia, and Breath of the Wild vibes from this and if you look at nothing else today – *!Baby Rathalos!*
Also of note, Monster Hunter Stories 2 is now coming to PC via Steam, as well as Switch, and the Switch version now has Amibos (if you’re into that sort of thing) that come with in-game bonuses. And of course the release date – both versions are set to release July 9th 2021 worldwide.
Tales of Arise
This is more a teaser for a trailer-coming-soon than a full trailer, promising more news on the long-gestating RPG from Bandai Namco during the Tales Of Festival – a game that many thought was no longer in development. It’s possible this answers the question we posed about BNamco’s series of Tales retrospective trailers and what they are leading up to – A Tales of Arise release date, we think.
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Arise – A Simple Story is an effective story of one’s journey through loss, from beginning to the very end. The Finger Guns Review.
You’ll be hard pressed to find anything ground-breaking in a puzzle adventure game in 2022. A lack of innovation doesn’t mean that a puzzle adventure game can’t be brilliant however. That said, there is something different about Arise. It takes something akin to wizardry to provide virtually no backstory and still evoke a plethora of metaphor and emotion. Arise does just that.
Arise kicks off at the end. Someone’s end at least. I know, that’s weird to say, but it’s true. All the player is shown is a funeral of some sort; A man on a wooden platform with what is assumed to be their family saying their last goodbye. No further information is given at this point, and really none is needed. Your next few minutes within Arise finds the lead character on a snowy mountain.
Nature vs Nurture
Arise – A Simple Story is a collection of metaphors depicting this characters’ life. The character the player will assume is an old looking fella dressed almost Nordic in fashion. As the game walks through a small tutorial, you are able to manipulate the environment around them, starting with snow and grass. The more snow on the ground, the higher you may be able to reach. Icy slabs will appear in the water when snow is on the ground, but with more grass these will disappear, either blocking or unlocking your path forward.
As you explore your surroundings, little beams of light will catch your eye. Collecting these open up sketched memories unfolding more of the story. In the first ‘chapter’ this starts in the beginning. A picture really does tell a thousand words in this case. The small snapshots into this man’s journey manages to capture emotion, depth and context, all on a very small stone slab. Immediately there is an idea of isolation, loneliness and sadness.
Each ‘chapter’ eventually uncovers a title giving the player context of what the memories may be describing. In the first chapter as an example, we discover the chapter ‘She’. One of feeling isolated, alone, until someone notices him and love starts to blossom.
A Walk to Remember
The chapters are essentially large hub levels, feeling huge and almost with no limit to the player. You will of course do this in a linear way, but where you go and how fast you travel in that level is up to you. You can absolutely beeline it to the end, but doing this would mean you miss out on the wonderful exploration and joy of collecting the memories. Explore off the beaten track and you unravel more of the story and add detail that will eventually tug on heartstrings rewarding you with story richness.
Memories around the hub levels are sparse and not always easy to find. Some require a little insight or exploration for you to walk on over too, or even manipulate water, or using wind to traverse among platforms. However, as you progress through the game, these memories will take some ‘soul searching’. They are not so obvious to the eye, and there really is clever placement as you come near the end. Some may even require losing a life or two to just collect. Technically, you can ‘die’ in Arise – A Simple Story, but the game saves extremely frequently and you’ll be placed back to moments before you perhaps drowned or fell of a giant sunflower.
Visually the design and style is whimsical, very playful and full of bright hues. Each chapter almost has its own colour palette to play with too. Take from this what you will, but for me, it really seemed as if this was reflecting the emotion or the tone of memory being shared. I don’t want to sit here and spoil the themes and details of each chapter, as that would ruin the wonderful magic of the storytelling that Arise contains. However, to give an example, chapters that had big overarching themes of love, would be saturated with reds and pinks. It seems obvious, but actually this is only really caught when noticing that, not only are you collecting this guy’s memories, but you’re also embodying his journey and emotion from those memories through use of one giant metaphor of the chapter.
One thing that was unexpected was chapters eventually touching upon difficult themes, like themes of loss and death. Arise tastefully and respectfully encapsulates the feelings one may have of this, making it all too relatable for some people who may have encountered those feelings.
Each chapter took me approximately 20 minutes to complete. There is no map and no way to know how many memories you may have missed but once finishing a chapter you end up back in the hub world. The hub world takes place on a mountain with extremely satisfying crunchy snow and fun trails to make (such a kid, yes of course I made rude shapes in the snow). Luckily once in the hub world on the mountain, you will get a tally and total of how many memories you have collected for that chapter. You then have the option to return to collect all memories.
Forget Me Not
Within each chapter, the character can manipulate a unique aspect of that environment. At first it’s snow, but this will eventually move to really creative aspects such as wind direction, blossoming plants and water to name but a few. One thing I eventually noticed is that nothing is repeated or feels repetitive moving from chapter to chapter. With many puzzle adventures you’ll find the same kind of palette or background, or if the character does have a power it will be the same throughout. You can expect something different within every chapter, even down to puzzle mechanics.
Each puzzle largely revolves around the movement and traversal of the level and collecting memories. There’s nothing too ground-breaking in that department, but again, expect something different within every single chapter as nothing is repeated.
On the Switch, Joycons will react to your death or any impact you may make. Whether this be because you thumped on the ground, or knocked a tree down by pulling it with your grapple. The jump button can be a little enthusiastic at times and over reaches my desired destination, but this isn’t too much of a problem.
Something that I did notice was that some puzzles require quick reaction times, sometimes jumping quickly or stopping time to be able to use height to your advantage. I did find that the reaction time to my button presses wasn’t as quick as I liked at times but this isn’t infuriating to the point you want to stop the game.
Interestingly the loading screen just was not my friend. Everytime I loaded in and out of chapters there would be a blank light blue screen with a ripple loading effect. Seconds later everything would freeze, all sound would stop and all motion would stop until I was loaded into the chapter. It was really odd but I’m putting it down to my Switch being on its way out!
Flashbulb Memory
Overall, Arise – A simple Story is a wonderful storytelling achievement from Untold Tales. Miles here at Finger Guns HQ is jokingly dubbed their biggest fan within our team, and I can see why. I am totally sold on the Untold Tales ride! Arise takes approximately 3-4 hours to complete, perhaps longer if you are searching for every piece of the puzzle.
There are some incredibly poignant moments of the story I wish I could gush about in here, from the gut reactions that it evoked to the journey of thoughts that followed. At first, this colourful, joyful crunchy snowed adventure has you thinking that this is all it will be. There is so much more to it than that, and I never expected it to tell or depict some of the memories it did, in the way that it did. It was so delicate and yet at the same time elicits such intense feelings.
Arise – A Simple Story contains a beautifully told story within a charming puzzle adventure. With poignant moments and joyful visuals, this game has the ability to capture a breadth of emotion with ease. It’s a short but worthy edition to narrative driven puzzle games.
Arise – A Simple Story is available now on the Switch (review platform) PS4, and Xbox One.
Developer: Piccolo Studio Publisher: Untold Tales
Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.
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December 2020 marks 25 years since the very first Tales of RPG from Namco – nowadays Bandai Namco. In a wonderful Youtube celebration, they have been releasing retrospective trailers for each of the main series games that have come out over those last decades. You can check them out in order below, and get a nostalgic arrow to the heart as you remember just how wonderful they were back on the SNES and original PlayStation. We guess it will continue on right up to the more modern classics.
But it’s got us thinking. Is there a culmination to these videos? A final trailer reveal for something? The Tales of advent will run out in a few weeks, and then what happens at the end? We’ve had a good look back at the series, and here are some ideas –
A release date for Tales Of Arise
It’s been four years since the last mainline entry, and the next, Tales of Arise, was slated for 2020, but never had a firm release date. Just last week the 25th Anniversary stream confirmed that Tales of Arise was not only still happening, but in the final stages of development. Will we see the final video be a brand new trailer for Tales Of Arise, and a release date in 2021?
Re-releases and Remakes
In this modern era of remakes, Bandai Namco have not really made much of the Tales history they have. But go back a decade or so and there were remakes of some of the earliest games like the beautiful remake of Tales of Destiny. Could the reveal at the end be a Remake of a classic? And which one?
Western Localisations
Despite its popularity in the West, the Tales series still has a number of entries that never made it to western shores, and some that made it to the US, but not Europe. Tales of Legendia never got to Europe, and Tales of Destiny Remake, Tales of Destiny 2, Tales of Innocence, Rebirth and Tempest are all only available in Japan. Could it be an announcement of the western localisation of one of these lost Tales?
Tales of Collections
Continuing that theme, and circling back to 25 years of Tales Of, what we really hope for is that Bandai Namco release a large number of the early and mid-era games as a collection in western territories. A collection of Phantasia, both the Destiny games, Tales of Eternia (Destiny 2 in the US) and Tales of Rebirth would be a sure-fire hit. You get the series newcomers with four or five games in one, and hook the lifelong fans with Rebirth and Destiny that they’ve never been able to play. They could also do a mid-era collection with Symphonia, Legendia, Abyss, Tempest and Innocence, again releasing classics, with sought-after new localisations. Or all the DS only titles in one collection on Switch (Tempest, Innocence, Hearts). Finally they could also give us the HD remasters of more modern titles in one package, such as Vesperia, Graces, Xillia, Zestiria, and Berseria.
The history of Tales is ripe for something new and there could be plenty of delving into the back-catalogue. What do you think will come when we reach the end of the Tales of advent? Let us know in the comments.
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Like a leisurely Geometry Wars, Sparkle 4 Tales is beautiful but benign. The Finger Guns Review.
Making its debut on the Xbox platform, Sparkle 4 Tales is the fourth instalment in Forever Entertainment’s Sparkle series, a franchise about micro-organisms and growth. Probably best summarised as a top-down exploration game with some very light combat mechanics, it sees you take control of a Sparkle of Life, a tiny living organism, tasked with nothing more than finding a way to grow.
To begin with, this involves nothing more than swimming around primordial waters and looking for things to eat. Do that often enough and – surprise, surprise – you’ll grow a little bigger (…oh, grow up). As you do, and you gradually become a more powerful entity, the game then begins to open up a little more, introducing some light story elements, fed to you by your invisible guide, The Creator.
As you progress through the game, growing ever more powerful, you’ll soon be joined by a group of allies – fellow organisms that will help you to scoop up more things to eat, whilst also serving as something of a moving shield, as you begin to encounter bad organisms that represent the game’s big bad – The Void.
These encounters serve as one of the game’s big setpieces, but are very simple in execution. You and your army are tasked with attempting to vanquish a number of large boss organisms – you do this by using your drones to stun them, before you then ram them to cause damage. They’re not overly taxing though, which is very much in keeping with the overall vibe, but I did find myself wishing they presented more of a challenge than they do.
The game’s other big setpieces are short into-the-screen sections, which reminded me of the bonus stages from Sonic The Hedgehog 2, oddly enough. You have to navigate fast-moving and narrow tunnel-like arenas in which you gather orbs that help you to power up. They serve as a nice change of pace from the more deliberate feel of the main game, and I’d have liked to have seen a few more parts that mixed up the gameplay like this.
Now, if this all sounds a little dry, that’s because – for the most part – it unfortunately is. Partly because of its gentle pace and partly because of the vague, nebulous nature of its story, Sparkle 4 Tales is a game that often feels like it’s not really going anywhere. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but when you give your game a suffix like Tales, it just feels like it should have more in the way of purpose.
As a result, almost all of the appeal to Sparkle 4 Tales is of an aesthetic nature. It’s actually a very nice looking game, with particularly pretty models for all of the organisms, which quickly grow into elaborate, colourful, almost butterfly-like creatures, serving as a nice contrast to the more muted tones of the play area.
In some ways, it almost feels like a music visualiser with some gameplay elements tacked on. And, to be very clear, that is not a universally bad thing – I’ve been a fan of music visualisers since the original Playstation days – and I’d be lying if I said there weren’t parts of Sparkle 4 Tales that gave me little micro doses of dopamine at times.
The soundtrack, for example, is excellent. The whole thing has a kind of chill and New Earth-y vibe for the most part – all melancholy string and ethereal piano – with occasional moments of dread and foreboding (although, if I’m being honest, those moments of musical suspense were rarely ever quite matched by what was happening on the screen). Similarly, the sound effects are very pleasant, especially those that pop as you collect the various pieces of ephemera dotted around the world.
However, ultimately, this is a game and has to be judged as such. Sadly, this is where Sparkle 4 Tales falls down. If the story was a little more engaging, if the gameplay evolved more than it does through its runtime, if the stakes felt a little higher? Maybe there would be enough here to justify the outlay. As it is, it’s a title that’s difficult to recommend, especially if you’ve played any of its predecessors, because it’ll all begin to feel a little too familiar a little too quickly.
Controlling like a more leisurely-paced Geometry Wars, Sparkle 4 Tales is a languid affair which could have used a little more focus and drive to make it something you’ll want to stick with until the end. As it is, it’s an aesthetically pleasant experience that I struggled to care about after the first thirty minutes.
Sparkle 4 Tales is available now on Xbox One (reviewed on an Xbox Series S via Backwards Comparability), Nintendo Switch and PC.
Developer: MegaPixel Studio Publisher: Forever Entertainment
Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.
If you enjoyed this article or any more of our content, please consider our Patreon.
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