Tales of Arise Demo Available on PS5 and Xbox Series X

If you are looking forward to the next Tales game from Bandai Namco, you are in luck! Leading into the games pending launch, fans can jump into a demo of the game, featuring a decent sized area to explore, numerous monsters to battle, and a mini boss fight! We really enjoyed the demo, and wanted to share a few thoughts!

The game looks absolutely gorgeous. Work and care has been put into the enemies, protagonists, and the environments. And it shows. Whats a bit more mystifying, however, is the dialogue in the game. While everything is well written, only some of what you play is voice acted, while other aspects are not. General story dialogue will need to be read, but side conversations between party members are fully voice acted. It’s a strange decision, as so much is actually voiced, but I do believe this is par for the course for Tales titles.

Combat is satisfying, and while the initial tutorials might seem overwhelming, once you get into combat it couldn’t be easier. Taking down massive enemies is immensely satisfying, and combining dozens of hits without your feet touching the ground is memorizing each and every time.

The demo can be completed in under 20 minutes if you choose, but there is tons to enjoy if you take your time. More than a half dozen side conversation can be witnessed, and I noticed at least a dozen unique enemies around the map that could be engaged with. The demo did exactly what I wanted it to do – got me interested in a Tales game, which hasn’t really happened since Tales of Vesperia launched on the Xbox 360. Is it time to launch myself back into the Tales franchise? It seems so.

If you have played the demo, what do you think!? Let us know in the comments below!