Following a major leak that Bandai Namco intended to reveal a new Tales game, the publisher officially announced Tales of Arise at E3 2019. It promises to be the next chapter of the fan-favorite series and looks much sharper than the previous entry, Tales of Berseria. It is powered by Unreal Engine 4 and features an updated battle system that reportedly retains a classic gameplay vibe.

Story-wise, Bandai Namco unveiled a small snippet detailing the overarching narrative of Tales of Arise. At the core of the story are two planets, Dahna and Rena. Dahna reveres Rena, dubbed the planet in the sky, as a land full of the righteous and divine. However, Rena has been stripping resources, dignity, and freedom away from Dahna for some time, and this tale begins with two main characters.

One was born on Dahna, the other on Rena, but they each look to change their fate. That's pretty much all that is currently known about Tales of Arise, but the two characters are presumably the white-haired man and the pink-haired woman shown in the below E3 2019 trailer. However, that's not all that publisher Bandai Namco has in the works.

It was also recently revealed that a four-player Jumanji co-op game is in development, and that will certainly get fans of the movie's attention. The game will feature all the characters from the 2017 film, such as Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson), Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillen), Franklin “Mouse” Finbar (Kevin Heart) and Professor Shelly Oberon (Jack Black). It is set to release later this year, alongside other Bandai Namco-published games like Code Vein, but those interested in picking up Tales of Arise will have to wait until 2020.

Details concerning the release date of Tales of Arise were slim, with the publisher only stating 2020 as its release window. Considering that it is not said to be early 2020, this would suggest a Q2 2020 release at the earliest, though a fall or winter release seems more likely. However, whenever the JRPG does launch on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, it will hopefully live up to the hype it has generated.

Tales of Arise launches in 2020 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

gamerant e3 2019 coverage