Finally Bringing The Tale to Xbox
I am not always a fan of a Remaster, as I’d quite like some new games to come out, if you don’t mind! Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, usually when the remaster in question is of a game that I loved the first time around, or when they are of games that didn’t appear on the Xbox upon original release.
This leads me neatly to the subject of today’s review, Tales of Berseria Remastered. Releasing on PlayStation 3 and 4, as well as PC, back in 2016, it has finally been released for the Xbox Series consoles by D.A.G Inc and Bandai Namco. Interestingly, I’ve checked my backlog and this is the first Tales game I’ve played and given that Tales of Berseria is the 16th in the series, I clearly didn’t think this through.
Still, loving as I do a third person action RPG, I jumped in with a will…
A Demon-Armed Quest for Vengeance
The story of an RPG has to grip you immediately, and here Tales of Berseria Remastered has absolutely zero worries. We follow the tale (see what I did there?) of Velvet, a young girl who lives with her brother, Laphicet, and the husband of her sister, Artorius. One day, Artorius turns out to be a bad guy (no spoilers here) and while attempting to save him, Velvet’s left arm is turned into a demon, which eats other demons. Imprisoned on an island at the behest of Artorius, who now heads a powerful religious organisation, Velvet must escape and have her revenge.
And we have to guide her! I have to say, I’ve really enjoyed following the story through the various twists and turns, and it has certainly kept me playing.
Presentation wise and seeing as this is a 10 year old game, I wasn’t expecting it to look bad, and it certainly doesn’t. Velvet and her companions are both well designed and well fleshed out, and the design of the enemies we fight, from weird blob like things to dragons, is also top notch. The story is told via anime style cutscenes and skits, and these are not only well drawn, but the voice acting is also very good throughout the game. The music and battle effects are also uniformly excellent, and if I could leave it there, things would be fine.
The Remaster Dilemma
However, there is a fly in the ointment. The monsters that we fight are visible on the world map as we run about, so we can choose to engage in a battle or partake in some tactical retreating. However, those monsters sometimes don’t become visible until you are standing on their toes, leading to fights you aren’t necessarily ready for. Ten years ago, graphical pop-in was a thing, but today, in 2026, it shouldn’t be. Why not remaster it out? Still, aside from this, everything else works fine, and the animation of the party, either in battle or even just running about, works very well.
So, how does Tales of Berseria Remastered play, I here you ask? Well, very well is my answer, with again, a couple of caveats.
The game is set in a third person perspective, and the action is split between various locations in the kingdom of Midgand. The locations themselves are quite large, filled with secrets to find, ranging from items scattered around to secret, super strong demons to take down. The gameplay flow is straightforward too, usually focusing on “go to an area, explore thoroughly, get a clue to the next location, rinse and repeat”. I can’t criticise the game for this, as this is the basis of every RPG ever and while we do seem to see a lot of locations more than once, mostly due to some tedious backtracking and a general lack of a fast travel system.
However, there is a system that allows us to warp out of dungeons if required, and this has been a time saver on a number of occasions. Don’t expect to be able to use it all the time though.
Mastering the Combat
Still, constantly battling levels our party up, and it helps that the combat system is a great deal of fun. There are various things to learn about how it works, but fortunately the tutorial system is really good at explaining what we need to do. Basically, various attacks chain together, and particular moves can be chained into one another, once they have been learned. This is helpful as we go through Tales of Berseria Remastered, as certain enemies are weak to certain elements, and rearranging attacks in order to exploit that weakness makes things much easier.
Of course, the opportunity arises to change things up whenever we aren’t fighting, and this flexibility is really interesting. The same can be said for equipment: not only can we buy and find new gear, but it can be broken down and enhanced to improve our damage output.
An Engaging RPG that Deserves Your Time
Add to this various rewards for exploring, such as tiny Katz in chests to find, card games to master and even mini games to play, besides the seemingly never ending skits that allow us to see what the team is thinking, and there is a massive amount of content to go at in Tales of Berseria Remastered.
Yes, Tales of Berseria Remastered isn’t perfect, and visual pop-in is very noticeable, but look beyond this and you’ll find an engaging RPG that deserves your time.
Important Links
Tales of Berseria Remastered Brings a Tale of Vengeance in February 2026 – https://www.thexboxhub.com/tales-of-berseria-remastered-brings-a-tale-of-vengeance-in-february-2026/
Tales of Berseria Remastered Launches Across Xbox, PS5, PC And Switch – https://www.thexboxhub.com/tales-of-berseria-remastered-launches-across-xbox-ps5-pc-and-switch/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/tales-of-berseria-remastered/9P74T0VBF70Q/0010
There’s a Deluxe Edition too – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/tales-of-berseria-remastered-deluxe-edition/9N6GX0FWJDKV/0010
