Let’s find out together, in this dedicated review, whether and how much it might be worth playing the Tales of Arise DLC, Beyond the Dawn, more than two years after the base game: let’s resurrect Alphen and Shionne
Do you remember Tales of Arise? More than two years have passed since we had the opportunity to analyze the “base” game developed by Bandai Namco, in a dedicated review that you can reach by clicking here. Did you feel the need for a DLC? We can already imagine your answer: after all this time? Without necessarily mentioning Harry Potter, we could also agree with you if it weren’t for that We really liked Tales of Arise. And so being able to have a little more has particularly intrigued us, since the announcement trailer. Titled Beyond the Dawn, the Tales of Arise DLC has recently arrived on all platforms and we’ll tell you about it in this review. Welcome, or rather, welcome back!
Returns welcome | Tales of Arise DLC review
Let’s start by saying that there will be spoilers in this review, because this DLC, Beyond the Dawn, is set about a year after the conclusion of Tales of Arise, so be careful if you haven’t yet seen how Alphen and Shionne’s adventure ends. If you have completed it, you will remember (perhaps because we had to resume a summary given the time that has passed) how the two heroes finally managed to defeat the Great Spirit and reunite the worlds of Rena and Dahna, in a desperate attempt to put an end to the interracial discrimination that gave a thematic basis to all the events of the base game.
Instead of the always welcome “and they all lived happily ever after”, however, a year later we find our people traveling to search for and “close” the mausoleums that appeared in the new united world following the merger. Mausoleums whose function we will understand as the DLC continues, but whose exploration is the backdrop to more pressing problems for the inhabitants of the new world. If, in fact, the ultimate goal of Alphen, Shionne and company was to bring together all human beings under the same aegis, without interruption, in the New World everyone looks at each other with distrust, still separated by centuries-old distinctions in habits, perspectives and ways of living.
Nazamiru-chan | Review Tales of Arise DLC
The new protagonist of the DLC, Nazamil, is the daughter of a Rhenish Lord and a woman from Dahna, therefore despised by both factions and has the power to make herself invisible according to her will. What better human case to add to our wonderful group of friends? Scounted and banal as a choice, as is the narrative of Beyond the Dawn, which is appreciable exclusively for the themes that take up the base game (the already mentioned racism, in particular) and, perhaps, the ending. Otherwise, there’s nothing particularly exciting about Beyond the Dawn.
Not even the secondary missions are able to revive a sad fate of what has already been seen and experienced, although they succeed to certainly give a greater view of the New World, through simple fetch quests, searches for missing people and Zeugles to defeat and a long list of long dialogues full of superfluous words, but still in-depth, albeit minimal. Not even the main characters are explored in depth, there are no new particular and exciting twists, nothing special: everything is already well supported by the base game and, in fact, it was fine that way.
No news, anywhere | Tales of Arise DLC review
Even from the gameplay point of view there is nothing new, on the contrary. If you completed the game with characters at maximum level, you will receive a nice overall downgrade that will take you to experience level 75 and with two-thirds of abilities locked, even though you may have already purchased them in the base game. A way like any other to rebalance the game after two years, even if, we must admit, we spent at least an hour running in to get back to grips with the controller and the basic mechanics. It’s been way too long, we’re old, you know.
What is also completely unchanged is the technical and graphic sector, as well as the maps of the world that we find ourselves exploring, recycled one by one with few details different from the base game. The new dungeons that have been added, the Mausoleums, are nothing particularly inspired, not even by design. The only thing we found pleasant was picking up the Tales of Arise combat system, which works just as well as it did two years ago. And it’s still terribly funny.
Shionne is always a waifu
We have nothing else to say about Tales of Arise DLC, Beyond the Dawn, in this review. If you are a fan of the base game, you can also think about buying it, but start from the assumption that you will not be faced with a real expansion, but rather simple additional content that aims to stretch the broth a bit and squeeze out a bit of plus one of the most successful chapters from the series. If you can put aside the fact that there’s absolutely nothing new, you’ll still find yourself with a dozen new hours of Tales of Arise, with the gameplay of Tales of Arise and the fun that comes from it.
Tales of Arise, and its DLC, is currently available on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S and Xbox One. Let us know what you think below in the comments and Stay tuned with us at techgameworld.com for all the news, guides and reviews on gaming and tech topics!
Points in favor
- Everything we liked about Tales of Arise is there…
- Possibility to discover the world after the canonical ending
Points against
- …but there is nothing new
- Banal and obvious narrative
- Repetitive and unsatisfying side missions