Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn brings the latest entry in this long-running franchise to the Nintendo Switch 2. It is also considered one of the best games in the Tales series, and because of its advanced visuals and technical demands, an original Switch port always seemed unlikely. With the release of the Switch 2, Bandai Namco has finally brought the game to Nintendo fans, but is this a competent enough port?
To get the biggest disappointment out of the way first, the game is somewhat held back by its performance, running at 30 FPS instead of the 60 FPS available on other platforms. This difference is immediately noticeable if you are coming from the PC or current-generation console versions. Visually, however, the port is quite impressive, closely matching the experience on PS5 and Xbox Series consoles, even while playing in docked mode. At least in terms of visuals, there do not appear to be any major sacrifices aside from the lower performance.
Speaking of the game itself and its story, this version includes both the base game and the Beyond the Dawn expansion, which you can learn more about in our review. The story deals with heavy themes such as slavery, focusing on the oppressed Dahnans and the technologically advanced Renans. At the center of it are the two main leads, who go through strong character development alongside a memorable supporting cast.
The main protagonist is Alphen, who gradually grows closer to Shionne due to unlikely circumstances. As the story progresses, more party members join the group, with each character bringing something unique to the experience. While the story does suffer from pacing issues at times, and the late-game content remains divisive among fans, I still enjoyed its take on the traditional Tales combat system.
Like earlier games in the series, Tales of Arise features a real-time action combat system. Combat revolves around special moves called Artes, which are combined through chained attacks and juggles to keep enemies airborne while avoiding incoming attacks. Each character has their own distinct fighting style, with Alphen focusing on aggressive close-range combat while Shionne specializes in ranged attacks. Party members can also be customized by adjusting their AI behavior.
Because the combat heavily relies on combos, enemies can start to feel overly durable, which makes some encounters less satisfying than they should be. Boss fights are generally more enjoyable, however, as they encourage the entire party to work together and execute powerful combinations.
The game also features semi-open areas, and while it is not fully open world, there is still plenty to explore through towns, dungeons, and other locations. Party members frequently chime in with their own thoughts on the story and ongoing events, which helps keep the journey engaging. There are also optional quests and enemies to take on. Unfortunately, I am not a fan of how the dungeons were designed in this game. Most of them feel like linear corridors without any unique mechanics or ideas to make them stand out. This issue becomes even more noticeable toward the end of the game, where the pacing starts to slow down and repeated enemy encounters become exhausting.
While the base game remains enjoyable despite its late-game pacing issues and flaws, the new DLC expansion feels fairly average overall. In terms of content, there is still a lot to experience, with the base game taking more than 50 hours to complete and the Beyond the Dawn expansion adding roughly another 15 hours. Considering its launch price on Switch 2, it is a worthwhile purchase for fans of action RPGs or the Tales series, though the 30 FPS performance limitation is still disappointing.
The Switch 2 version takes up more than 50 GB of storage, making it one of the larger RPGs available on the hybrid console. While cutscenes run at 60 FPS, gameplay is limited to 30 FPS, and the performance is unfortunately not always stable, with frame drops occurring below the target frame rate. Another technical issue is the noticeable pop-in, which can be distracting while playing in docked mode. Aside from these issues, however, the visuals closely match the PS5 and Xbox Series versions, which I found impressive.
Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn is still a solid port for the Switch 2. Its biggest weakness is performance, and Bandai Namco could have at least attempted to include a 60 FPS performance mode. Other than that, the visuals are excellent and the overall technical quality of the port is strong. For players who have not experienced this latest entry in the series, it offers excellent value, especially since it includes all post-launch updates and DLC with the complete edition, making it a worthwhile package overall.
Tales of Arise: Beyond The Dawn Game Information
- Price: $49.99
- Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment
- Developer: Bandai Namco Studios
- Platform: Switch 2 (Reviewed)
- Disclaimer: A review code was given by the publisher
