Tales of Xillia Remastered Review, Gameplay Impressions, Videos and Features

Tales of Xillia Remastered from Namco is the latest modernized re-release as the iconic Tales series continues to reassert itself in modern times.

A PlayStation 3 classic from 2011 Tales of Xillia was long overdue for a remaster effort. The fun tweaks to the Tales battle systems and some really heartfelt characters and moments have kept Xillia up there with the likes of Tales of Symphonia for a long, long time. 

Like the recent Tales of Graces F Remastered, Xillia is a remaster, not a remake. The challenge for the release, then, is to smoothly modernize in important ways while retaining the spirit of the original. 

If past efforts to bring the Tales series up to date are any sign, Xillia will be the latest to accomplish the task with some impressive fluidity. 

Graphics and Gameplay

Xillia, like Graces earlier in 2025, doesn't go overboard trying to remake the visual aspect of this classic. 

Part of that is because the classic looked so good to begin with, as the colorful, expressive effort spans all sorts of locales, characters and interesting backdrops across a big world. Impressive, considering terms like 2011 and PS3, right?

Even so, this remaster makes sure to sprinkle on some new-horsepower upgrades, with resolution and overall image quality getting a bump while running at a silky-smooth 60 frames per second. 

The overarching sound design and perfectly fitting soundtrack is true to form here, though all these years later, comes with an almost retro vibe that feels great. 

At the time of its release, Xillia was interesting for mixing up the standard gameplay loop of the series and overall. Linking two characters together during battle opened up Linked Artes, a souped-up version of standard Artes. 

That fun twist remains and even in near-2026, keeps the tension of a battle properly high as players manage aggression and the Overlimit Gauge to make it all work. 

It's still as fun as it was back in 2011, running around and doing the usual attack and block combos while synergizing with teammates to loop in factors like spells and buffs/debuffs. Now it looks better and, more importantly, is more responsive, with the improved FPS really bringing the combat system to life. 

It helps that there is some nice enemy variety and some memorable bosses peppered throughout the experience. It won't be for everyone and might not be every player's favorite Tales combat system, but the fine control over party combos and this sudden speed boost to the whole thing makes it chart pretty highly in the series, regardless. 

Xillia throws out a host of must-have modernized upgrades, including objective markers and an autosave feature. There's also a sprint toggle now, too, mercifully speeding up some of those lower bits of exploration. Players can just turn off field encounters, too. 

These are modernization, yes, but also targeted things that smooth over some complaints about the original game. Back in the day, backtracking slowly through pretty bland areas and snoozing through repetitive field battles were issues. 

Now? Mercifully, things of the past, and the entire experience is better for it. 

Story and more 

As one might expect, a JRPG released in 2011 does some very JRPG-like things with its narrative. 

Simply put and as spoiler-free as possible, the two countries within Rieze Maxia attempt to one-up each other and players assume control of dual protagonists Jude Mathis and Milla Maxwell. Standard story beats that act as a nice vehicle to explore the world and take part in battles ensue. 

Characters are really the highlight, as expected with Tales. They have distinct personalities and goals and, perhaps more important than anything else, bounce off each other really well and create some memorable moments that keep players invested. 

The same slowish pace to the narrative and shrug-worthy sidequests remain. They classified as such even back in 2011, so it's really a mark in the game's favor that things like sprinting have been implemented to ease that burden a little. 

Generally speaking, progression flows through an experience points system on an ever-expanding grid that includes stats and skill upgrades, new Artes and more. 

By far the biggest quality-of-life change in the entire package, though, thankfully, arrives in the progression area. 

Players have access to the Grade Shop from the moment they open the game, meaning a feature that was previously tucked behind New Game+ is now right there for the using. 

There, players can make all sorts of tweaks to the experience, including gameplay modifiers and the amount of gains in areas like experience points and currencies. 

Alongside a nice suite of options of the modern variety comes the obvious strong tech performance on modern hardware, something Graces already nailed down well earlier this year, so it was both mandatory and obviously coming here. 

Conclusion 

On its own, Tales of Xillia holds up well these days despite the thousands of games it helped inspire over the years. The gameplay is fun, progression is deep and the characters are heartfelt and memorable. 

Where this remaster really excels is in the mindful upgrades that modernize the experience, yet keep its soul intact. They're little things like sprinting, optional battles and the ability to tweak progression from an endgame menu now fully unlocked at launch, yet mandatory. It would be tough to recommend Tales of Xillia without these adjustments. 

A classic reviewed and renewed, Xilla has some impressive staying power near the top of a super-crowded JRPG space, letting fans of the genre tack another on a backlog list that classifies as a great problem to have.