Tales of Berseria Remastered Review, Gameplay Impressions, Videos and Top Features

Tales of Berseria Remastered from developer Bandai Namco Studios brings forward a beloved entry in the legendary JRPG series. 

Originally released in 2017, Berseria set itself apart as one of the top entries in the series due to its battle system and compelling characters. It's a spot near the top of the many entries that hasn't moved any, if at all, since. 

Given the state of remasters and remakes sweeping the RPG scene right now, Berseria was an obvious layup as a quick thing Bandai Namco could do for fans. 

As always with such efforts, reception will come down to the balancing of new additions and tweaks against preserving the spirit and feel of the original. 

Graphics and Gameplay

At the original launch, Berseria was quite a looker with its anime-stylized characters and world. The environments were vast and varied with interesting depth, each town or area was lived-in and characters were super expressive during scenes. Battle effects were flashy in the best way, too. 

Now in 2026, Berseria doesn't stand out nearly as much visually. There are seemingly minimal upgrades occurring here. 

That's not necessarily a bad thing or deal-breaker. The real joy of the experience comes from the character interactions and developments in skits. But it's important to point out. 

This effort is souped-up presentation-wise, with technical enhancements that offer 4K resolution on non-Switch next-generation consoles and higher framerates, too. 

One of the more notable updates in this remaster is the addition of destination icons, a quality-of-life thing that helps the presentation package. Ditto for the end of big lists now taking users back up to the very top and vice versa. 

On the gameplay front, one of the most notable tweaks is a boost to overall movement speed and fewer steps to pick up items off the ground. 

Otherwise, the tried-and-true stuff returns here. That's especially true for the great battle system, which varied up the Tales' Linear Motion Battle System (LMBS). Players can dart around the battle zone while controlling the camera, unleash Artes special attacks and manage a Soul Gauge for each character. 

It's a little deeper than that with the expected physical, magical and combo juggling, never mind switches for other members of the four-character parties. But it stands the test of time as enjoyable, to say the least. 

Story and More

The backbone of Berseria is just straight-up JRPG greatness.

In the Holy Midgand Empire, there's a Daemonblight that turns people into Daemons, causing the formation of an Abbey filled with soldiers called Exorcists to combat them and save the day.

Frankly, it just works. The real investment comes from the characters. Velvet is widely lauded as one of the best characters in the Tales series, if not JRPGs outright. Who could forget the pirate Eizen or the witch Magilou?

Granted, part of the memorable nature of Berseria's story and characters was, at the time, the dark tone was massively different from other Tales games. It was refreshing. Roughly a decade later, so many RPGs have done similar that it might not have that massive impact with new players. 

Even so, it's a classic and easy to lose hours while so invested in the tale. It helps that side items and discoverables keep things engaging, too. 

New to overarcing progression is earlier access to the grades shop. The entire game is smoother for it, and the battle system fun enough that encounters don't start to feel like a slog. Experimenting in progression with items and builds and more is something Tales perfected long before this initial release. 

From an updated, remaster point of view, this offering also includes DLCs, costumes and such that came out after the original game's initial launch. There is also an auto-save feature, a must-have in modern times. 

Many of the remaster's additions and tweaks come in the options menus. There's refined control over voice language switching,  accessibility things like brightness and volume and auto-skip features, to name a few. 

Conclusion 

Tales of Berseria is a classic in a great series. It's a strong entry point to that series, heartfelt and memorable. 

This specific effort, though, is a bit of an odd one. It's not a remake, which is an important distinction. But pretty similar versions of the game already exist on most of the consoles included in this release. 

On one hand, it's nice to bring old games forward and have a complete package. On the other, it's hard not to yearn for a full remake effort with improved textures and so much more. That's especially so with series like Dragon Quest going that route so well lately.  

Alas, this won't harm enjoyment for new and old Tales or JRPG fans overall. Tales of Berseria is a fantastic entry in the series and the genre, and it's unquestionably the best version to date.