Games from the Tales series almost always had a serious plot, but so far they have not caught up with the real dark atmosphere. Tales of Berseria, however, abandons this tradition and shows that even by feeling the claws of a beautiful demon on the back of the neck, you can play extremely well. Follow Velvet and discover the secrets of the world living in eternal fear of a terrible plague.

Raven-haired female protagonist

The raven-haired Velvet did not have an easy life. Already in her childhood, she lost her older sister, when during the bloody full moon demons attacked her home village. When the phenomenon repeated itself a few years later, her beloved brother was sacrificed in the ritual, and the heroine turned into Therion - a creature who, by a gigantic paw devours other demons (but not only) - and ended up in a deep dungeon. Living only by the desire for vengeance, a young woman escapes to freedom to start a journey whose purpose is to kill her brother's murderer. Along the way, a group of misfits have similar goals. Together they travel the world ruled by the Abbey religious organization dealing with the fight against demons. Do you have to be steeped in evil to defeat them? Will a shy boy named Laphicet crush the ice that holds the demon's heart? What is the dark secret behind The Abbey?

Solid story

The plot Tales of Berseria is characterized by a really fast action. In contrast to Zestiria, where tedious moments occurred, the next events take place almost one after the other, not allowing you to break away from the TV. The corpse falls densely, there is violence even against children, although the limit of good taste has not been exceeded anywhere. The heroes of the drama are very charismatic, especially Velvet herself, who attracts not only with black hair or scant clothing, but also with personality. The heroine accepts the fact that he is a monster, avoiding moral judgments or justifying his deeds. He lives only with the will to take revenge, nothing else matters until the human feelings in it slowly dawning on themselves. After all, the screenwriters gave us a nice springboard from the spiritual heroes fighting for law and justice. The demon figures accompanying you can also be liked very quickly, like the witty swordsman Rokurou, the hidden pirate Eizen, or the witch Magilou who brings a lot of comedic moments. Although the title is a prequel of Tales of Zestiria, published some time ago, the action takes place in the distant past, so the knowledge of the predecessor is not much needed for happiness. The game world is made up of numerous islands, hence some nautical climates are found.

More action than strategy

Fast pace of fun is not only characteristic of the story, but is also visible during the clashes with opponents. Of course, in the previous scenes, the fight was always dynamic, but a certain corset consisted of delivering blows and special attacks with two buttons and locking on one opponent. Now it is gone, and our Velvet is free to go where it wants, by leading the chosen attack with just one assigned button. Intuitive and quickly combine them into combos, thanks to which we are rewarded with spectacular pirouettes of the heroine. Everything takes place almost like a brawl. Almost, because our murderous impulses inhibit the number of available souls used by combat skills and the lack of jumping ability. Thanks to the introduced improvements, frequent fights cease to be a nuisance and cause a lot of fun. Freedom of movement, however, led to a significant decrease in the level of difficulty, because avoiding enemy attacks is now very easy, so if someone expects a challenge, let them choose a higher level of difficulty right away. On medium (moderate) I played really well, although it was pretty trite. Interestingly, the battles once again take place on separate screens, but those here load in the blink of an eye, so for me it was a better solution than a few seconds waiting for the monsters in Zestiria. There is also no characteristic for the series of destructive finishers, although in this area nothing has changed except for more convenient activation.

However, after all the advantages, one should sadly go to the biggest production defect, which is the visual frame. He admits that he perfectly reflects the atmosphere of the created world, but now it is hard to defend graphics from the previous generation of consoles. Of course, in your homeland the game was also released on PS3, but we already know it on PlayStation 4, where despite raising the resolution, it looks not fresh. This is particularly evident in almost empty dungeons or ruins. It's a bit better with the cities and interiors of buildings, but they do not sin in size or detail. It looks better with open air, where we can find some nice views, but to the delight and so far way. In addition, the open world was abandoned, although the areas for exploration are still large and well developed. It is not an art to create a huge game environment, because you have to fill it up yet, and in this respect it is better than in Zestiria. Fortunately, the animation smoothly flies in 60 frames, and the characters themselves look very good and really attract the eye, especially during the scenes of genres - skitów. There are a lot of animated scenes and camera problems removed. Despite my objections, graphic design should not discourage fans of the series for this title, but it is time for changes. It should be praised for the soundtrack, which is dominated by stronger sounds, and my favorite choirs and successful dubbing - both English and Japanese.

Slightly minor improvements for the better have been the same game mechanics. Side quests have been associated more with the main storyline, allowing you to save time on eliminating unnecessary trespassing of additional kilometers. Another thing is that these tasks are too few. The synthesis of items has been simplified and a lot of interesting mini-games have been introduced. In addition, we receive a ship that we send to the sea expedition. Unfortunately, we were deprived of the opportunity to intervene in the development of heroes who would advance themselves according to a certain pattern thanks to traditional experience points.

Tales of Berseria is a title that is very focused on the story and the fight, rather than the exploration of the game world, which is relatively small. Nevertheless, such a concept works, and the story itself pulls like a swamp. I remember the time spent on the adventures of Velvet very nice. It is worth acquiring it as soon as it happens, and fill the revenge of the ravenous demon.

Overal Rating based on Playstation 4 version of the game.

Pros	Minuses
+ Plot and charismatic heroes,	- Graphic design from a previous generation,
+ Dark climate,	- A relatively small game world,
+ Many improvements compared to Tales of Zestiria,	- There is not much to do besides the major plot;
+ Works in 60 frames,
+ Minigames;

Thanks for reading.

All of the screenshots of the game I made myself ingame. I used them to make the review more complete.

My game rating points are from range 1-10.

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