Tales of Berseria is an action role-playing game created and sold by Bandai Namco Entertainment for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Windows. It is the sixteenth main game in the Tales series and a story that happens before Tales of Zestiria. The game was released in Japan for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 around August 2016. It was released worldwide for PlayStation 4 and Windows toward the end of January 2017. A manga version of the game appeared in Ichijinsha's Monthly Comic Rex Magazine starting in October 2016. The third and final volume of the manga came out in August 2018, and the English version was completed in April 2020.
A remastered version of the game, called Tales of Berseria Remastered, was released on February 26, 2026, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Gameplay
Tales of Berseria is a role-playing video game where players explore the game world through the eyes of the characters, seen from a third-person view. Like earlier Tales games, characters interact through Skits, which are short animations that occur outside of battles and cutscenes. These Skits show characters as head-and-shoulder portraits, and conversations can be serious or humorous. A new feature in the Skit system is a cut-in effect, where characters appear in different poses during Skits in response to dialogue.
The game uses a version of the Linear Motion Battle System (LMBS), called "Liberation-LMBS." During battles, players can move freely around the arena and change the camera angle as needed. Characters fight using physical attacks, magic, and special skills called Artes, which can stun enemies or cause special effects. Artes can be assigned to specific buttons on the controller. Other abilities include blocking attacks, dodging, and escaping from battles.
A key part of battles is the Soul Gauge, which replaces older battle mechanics. Each character has a separate gauge showing up to five Souls. Souls are used when using Artes. If a character’s Soul Gauge is empty, their attacks can be easily blocked by enemies, but the gauge refills over time. Enemies drop Souls during battles, which players can collect to refill their gauge. Enemies can also steal Souls from players. When the Soul Gauge is full, characters can activate Break Soul, a special state that lets them perform powerful attacks beyond their usual limits. For example, Velvet’s Break Soul changes her arm into a beastly form and triggers different elemental attacks based on the enemy type.
The main group has four characters, all of whom can be controlled during battles. Other playable characters are kept in reserve. While the game is mainly for one player, it also supports local multiplayer battles. A feature called Switch Blast allows players to switch between characters by using some of the Blast Gauge, letting the reserve character attack for free. The Blast Gauge is also used up when performing strong attacks called Mystic Artes.
Story
Berseria is set in the Holy Midgand Empire, a powerful country that controls many islands in a large continent. The game shares the same world as Tales of Zestiria, but its story happens 1,000 years earlier. The land and islands are divided into "territories." Humans are not the only race; the Malakhim (singular: Malak) are supernatural spirits whose wills are sealed and used by humans as slaves. These spirits gain visible forms after an event called the "Advent," which occurred three years before Velvet escaped from prison. A disease called Daemonblight causes infected people to lose their humanity and become monsters called Daemons, which threaten the world. The Abbey, a religious and political group, helps rule the empire. Exorcists, soldiers from the Abbey, work to eliminate Daemons and maintain order.
As a child, Velvet Crowe and her younger brother Laphicet were saved by her brother-in-law, Artorius, during a deadly event called the "Scarlet Night," when Daemons attacked their village. Velvet's older sister, Celica, who was pregnant, died during the "Opening," an event linked to the Scarlet Night. Seven years later, Velvet cares for her sickly brother with Artorius. The Scarlet Night returns, and the village is infected by Daemonblight. Velvet finds Artorius performing a ritual called the "Advent," in which he sacrifices her brother. Artorius tries to use Velvet for the Advent, but she resists. The Daemonblight infects her arm, transforming it and turning her into a Daemon called a "Therion," which can absorb other Daemons. In anger, she kills nearby Daemons before collapsing. She wakes up in a Daemon prison on the island of Titania, vowing to kill Artorius and avenge her brother. After the Advent, Malakhim, once visible only to a few people, become visible to most. Over three years, Artorius establishes the Abbey and becomes its leader, creating Exorcists to fight Daemons.
After three years in prison, Velvet is freed by Seres, a former Malak of Artorius. During her escape, she helps other prisoners, Rokurou and Magilou, and fights the Praetor Exorcist Oscar Dragonia. Seres is killed by Oscar, who turns one of his Malakhim into a dragon. Velvet absorbs Seres and defeats Oscar, blinding him in one eye before he escapes. Velvet realizes Seres may be a reincarnation of her deceased sister, Celica. She and her group escape the island. During her quest for revenge, Velvet meets Laphicet, a Malak once used by Exorcist Teresa Linares; Eleanor, an Abbey Exorcist who questions the Abbey’s actions; and Eizen, a Malak who travels with pirates. Bienfu, a Normin Malak originally bonded to Magilou, later joins Eleanor. Eleanor initially refuses to help Velvet but later agrees to spy on the group and learn the Abbey’s plans.
The group discovers that Artorius, Oscar, Teresa, and Exorcists Shigure Rangetsu and Melchior Mayvin plan to eliminate the Daemonblight by removing all human emotions. To do this, they must summon Innominat, one of five powerful Malakhim called the Empyreans. The Abbey creates Therions and uses their power to awaken Innominat. It is revealed that Daemonblight is caused by "malevolence," a negative emotion from humans that turns them into Daemons. Malakhim and Daemons are visible only to humans with "resonance," a special ability. Artorius’ actions amplified human resonance, making Malakhim and Daemons visible. Laphicet is revealed to be the reincarnation of Celica’s unborn son. Velvet accepts her role as the "Lord of Calamity" to defeat the Abbey.
To stop Artorius and Innominat, the group defeats the Exorcists and uses their souls to awaken the four Empyreans. They confront Artorius, who merges with Innominat in a final battle. Velvet kills Artorius, but Innominat becomes unstable. Velvet sacrifices herself by sealing Innominat inside her, allowing him to feed on her malevolence while she feeds on him. This ensures the survival of Laphicet and other Therions, whose lives are tied to Innominat. Laphicet becomes Innominat’s replacement, helped by the four Empyreans who serve as his Lords. He transforms into a kind dragon and purifies the land of malevolence, but humans can no longer see Malakhim. Eleanor becomes a Shepherd to guide people, Magilou records the world’s events as a scribe, and Laphicet renames himself "Maotelus." These events set the stage for Tales of Zestiria, which happens 1,000 years later. The game ends with Velvet embracing Innominat and living in an endless dream of what could have been.
Development
Development for Tales of Berseria started in the fall of 2014 at Bandai Namco Studios, after work on Zestiria was completed. Hideo Baba did not serve as producer this time; Yasuhiro Fukaya took that role, while Baba oversaw the Tales series as a whole. Yoshimasa Tanaka directed the game, Motoi Sakuraba composed the music, Tatsuro Udo designed the battle system, and Mutsumi Inomata, Kōsuke Fujishima, Minoru Iwamoto, and Daigo Okumura created the characters. Tales of Berseria was the first original Tales game made for the PlayStation 4, but it was also released on PlayStation 3 in Japan. The game was initially developed for PlayStation 3 and later upgraded to work on PlayStation 4. It used an engine similar to previous Tales games, with most updates focused on improving performance across all platforms. Berseria was intended to be the last mainline Tales game for seventh-generation consoles.
The story was written by Naoki Yamamoto, who had previously worked on Zestiria. Although Berseria is a distant prequel to Tales of Zestiria—taking place long ago and referencing earlier events—it was designed to be understood without prior knowledge of the series. This idea was inspired by the connection between Tales of Phantasia and Tales of Symphonia. The game also included references to earlier Tales titles, such as a ship named after a similar one in Tales of Eternia. The main theme of Berseria is the struggle between emotion and reason, with the character Velvet representing emotion and rage. The title comes from "berserker," warriors known for uncontrollable power. Berseria is the fifth Tales game with a female protagonist and the second to feature a single female lead. This decision was influenced by the popularity of Milla Maxwell from Tales of Xillia, who shared the lead role with a male character, and by growing demand for female leads in games, especially in the West.
Bandai Namco Entertainment registered the game’s title and two others as trademarks on April 20, 2015. The game was officially announced on June 6, 2015, with details about the protagonist, Velvet, who was voiced by Rina Satou in Japanese and Cristina Vee in English. Mutsumi Inomata designed Velvet. The anime cutscenes were animated by ufotable, as revealed in the final episode of Tales of Zestiria the X. Berseria was part of the company’s 20th-anniversary celebration for the Tales series. The game was released in December 2015, with a Western version for PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows confirmed the following week. The theme song, "Burn," was composed and performed by Flow, with Japanese vocals included in the Western version. The game’s genre name, "Kimi ga kimirashiku ikiru tame no ārupījī," translates to "RPG of Discovering Your Own Reason to Live." For the Western release, a scene in which Artorius kills Velvet’s brother was changed to reduce violence while keeping the emotional impact. This change helped maintain the game’s age rating. Bandai Namco later apologized for these changes in a statement.
On November 19, 2025, Bandai Namco announced a remastered version of Tales of Berseria for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows, titled Tales of Berseria Remastered. This version was based on the Western release.
Reception
The game was generally well-received by reviewers. Metacritic, a review site, gave the PS4 version a score of 79 out of 100 and the PC version a score of 80 out of 100. Famitsu, another review site, gave the game a score of 35 out of 40 based on four reviews. Reviewers praised the game’s story, characters, and certain gameplay elements. However, they pointed out that the gameplay lacked originality and that the game did not fully use the PS4’s graphical capabilities. Dengeki PlayStation highlighted the story and characters, especially the performance of actor Satō as the character Velvet, and noted that the battles were the most enjoyable in the series. They also mentioned that the tutorials were too long, that character movement was too slow early in the game, and that new players might find the game overwhelming due to the many features to learn.
Meghan Sullivan from IGN gave the game a score of 8.8 out of 10. She praised the emotional storytelling, the variety of characters, and how the main character, Velvet, felt more like an anti-hero than previous main characters in the Tales series. Some reviewers criticized the game’s environments for looking too similar and noted that players had to revisit old locations many times to progress in the game.