Tales of Come up: Past the Daybreak Assessment (PS5)

Proper off the bat, the largest downside with Tales of Come up: Past the Daybreak is attempting to recollect the best way to truly play Tales of Come up. The (largely unbelievable, in our opinion) motion RPG launched what appears like an eternity in the past again in September 2021, and now, over two years later, we’re getting a full-on post-game enlargement.

However the DLC does not draw out of your save knowledge straight. As a substitute, your progress in the primary recreation merely unlocks varied bonuses, like extra character ranges, gear, and ability factors. What’s extra, you entry Past the Daybreak from its personal possibility on the primary menu, which instantly makes the enlargement really feel like its personal separate entity.

Though that is clearly not the case, as this new journey takes place one yr after Tales of Come up, and is actually only one huge reference to the world-saving quest of Alphen and his allies. It actually goes with out saying, however simply to be clear, this enlargement will make subsequent to no sense if you have not rolled credit within the base launch.

Story-wise, Past the Daybreak is all in regards to the affect that our heroes have had on their newly shaped world. The 2 peoples of Dahna and Rena are actually being compelled to coexist, and so contemporary fractures are forming within the peace that Alphen and co. fought so exhausting to achieve. The get together have taken it upon themselves to ease everybody into their new existence, and thus spend their days travelling from city to city, helping the folks with their issues.

The gang’s routine is shortly damaged, nonetheless, once they come across a sometimes mysterious woman throughout the DLC’s opening minutes. Admittedly, first impressions of the younger Nazamil aren’t nice. She comes throughout as a strolling anime trope, letting out quick sighs and refusing to elaborate on her scenario, even if she’s clearly on the run from… one thing. Irritating stuff.

Fortunately, Nazamil does open up because the plot progresses, and by the tip, she enhances the prevailing solid fairly properly. That stated, the plot itself does really feel a bit stretched all through the enlargement’s 20-ish hour runtime. The DLC does not actually have a lot to work with outdoors of Nazamil and the sudden look of monster-filled dungeons referred to as Mausoleums. Because of this, entire chunks of the narrative come throughout as filler, with our protagonists usually getting slowed down in finishing up comparatively mundane duties.

That is to not say the story’s an entire miss, thoughts. Surprisingly, Past the Daybreak manages to offer the gang some respectable character improvement, and truthfully, it is simply pleasing to see Alphen and his buddies participate in what’s a extra laidback journey. In the event you loved the core solid in Tales of Come up, you will get together with what this enlargement is attempting to do.

However for us, the true draw of the DLC is its dedication to dungeon crawling and large battles. The aforementioned Mausoleums present loads of alternatives to discover treasure-heavy ruins, and tackle robust enemies. Once more, you will not be utilizing your pimped-out get together from the primary recreation, however the six playable heroes all begin at a excessive stage, and are available outfitted with endgame gear. In different phrases, the enlargement expects you to tear straight into the title’s extra superior fight mechanics, and that is precisely what most gamers will need from post-game content material (at the very least, as soon as they’ve wrapped their heads across the controls once more).

Fight stays a blast as soon as you’ve got discovered your rhythm. Chaining particular strikes collectively to stagger your opponents into submission nonetheless feels nice, and popping off a tag assault to deal enormous harm is eternally satisfying. But when there’s one sticking level within the motion, it is that there is nonetheless a extreme lack of enemy selection. Past the Daybreak provides a naked minimal variety of contemporary monsters so that you can clobber. Even bosses from the primary recreation are reskinned and reused, which comes as a distinctly disappointing realisation, having simply charged by an all-new dungeon.

The fight system’s inherent strengths shine by general, although, and the enlargement’s emphasis on back-to-back battles is partaking. There are some high quality encounters right here — particularly within the later dungeons — that’ll push your expertise past the problem of the core recreation.

Conclusion

Past the Daybreak is not an particularly thrilling enlargement, but it surely’s nonetheless a strong post-game expertise for individuals who loved Tales of Come up. It is responsible of treading overly acquainted floor, and the storytelling can really feel a bit tedious, however there’s enjoyable to be present in exploring all-new dungeons and taking up highly effective opponents. The DLC could also be dropping too late for a lot of gamers, however Alphen and the gang’s epilogue is well worth the return journey if you happen to’ve bought the time.