a level of quality that can be enjoyed globally, the game would not neglect its Japanese fans. Arise was developed by Bandai Namco Studios. The team included veterans going as far back as Tales of Phantasia, alongside newcomers who were passionate about the series. The art director and character designer was Minoru Iwamoto, who had worked on both Berseria and Tales of Zestiria. This was the first time the same person had filled both roles, and was part of Bandai Namco's move towards unifying the game's themes and artstyle. The world design went in a darker direction compared to earlier entries, both to further the series evolution and appeal to the Western market. Despite the overt focus on 3D graphics, 2D anime cutscenes are still planned as with previous entries. Similar to the previous games in the series, the anime sequences were produced by Ufotable, while the game's score was written by Motoi Sakuraba. The game's theme song is "Hibana" by Kankaku Piero, which marks the third time a theme song in the Tales series has had both an English version and a Japanese version. Ayaka performs two songs for the game, "Blue Moon" for the game's grand theme song and her cover version of My Little Lover's "Hello, Again (Mukashi kara Aru Basho)" (Hello, Again 〜昔からある場所〜, Hello, Again ~A Place that has Been Around for a Long Time~) for the game's insert song. Release Arise was revealed at E3 2019, although details of the game had leaked on the internet a few days before. The game was originally planned to release in 2020 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, but was delayed to September 10, 2021, due to internal issues and the ability to launch the game on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. On October 3, 2021, a new DLC content was announced, including a crossover quest featuring Kirito and Asuna, the main characters of the Sword Art Online franchise, along with new costumes based on them. Reception Tales of Arise received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Tales of Arise won for Best RPG at The Game Awards 2021. IGN said it had the best story and gameplay of any Tales game since Tales of Symphonia. Sales In under one week on sale, Tales of Arise had shipped over 1 million copies, becoming the fastest-selling entry in the series. By October 2021, the game