Review: Tales of Eternia Remastered (PS5) – Classic PlayStation RPG Shows Its Age
Bandai Namco’s remaster brings the 26-year-old Japanese role-playing game Tales of Eternia to PS5, revisiting its story of Reid and his friends as they investigate a mysterious newcomer and a threat to their world. The review finds that the tale of friendship and the party’s lively interactions remain appealing, while the game’s older design shows its age.
The remaster improves the localisation and English voice acting, adds voiced party conversations and includes the original Japanese voices. It also enhances the visuals and adds comfort and accessibility features, though environments still look dated. Combat remains on a single 2D plane, which can make crowded fights difficult to follow, and optional characters require tedious side quests to develop.
- Eternia’s story and characters still charm.
- New voices and quality-of-life features improve the remaster.
- Dated visuals and inflexible 2D combat show its age.
New here? Start with this
Tales of Eternia is a Japanese role-playing game first released for PlayStation in 2000. It follows Reid and his companions as they investigate a mysterious newcomer and a danger threatening their world.
Bandai Namco is the game’s publisher, and the remaster brings it to PlayStation 5 with updated language, voice work and accessibility options. Its story focuses on friendship and the group’s relationships, while its older combat and visual design reflect the era in which it was made.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The remaster makes a much-loved RPG easier to enjoy on modern hardware, with improved localisation, more voiced conversations, enhanced visuals and useful comfort features. Its friendship-driven story and lively party interactions still have appeal, so fans may find that the preserved strengths outweigh the dated presentation and combat.
The case against
The update may not do enough to make the game work well for today’s players: dated environments, crowded 2D fights and tedious side quests remain, despite the visual and accessibility improvements. Those shortcomings can interrupt the story’s appeal and make a full-price return to the classic difficult to justify for newcomers.