Tales of Arise
A gorgeous, thematically serious entry in Bandai Namco's long-running JRPG series, built around six-character elemental combat and a slavery-and-liberation story that earns its weight. The game underneath is excellent. The launch-day decision to sell costume DLC that unlocks combat Artes and stat bonuses, advertised at every campfire, is still the thing its own playerbase brings up five years later.
8 / 10

