After garnering high acclaim from early impressions and previews, Cris Tales is finally here. Originally scheduled for a November 2020 release, developers Dreams Uncorporated and SYCK delayed the title to ensure that it would meet their own artistic visions. With such a hefty delay, has the extra development time paid off?
Cris Tales tells the story of Crisbell, a young orphan girl who discovers she has the powers of time manipulation, which is a core gameplay mechanic. Injecting the JRPG genre with a Columbian flare, Cris Tales is wowing critics with its bright and beautiful visuals. However, while some praise the game's throwback to old-school JRPGs, others feel that it dips into the past too much. Here's what critics have to say about it.
Nic Reuben, RockPaperShotgun: "It made me feel like a kid again, and that's why I play JRPGs to begin with. I had a great time with Dragon Quest 11, Bravely Default II, and Octopath Traveller, but none of them made me feel like I was 10 years old, curled up in bed on a faked sick day playing Final Fantasy. This frequently did. There's frustration in those memories, sure. Grinding, running around looking for NPCs I couldn't remember the name of, beating my head against a boss because I zoned out the one time the game explained some obscure feature to me. All that happened here, too. It's not perfect. But when does time travel ever go off without a hitch?"
Jordan Rudek, Nintendo World Report: "Aesthetically, Cris Tales is genuinely sublime. The music features piano-heavy traveling themes and an upbeat and catchy battle track, but the visuals are on another level. The papercraft art style gives every background a pop-up book style to it, reminiscent of Bravely Default and the Paper Mario series. Even though none of the animations are all that flashy, strolling through the different areas of each town and seeing the three timelines at once is truly special. I still have a lot more to see and do in Cris Tales, but the strengths heavily outweigh the weaknesses so far. There's no getting around the frustrating load times, but these are primarily disruptive during dungeons. The lack of an autosave function is a curious omission, forcing you to save frequently lest you fall in battle and have to replay a particular segment. Fortunately, you can save anywhere on the overworld map and save spots in towns and dungeons are numerous."
Brian Shea, Game Informer: "The game is undeniably gorgeous, possessing one of the most consistently beautiful art styles I've seen in a long time. Every environment, every enemy, and every party member is stunningly hand-drawn, creating a distinct and eye-catching style that has delighted me in my early travels. The aesthetic is complemented by memorable, fitting music and well-acted, fully voiced dialogue. While the visuals are definitely an early highlight, I'm also quite enjoying the combat. I love Crisbell's ability to reverse or speed up time in battles, accelerating or removing status effects from enemies. For example, I can move forward in time to make a poisoned enemy die instantly, or reverse time to make them a younger, less powerful version of the enemy I originally encountered. You can also use these powers to play off of abilities of other party members, like moving forward in time to rust a metal shield that your party member attacked with water."
GameCentral, Metro UK: "Cris Tales might be a homage to Japanese role-playing games but the Columbian origins of the developer are very obvious in the style of architecture used and the wonderfully distinct artwork. The animation is surprisingly good too, which makes you wonder exactly what kind of budget was at work here as the game is also fully voice-acted -- which is something even many commercially released Japanese games don't manage. It's very clear that Cris Tales has been a labor of love and if you share anything like the same affection for the genre as developers Dreams Uncorporated and SYCK then it's almost impossible not to enjoy the game's clever mix of the new and the familiar. There are some elements of the old 16-bit games we wish they hadn't included but Cris Tales is ambitious enough that it's not just a slavish copy of what already exists, and even with its flaws this is still one of the best JRPGs of recent years."
Azario Lopez, Noisy Pixel: "Cris Tales is a fantasy adventure akin to a fairy tale in both narrative and setting. It's an amazing experience accompanied by memorable characters, an addictive battle system, and wonderful discoveries. Every moment of the gameplay pushes the RPG to new heights, which is only hindered by lengthy load times and lack of direction for some missions. However, if you're looking for a callback to retro RPGs, this is one game you absolutely need to play."
Andrew Stretch, TechRaptor: "Cris Tales manages to set up a lot of good aspects. The story has a solid hook and a fully fleshed-out world for the characters to explore but then manages not to stick the landing letting the plot get away. Likewise, combat is enjoyable but with the active mechanics seemingly dropping inputs and the difficulty not correctly scaling it finds and then loses that sweet spot. If Cris Tales was about 80% of how ambitious it tried to be it could have come together as a more succinct title. If you're craving a new RPG to play then Cris Tales should scratch that itch, just be wary of when it loses itself."
Cris Tales is available now on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Google Stadia and PC.