

While most former Tales games had one button for physical attacks and another for "Artes," Berseria borrows from the Tales of Graces and Tales of Zestiria combat system, where all attacks are technically Artes, divided between "Martial" Artes (the replacement for physical attacks) and Arcane Artes (magic). However, several variations have been introduced, particularly in combat. Gameplay contains most Tales staples like cooking, percentage-based healing items, skits and a real-time combat system with shades of Stylish Action mechanics.

Wielding a holy sword and a philosophy of " reason over emotion", Artorius causes the Advent of angelic malakhim into the world, and leads the Exorcists of "The Abbey" in a crusade to eradicate Daemonblight once and for all. That was until the day a saviour named Artorius Collbrande appeared and united the world against the bestial hordes that threatened to destroy it. Ordinary humans and animals became possessed by evil spirits and were transformed into bloodthirsty monsters that preyed upon the living. Many hundreds of years before the events of Zestiria, the continent of Midgand suffered under a terrible curse called "Daemonblight". It is the first Mothership Tales title to have a female protagonist (who is not sharing the position with a male protagonist). A Western localization was released for January 2017, though the PS3 version was not released outside of Japan due to the waning popularity of the format outside of the Japanese market.

The game was released in 2016 for the PS3, PS4, and PC. Tales of Berseria is the sixteenth title in the Tales Series, and a Prequel set in the distant past of Tales of Zestiria.
