When we discussed Tales of Luminaria back in August, I said, “I really hope this isn’t a sign that Crestoria will be shut down like the others.”

Sadly, it was.

Tales of Crestoria will be shut down on February 6. This isn’t just a shutdown in the west like what happened to Rays, either. It’s shutting down in Japan as well.

I’ve seen fans saying there were warning signs before the announcement of Luminaria that Bandai Namco no longer saw Crestoria as a priority, but it’s still disappointing.

The story of Crestoria will be continued in another form, although they haven’t explained that yet. I’ve heard it has a good story, which is why I was hoping to play it someday when I had a device that could run it.

Personally, I wish they’d release an offline version or a non-mobile game, but that seems unlikely.

More than anything else, this announcement makes me lack confidence in mobile Tales games. Tales of Link? Gone. Tales of the Rays? Still going in Japan, but shut down in the west. Tales of Crestoria? Shutting down in February. I’m intrigued by Tales of Luminaria, but who knows how long it will be around for?

(It’s unfortunate that online-only mobile games seems to be the go-to format for smaller spin-off titles now, too.)

How do you feel about Tales of Crestoria and its impending shutdown? How do you think they will handle the continuation of the story?

We haven’t talked too much about Tales of Crestoria, the next upcoming mobile Tales game.

Tales of Crestoria was first revealed in 2018 as basically a full original Tales game (although one with a turn-based combat system) for mobile devices, with its own original plot, cast of characters, etc.

It also managed to look even edgier than Tales of Berseria, being described as “An RPG Written in Blood and Betrayal” where characters deemed sinners are marked by the “Stain of Guilt” and hunted down by enforcers.

Despite them making a point of how it’s not a crossover like the past mobile Tales games, it… is? They’ve shown protagonists from past Tales games who will make an appearance in Crestoria. I assume the main story will deal solely with the original cast and that’s why they say it isn’t a crossover, but the returning characters make it feel like it’ll have typical character-collecting gacha mechanics.

Anyway, we’ll be able to find out for ourselves what Tales of Crestoria is like next month! A new announcement revealed not only a June 2020 release window, but also an open beta in May.

Crestoria will be the first Tales game to get a simultaneous global release, so the beta test in May is meant to test the network load of the English version.

I’m interested enough that I’ll probably give the beta test a try if I’m able to. I’m not a big mobile gamer, but I’m still disappointed over the loss of Tales of the Rays. Of course, what I really want to hear more about is Tales of Arise… Is that still coming out this year?

What do you think about Tales of Crestoria? Will you be trying the open beta in May?