We had some really great DLCs last year, like Burning Shores for Horizon: Forbidden West, or the absolutely fantastic Phantom Liberty for Cyberpunk 2077, just to name a few. I was really looking forward to this one, as well, as Arise is one of my favorite Tales titles, and all in all, I wasn't disappointed in it. I wasn't super impressed with it (maybe I shouldn't have played it right after the amazing Future Redeemed for Xenoblade Chronicles 3, because I kept comparing the two in my mind...), either, but I think it's a decent add-on, definitely one of the better ones.

It was nice to meet the gang again, I think the cast of heroes is just as strong as in the main game, but it would have been great to see more new main characters, not just one. The story was OK, I guess, but it really lacked a true villain, in my opinion. More new locations would have been nice, too, and, as far as I'm concerned, I would have gladly settled for less boring side-quests in exchange for a few more hours of content in the main story...

Still, the graphics are still beautiful, the lore is interesting, the gameplay is fun, and there's quite a lot of content here with collectibles, optional bosses and so on, so yeah, if you liked the main game, there's no reason not to try this one.