The next installment in Bandai Namco’s long-running and popular JRPG franchise, Tales Of Arise, was officially announced during Microsoft’s Xbox E3 2019 press conference last week, despite being leaked several days earlier.

The company recently held its Tales Of Festival 2019 in Yokohama, Japan, on Saturday, 15 June 2019, where they revealed the Japanese voice cast and character details for the two main protagonists in Tales Of Arise with a new trailer.

According to the official website (as translated by Gematsu), here are the descriptions for the male and female protagonists in Tales Of Arise:

Alphen

Voiced by Takuya Satou, Alphen is a young man from planet Dahna, who wears an iron mask, and lost both his sense of pain and memories. Sparked by his encounter with Shionne, he takes the “Sword of Flame” in hand with the goal of liberating his planet Dahna from the clutches of Rena.

Shionne

Voiced by Shino Shimoji, Shionne is a girl from planet Rena, cursed by “Thorns” that causes intense pain to anyone she touches. She joins forces with Alphen for a hidden purpose and battles in rebellion against her own people of Rena.

Besides that, studio ufotable is returning to produce the animation in Tales Of Arise after doing the same for Tales Of Zestiria and Tales Of Berseria. Yusuke Tomizawa (God Eater) is leading the development team while Minoru Iwamoto (Tales of Zestiria) is the character designer and art director for the game.

Here’s the official description for the game:

Tales of Arise takes place in a solar system containing the two neighboring planets of Dahna and Rena. The inhabitants of Dahna have always paid reverence to their planetary neighbors on Rena – a planet they can clearly see in their sky – as a land of the righteous and divine.

For the people of Dahna, legends and lore about Rena and its inhabitants have been handed down for countless generations, and through time, have become facts in their minds that have actually masked a cruel reality for the people of Dahna.

For 300 years, the people of Rena have ruled over Dahna, pillaging the planet of its resources and stripping its people of their dignity and freedom.

Tales of Arise begins with two people, born on different worlds, each longing to change their fate and create a new future for themselves and perhaps their people.

Featuring an original cast of characters, a dramatic storyline, dynamic combat, breath-taking environments, with some classic Tales Of elements included; Tales of Arise marks a new beginning for the famed JRPG franchise.

While I haven’t personally played many of the Tales Of games (my last was 2005’s Tales Of The Abyss), Tales Of Arise looks to be a new milestone for the franchise not only because it will be the first to be powered by Unreal Engine 4 and feature a new combat system, but also for its notably bold interstellar sci-fi story involving different planets and the like.

Tales Of Arise is slated to launch for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC sometime in 2020. In the meantime, check out the trailer below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpQ2wVG4-R4&w=560&h=315]