GamingPickz

Tales of the Abyss

Tales of the Abyss is an action role-playing game developed by Namco Tales Studio. It is the eighth main title in their Tales series and was released in celebration of the series' 10th anniversary. Originally released for the PlayStation 2, the game was published by Namco in Japan in December 2005, and Bandai Namco Games in North America in October 2006. Its development team included director Yoshito Higuchi, producer Makoto Yoshizumi, and character artist Kōsuke Fujishima. The game features music by series composers Motoi Sakuraba and Shinji Tamura, and includes the opening theme song "Karma" by Bump of Chicken, which is replaced with the instrumental version in the western release, due to licensing issues. Namco has given Tales of the Abyss the characteristic genre name To Know the Meaning of One's Birth RPG. A port for the Nintendo 3DS handheld was released in Japan in June 2011, followed by an Australian and European release in November 2011 and a North American release in February 2012.

Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA, read 5 September 2026.

Role-PlayingAction RPG

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Would you recommend it?
Released
2005
Developer
Namco Tales Studio
Platforms
1 systems
Critics
Not scored
Steam Deck
Unknown
Download
Not stated
We have not written a full review of this game.This is a catalogue entry: everything below comes from a source we can link, checked on a stated date. There is no score and no verdict here, because we only publish those after a reviewer has played the game and written it up properly. Our team may well have played this one. Until someone writes the review, we are not going to imply a verdict we have not put our name to.

The record

Catalogue facts
First released15 December 2005
DeveloperNamco Tales Studio
PublisherNamco
PlatformsNintendo 3DS
GenresRole-Playing, Action RPG

Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q82050, seeded 30 August 2026.

How long is Tales of the Abyss? How long to beat it

Total play time for Tales of the Abyss is about 109.1 hours to do everything, and around 48.3 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.

Tales of the Abyss length by how much you play
How you playHoursPlayers logged
Just the main story: straight through the critical path48.3h226
Main + the extras: story plus the side content most people do62.7h193
Completionist: everything: 100% the game109.1h30

Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.

Where Tales of the Abyss sits on the grid

The grid places every game in the catalogue on measured axes rather than on an opinion. This is where Tales of the Abyss lands on each map it has the data for, with the share of the catalogue it beats on each axis.

The whole catalogueLargely forgotten
Year
67ahead of 19% of the catalogue
Reach
32ahead of 74% of the catalogue

Percentiles are against the games that carry a reading on that axis, not the whole catalogue: counting a game with no figure as a zero would flatter everything that has one. How the grid works.

What readers say about Tales of the Abyss

Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.

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Where Tales of the Abyss appears

The ranked lists and finder pages Tales of the Abyss qualifies for, from its own genre and platform to what it takes to run.

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Common questions about Tales of the Abyss

What platforms is Tales of the Abyss on?

Tales of the Abyss is available on Nintendo 3DS. It first released in 2005.

Who made Tales of the Abyss?

Tales of the Abyss was developed by Namco Tales Studio and published by Namco.

How long does it take to beat Tales of the Abyss?

about 48.3 hours for the main story, 62.7 hours with the main extras, 109.1 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.