A new Atelier

The Atelier series stands out among the various JRPG franchises. While recent entries still include many JRPG staples, the emphasis is on the characters rather than an extravagant plot. Additionally, the gameplay revolves around alchemy, the series’ expanded crafting system, with battles serving as a means of gathering ingredients rather than a central feature. I can’t speak confidently about every Atelier game—I only started with Atelier Ryza, after all—so this is the extent of the context I can provide. 

Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land, the series’ latest installment, shakes up the formula to potentially boost its popularity by opening it to even more players. It continues most of the trends set by Atelier Ryza, especially by the third entry, but it’s also a unique experience as the start of a new sub-series. It’s a proper open-world RPG with exploration as its core and more of an action focus for its story and gameplay. 

The Alchemist of Memories

The alchemist Yumia Liessfeldt is the titular protagonist and part of the Aladiss Research Team. Alchemy is considered taboo in this world, and the region of Aladiss is part of the reason. A disaster happened there many years ago that led to the fall of the Aladissan empire, and the research team’s objective is to investigate it. She first teams up with the siblings Viktor and Isla von Duerer, who are initially wary of her, but as they overcome more and more challenges, they grow closer to each other. 

As the expedition to Aladiss continues, more characters join them: the independent Rutger, the enigmatic Nina, and the timid Lenja, each with their baggage of secrets and personal circumstances. Eventually, the team is confronted by mysterious human/monster hybrids that seem to hold the key to the mysteries of Aladiss.

While the mysteries of the world and ruined empires aren’t new to the series, there’s a greater emphasis on their darker aspects this time. At times, the plot doesn’t hold back, and Yumia often questions the various uses of alchemy despite her love for it, which is a central theme of the game. The title still features plenty of calmer moments, which the series is known for, but the climax of each arc is met with more action fanfare.

I enjoyed the story, and it has its share of memorable moments throughout its four arcs. One aspect it fumbles, though, is presentation. Expositions are common and lead to an often unnatural acquisition of new information for the game’s world. Furthermore, some scenes feel like they lack the impact they should have, especially emotionally. The progress from one event to the other often feels kind of mechanical, lacking enough introspection, even when something big has occurred.

As for the party, I enjoyed all the characters, but I wanted to see more of them, as most of their subplots are a bit underbaked. The game features character quests that provide more interactions, but they don’t delve into them as much as I’d like. The villains also face similar issues. Despite the cool designs or the famous voice actors, they lack the necessary screen presence to feel like something of substance, and their background stories aren't enough.

Unsurprisingly, Yumia gets a lot of the game’s love. Like with Ryza and previous Atelier girls, there’s a lot of attention on having a striking design. She also gets a lot of development throughout the story, and her arc is one of the game’s highlights. While she initially appears meek, she gains a lot of confidence in herself and her convictions by the end of it. Her conversations with her lamp companion, Flammi, are also quite entertaining, showcasing her klutzy side.

You see that mountain? You can climb it.

Pretty much all of the game’s systems are fueled by exploring the world. There are four regions, unlocked in a sequential order as the main plot progresses. Each one is distinct, and there’s a lot of environmental variety even within one region. For example, the first one consists of grasslands, ruins, mountains, a beach, and an expansive jungle. Verticality is also a big aspect of the world, with places often not being easily accessible or requiring upgrading Yumia’s jumping.

Not all of the exploration mechanics are available at the start. Some of them, like the zipline gauntlets or ladders, are locked behind Simple Synthesis, a simplified crafting system on the go for various useful items, like heals, bullets, or the aforementioned tools. Others are unlocked as part of Yumia’s Skill Tree, which includes a lot of useful upgrades for alchemy and combat as well. That said, Atelier Yumia still values the freedom of choice and allows players to explore anywhere at their own pace, even if some chests or caves can’t be accessed the first time.

One of the most important tools for exploration is Yumia’s gun, which allows her to aim and shoot around her. With it, it’s possible to obtain an unreachable item or chest, unlock doors through shooting puzzles, or even attack enemies on the overworld to get an advantage in the fight. There are also various bullet types, unlocked as you progress with the exploration of a region, that give access to more chests or areas.

The overworld activities are lacking in variety, featuring mostly similar puzzles and types of ruins to explore. That said, the world itself is full of resources and points of interest. Moreover, the topography offers a lot of moment-to-moment gameplay, so even if the activities are lacking, I found the world to be quite fun to explore. Atelier Yumia also offers some crucial movement options, like multi-jump and a motorbike, both of which enhance the experience considerably.

Sweet alchemy

As with all the Atelier games, alchemy is a big part of Yumia’s gameplay loop. The system is simplified and streamlined in comparison to Ryza’s version, yet the general core remains unchanged. You use ingredients at alchemy cores to unlock them and their effects, and then you can get stronger effects based on the radius of the ingredients’ resonance.

Every alchemy core takes up a section. The animations and the number of sections can become a bit tiring for a routine you’ll perform hundreds of times, but thankfully, there are a few quality-of-life options, like automatic alchemy or the ability to skip animations. A post-launch update for the game introduced additional animation skips, further accelerating the process.

Alchemy is important for battles as well, as it is utilized for crafting gear and battle items. However, even on higher difficulty levels, it is easy to disrupt the game's balance and inflict tons of damage. In Yumia, you need to learn recipes by collecting particles, and you can enhance them with said particles further to give them extra traits or boosts. Alchemy is highly reliant on exploration, which allows you to gather a significant amount of resources, such as particles, and unlock useful skills more quickly. This reliance on exploration contributes to the imbalance in the game.

As for the combat, the series went with an action approach this time. You can move around the enemy and dodge attacks while using a character’s skills, which change based on whether they are close or far from the enemy. Each skill has a cooldown, but in general, you cycle through most of them multiple times. Characters can also equip and use items for elemental damage, as well as party-wide items that offer buffs or healing.

There are some other mechanics as well that I found somewhat underutilized. For instance, a mana meter is used for "super" moves or a bonus system rewards you the longer the fight lasts. However, none of those get the opportunity to shine. The fights conclude too fast, or other mechanics are sufficient to manage any situation. The enemies also frequently attack with MMO-like patterns, which, in theory, demand greater attention; however, in most cases, dodging through them is all that someone needs.

Building a better world

Greatly expanded from Ryza is the customization of the Atelier and the different bases. Everything is fully customizable, from the walls and the floors to the color of the furniture, and there’s a crafting system dedicated to building bases. There are far more options regarding their role, with many useful effects like item or material duplication. Essentially, each base specializes in a process this way, which is especially useful considering you can have multiple ones per region.

Lastly, I’d like to talk a bit about the game’s visuals, which are also one of the parts I found a bit weak. While most of the character models look great, and the world can offer some beautiful vistas, the texture work in a lot of areas feels dated. It’s certainly an improvement over Ryza, but as the scope of the game has increased exponentially, places looking rough are more noticeable. That said, despite the scope, the performance was stable on PS5, something worth mentioning as some past Atelier entries had their share of issues.

Conclusion

Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is a promising new entry to the long-running franchise. It’s a good foundation that a potential sequel could improve, especially when it comes to the balance of the game and its combat. The world and the characters are great, though the presentation leaves a lot to be desired. The focus on the open world enhances the core gameplay loop of the series, and even after 60 hours, I was craving for more exploration. Fans of the series are likely to be conflicted with how much of a departure it is in some aspects, but regardless, this is an action JRPG I’d recommend trying out for its unique atmosphere.

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for this review.