On the subject of the Atelier collection, selection is the spice of life. One would possibly suppose that greater than 25 video games deep into developer Gust’s long-running RPG collection, the sheen of that trademark gameplay loop of amassing supplies, studying recipes, and crafting gadgets through alchemy would begin to uninteresting just a little. But, with the introduction of every new entry and corresponding sub-series, Atelier continually finds methods to reinvent itself and provide a novel spin on its tried-and-true gameplay methods. From the darker and extra action-focused Atelier Yumia to the sprawling journey saga of the Atelier Ryza trilogy, every title has its personal distinct identification.
That’s why Atelier Resleriana: The Crimson Alchemist & the White Guardian, the twenty seventh mainline entry within the collection, is such an advanced recreation to clarify. A lot of its identification is owed to what got here earlier than it. It’s concurrently a standalone sequel to a free-to-play gacha recreation, a significant crossover occasion that includes characters from previous entries, and a self-proclaimed return to the collection’ turn-based roots. On the similar time, it’s additionally very a lot its personal factor, chronicling an authentic story with new leads and contemporary gameplay ideas.
A lesser recreation may be crushed below the burden of all of the issues Atelier Resleriana is meant to be, but it manages to dovetail every accountability right into a cohesive complete. The end result is among the stronger Atelier releases in recent times and, fortunately, an pleasurable expertise that is still largely unfettered by Swap 1’s ageing {hardware}.
Set after the occasions of 2023’s Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy & the Liberator of Polar Evening (a cell and PC-based gacha title that’s now not accessible to play outdoors of Japan), this strikes the main focus to 2 new playable protagonists: Rias and Slade. They hail from Hallfein, a once-bustling city that suffered a mysterious tragedy 12 years prior and has since fallen into disrepair. When the pair of adventurers meet and stumble throughout an deserted atelier, they resolve to make use of the facility of alchemy to revive their hometown to its former glory and uncover the thriller behind its downfall.
Consistent with its narrative focus, Atelier Resleriana’s gameplay is outlined by three key areas: exploring the world and its dungeons whereas amassing alchemy elements and battling enemies; synthesising and strengthening new gadgets through alchemy recipes on the atelier; and enhancing the standard of the city by promoting gadgets at Rias’ retailer or taking over further quests and facet actions. Every strand is well-defined with its personal set of intricacies and methods to study, and the way in which all three interweave makes participating with every one key to development.
The sport’s refreshed alchemy system sees you combining elements to provide gadgets and gear to your get together. Supplies possess two distinct color attributes that should be chained collectively to successfully cross on distinctive traits and results. It might look like a easy match-the-colour system on the floor, however there are a ton of wrinkles and extra mechanics that up the complexity of crafting significantly.
Having a pleasant quantity of depth within the alchemy system is an Atelier hallmark, although this iteration’s tutorials don’t at all times do one of the best job of explaining all of the need-to-know ins and outs. This opaqueness could be irritating, particularly as a couple of battles within the mid-to-late recreation ramp up the problem to check your crafting mastery.
You acquire supplies by exploring places and progressing by a slew of floor-based dungeons with procedurally generated interiors that change upon every go to. The act of amassing supplies primarily boils right down to hitting a button to immediately harvest helpful stuff with ease. You possibly can collect one handful of things after one other inside seconds, and having a relentless inflow of useful elements added to your basket is pure dopamine.
For his or her half, battles have returned to a turn-based format from earlier Atelier titles. Right here, you management the actions of as much as three get together members in your frontline. A lot of the style staples are current — every character has their very own stats and skillsets (which could be expanded and improved through a ability tree or levelling up), they usually can use their flip to carry out an element-based assault or use an merchandise. Enemies have elemental resistances and weaknesses that may be exploited to briefly stun them. Get together members who act in succession may also observe up one another’s actions with additional assaults.
The fundamentals of fight could also be simple, however Atelier Resleriana additionally consists of a number of key mechanics that preserve battles feeling dynamic and contemporary. Arguably the most important is the presence of a visual flip timeline à la Pokémon Legends: Arceus, which you should utilize to plan out your technique a number of strikes prematurely, and even manipulate to alter flip timings and acquire sure bonus results. Figuring out when to schedule an Interruption motion for a free merchandise use or deciding which goal to steal an impact from on their subsequent projected flip provides an entire further layer to battles.
In the meantime, the Multi-Motion mechanic means that you can spend gathered Technical Factors to provide an lively combatant and two of your non-active get together members an opportunity to carry out an motion in a single fell swoop earlier than swapping out the principle fighter for somebody on the again line. This twist means that you can carry out some fairly devastating combos whereas maintaining your entire get together members related and concerned.
There are extra battle mechanics to mess around with apart from these, however the level is that Atelier Resleriana’s fight is a pleasant mix between traditional turn-based RPG fare and brisker ideas that encourage additional technique and optimisation.
Lastly, there’s the city enchancment system, which centres round administration of Rias’ store, Mistletoe Miscellaneous. Right here, you possibly can inventory gadgets you’ve synthesised, rent fairies as employees, and customise the inside to your liking. Because the store sells wares, you possibly can each flip a revenue and degree up numerous components of Hallfein.
It’s additionally potential to enhance the city by taking over non-compulsory facet quests and partaking in different actions round city. Sure outlets, gadgets, and customer characters grow to be accessible as Hallfein grows, however seeing the struggling locale’s situation visibly enhance over the course of the sport provides a rewarding sense of development in itself.
On that notice, I fairly loved the restrained and laid-back nature of the story. Whereas it’s not with out its high-stakes moments and occasional twists to maintain issues fascinating, Rias and Slade’s journey feels refreshingly quaint with a higher emphasis on character dynamics. It helps that the principle forged is made up of supremely likeable and charming individuals who come alive because of fluid animation work and fully-voiced cutscenes.
The folks you meet are compassionate and keen to lend a serving to hand far as a rule, and it’s straightforward to root for the group as they rally behind Hallfein’s restoration. It is probably not everybody’s tonal cup of tea, however the entire thing simply comes off as very nice and earnestly candy with out falling into saccharine territory.
You will spend an entire lot of time with these characters, too, with an ample quantity of cutscenes each all through the principle story and inside non-compulsory character episodes and facet quests. These story segments are typically pleasurable for the explanations described above, though there actually are a ton of them, and they are often relatively long-winded at instances.
Cutscenes are additionally straightforward to set off, even if you don’t intend to. Going to a sure space or chatting with a sure character could cause a number of cutscenes to stack, robotically taking part in out one after one other and bringing progress to a screeching halt. Suffice to say, there are many spans when all you are able to do is ready down the controller and watch issues play out.
It’s additionally value mentioning that each the principle story and facet content material function a bunch of returning characters from Atelier historical past who make up many of the main and supporting forged, together with the majority of your get together members. Fortunately, the sport doesn’t let this crossover ingredient overpower the core narrative and successfully introduces everybody with out a lot confusion. That stated, you’ll positively get way more out of all of the little nods and references embedded within the story when you’re acquainted with earlier entries.
You will even be relieved to listen to that Atelier Resleriana seems on Swap with out egregious efficiency concessions. The sport ran at what seemed to be a rock-solid 30 frames per second all through my playthrough, which feels fluid sufficient to suit its moment-to-moment gameplay.
Visuals have positively taken the best hit, as it may well get fairly blurry and jaggy in handheld mode. Fortunately, the stylised artwork path shines by even within the messier moments. Atelier Resleriana on Swap is probably not as sharp or as clean as it’s on different platforms, but it surely nonetheless performs simply high-quality and stands as a more-than-viable model.
Conclusion
Between a restrained scope and construction that harkens again to the Atelier video games of outdated, a bevvy of contemporary gameplay twists to name its personal, and a metric ton of fanservice for veterans, Atelier Resleriana: The Crimson Alchemist & the White Guardian looks like a triumphant celebration of your complete collection’ legacy.
Extra importantly, it’s only a actually nice RPG expertise. Appropriately, it mixes collectively a bunch of high quality elements — a heartwarming narrative, strategic and dynamic turn-based fight, advanced crafting methods — and synthesises them right into a jolly little romp of an journey. There’s actually a bump within the street or two, however the trip is simply too pleasurable to linger on these for lengthy.
