Relating to the Atelier collection, selection is the spice of life. One may suppose that greater than 25 video games deep into developer Gust’s long-running RPG collection, the sheen of that trademark gameplay loop of gathering supplies, studying recipes, and crafting gadgets through alchemy would begin to uninteresting a bit of. But, with the introduction of every new entry and corresponding sub-series, Atelier consistently finds methods to reinvent itself and supply 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 id.
That’s why Atelier Resleriana: The Crimson Alchemist & the White Guardian, the twenty seventh mainline entry within the collection, is such an advanced sport to elucidate. A lot of its id is owed to what got here earlier than it. It’s concurrently a standalone sequel to a free-to-play gacha sport, a significant crossover occasion that includes characters from previous entries, and a self-proclaimed return to the collection’ turn-based roots. On the identical time, it’s additionally very a lot its personal factor, chronicling an unique story with new leads and contemporary gameplay ideas.
A lesser sport may be crushed below the load of all of the issues Atelier Resleriana is meant to be, but it manages to dovetail every accountability right into a cohesive complete. The consequence is without doubt one of the stronger Atelier releases in recent times and, fortunately, an pleasing expertise that continues to be 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 cellular 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 ability of alchemy to revive their hometown to its former glory and uncover the thriller behind its downfall.
In line with its narrative focus, Atelier Resleriana’s gameplay is outlined by three key areas: exploring the world and its dungeons whereas gathering alchemy components 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 up extra quests and aspect actions. Every strand is well-defined with its personal set of intricacies and methods to be taught, and the way in which all three interweave makes participating with each key to development.
The sport’s refreshed alchemy system sees you combining components to supply gadgets and gear to your get together. Supplies possess two distinct color attributes that should be chained collectively to successfully move on distinctive traits and results. It could 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 the very best job of explaining all of the need-to-know ins and outs. This opaqueness may be irritating, particularly as a couple of battles within the mid-to-late sport ramp up the problem to check your crafting mastery.
You accumulate supplies by exploring places and progressing by means of a slew of floor-based dungeons with procedurally generated interiors that change upon every go to. The act of gathering supplies basically 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 continuing inflow of beneficial components 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 may be expanded and improved through a talent 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 quickly stun them. Occasion members who act in succession also can observe up one another’s actions with further assaults.
The fundamentals of fight could also be easy, however Atelier Resleriana additionally contains a number of key mechanics that hold battles feeling dynamic and contemporary. Arguably the largest is the presence of a visual flip timeline à la Pokémon Legends: Arceus, which you need to use to plan out your technique a number of strikes upfront, and even manipulate to vary flip timings and procure 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 extra layer to battles.
In the meantime, the Multi-Motion mechanic permits you to spend gathered Technical Factors to offer an energetic 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 primary fighter for somebody on the again line. This twist permits you to carry out some fairly devastating combos whereas protecting 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 basic turn-based RPG fare and more energizing 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’ll be able to inventory gadgets you’ve synthesised, rent fairies as employees, and customise the inside to your liking. Because the store sells wares, you’ll be able to each flip a revenue and stage up numerous components of Hallfein.
It’s additionally attainable to enhance the city by taking up optionally available aspect quests and partaking in different actions round city. Sure retailers, gadgets, and customer characters change into accessible as Hallfein grows, however seeing the struggling locale’s situation visibly enhance over the course of the sport affords a rewarding sense of development in itself.
On that word, 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 better emphasis on character dynamics. It helps that the primary forged is made up of supremely likeable and charming individuals who come alive due to fluid animation work and fully-voiced cutscenes.
The folks you meet are compassionate and prepared to lend a serving to hand far most of the time, and it’s straightforward to root for the crew as they rally behind Hallfein’s restoration. It might not be 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 may spend an entire lot of time with these characters, too, with an ample quantity of cutscenes each all through the primary story and inside optionally available character episodes and aspect quests. These story segments are typically pleasing for the explanations described above, though there actually are a ton of them, and they are often fairly long-winded at instances.
Cutscenes are additionally straightforward to set off, even while 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 enjoying 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 about down the controller and watch issues play out.
It’s additionally value mentioning that each the primary story and aspect content material characteristic 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 component overpower the core narrative and successfully introduces everybody with out a lot confusion. That mentioned, you’ll positively get way more out of all of the little nods and references embedded within the story when you’re conversant in earlier entries.
You may even be relieved to listen to that Atelier Resleriana seems on Swap with out egregious efficiency concessions. The sport ran at what gave the impression 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 get fairly blurry and jaggy in handheld mode. Fortunately, the stylised artwork course shines by means of even within the messier moments. Atelier Resleriana on Swap might not be as sharp or as easy as it’s on different platforms, but it surely nonetheless performs simply nice 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 seems like a triumphant celebration of the whole collection’ legacy.
Extra importantly, it’s only a actually nice RPG expertise. Appropriately, it mixes collectively a bunch of high quality components — a heartwarming narrative, strategic and dynamic turn-based fight, complicated crafting methods — and synthesises them right into a jolly little romp of an journey. There’s definitely a bump within the street or two, however the trip is just too pleasing to linger on these for lengthy.
