In terms of the Atelier sequence, selection is the spice of life. One would possibly suppose that greater than 25 video games deep into developer Gust’s long-running RPG sequence, the sheen of that trademark gameplay loop of accumulating supplies, studying recipes, and crafting objects through alchemy would begin to boring a bit of. But, with the introduction of every new entry and corresponding sub-series, Atelier always finds methods to reinvent itself and supply a novel spin on its tried-and-true gameplay techniques. 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 Pink Alchemist & the White Guardian, the twenty seventh mainline entry within the sequence, 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 serious crossover occasion that comes with characters from previous entries, and a self-proclaimed return to the sequence’ turn-based roots. On the identical time, it’s additionally very a lot its personal factor, chronicling an authentic story with new leads and recent gameplay ideas.
A lesser recreation is likely to be crushed below the load of all of the issues Atelier Resleriana is meant to be, but it manages to dovetail every duty right into a cohesive entire. The consequence is likely one of the stronger Atelier releases lately and, fortunately, an satisfying 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 Night time (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 facility of alchemy to revive their hometown to its former glory and uncover the thriller behind its downfall.
In step with its narrative focus, Atelier Resleriana’s gameplay is outlined by three key areas: exploring the world and its dungeons whereas accumulating alchemy substances and battling enemies; synthesising and strengthening new objects through alchemy recipes on the atelier; and bettering the standard of the city by promoting objects at Rias’ retailer or taking over further quests and facet actions. Every strand is well-defined with its personal set of intricacies and techniques to study, and the best way all three interweave makes participating with every one key to development.
The sport’s refreshed alchemy system sees you combining substances to provide objects and tools to your get together. Supplies possess two distinct color attributes that should be chained collectively to successfully move 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 all the time do one of the best job of explaining all of the need-to-know ins and outs. This opaqueness could be irritating, particularly as just a few battles within the mid-to-late recreation ramp up the problem to check your crafting mastery.
You accumulate supplies by exploring places and progressing by way of a slew of floor-based dungeons with procedurally generated interiors that change upon every go to. The act of accumulating supplies basically boils right down to hitting a button to immediately harvest helpful stuff with ease. You’ll be able to collect one handful of things after one other inside seconds, and having a continuing inflow of worthwhile substances 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 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. Get together members who act in succession may also observe up one another’s actions with further assaults.
The fundamentals of fight could also be simple, however Atelier Resleriana additionally contains a number of key mechanics that maintain battles feeling dynamic and recent. 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 a complete further layer to battles.
In the meantime, the Multi-Motion mechanic permits you to spend collected Technical Factors to offer 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 primary fighter for somebody on the again line. This twist permits you to carry out some fairly devastating combos whereas holding 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 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 may inventory objects you’ve synthesised, rent fairies as employees, and customise the inside to your liking. Because the store sells wares, you may each flip a revenue and degree up numerous elements of Hallfein.
It’s additionally attainable to enhance the city by taking over elective facet quests and partaking in different actions round city. Sure retailers, objects, and customer characters develop into accessible as Hallfein grows, however seeing the struggling locale’s situation visibly enhance over the course of the sport presents a rewarding sense of development in itself.
On that observe, 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 attention-grabbing, Rias and Slade’s journey feels refreshingly quaint with a higher 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 individuals 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 workforce 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 may spend a complete lot of time with these characters, too, with an ample quantity of cutscenes each all through the primary story and inside elective character episodes and facet quests. These story segments are typically satisfying for the explanations described above, though there actually are a ton of them, and they are often reasonably long-winded at instances.
Cutscenes are additionally straightforward to set off, even once you don’t intend to. Going to a sure space or talking to a sure character could cause a number of cutscenes to stack, mechanically 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 primary story and facet content material characteristic a bunch of returning characters from Atelier historical past who make up a lot of the main and supporting forged, together with the majority of your get together members. Fortunately, the sport doesn’t let this crossover aspect overpower the core narrative and successfully introduces everybody with out a lot confusion. That stated, you’ll positively get far more out of all of the little nods and references embedded within the story for those who’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 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 could possibly get fairly blurry and jaggy in handheld mode. Fortunately, the stylised artwork path shines by way of even within the messier moments. Atelier Resleriana on Swap is probably not as sharp or as easy as it’s on different platforms, nevertheless it nonetheless performs simply tremendous and stands as a more-than-viable model.
Conclusion
Between a restrained scope and construction that harkens again to the Atelier video games of previous, a bevvy of recent gameplay twists to name its personal, and a metric ton of fanservice for veterans, Atelier Resleriana: The Pink Alchemist & the White Guardian looks like a triumphant celebration of your complete sequence’ legacy.
Extra importantly, it’s only a actually nice RPG expertise. Appropriately, it mixes collectively a bunch of high quality substances — a heartwarming narrative, strategic and dynamic turn-based fight, complicated crafting techniques — 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 satisfying to linger on these for lengthy.
