Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Recollections & the Envisioned Land PC Steam Deck Assessment

Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Recollections & the Envisioned Land is the most recent entry within the long-running Atelier collection, introducing contemporary adjustments to its characters, narrative, and lore. It presents a singular tackle alchemy, shifting it from a revered self-discipline to a forbidden and shunned observe. The sport additionally introduces a number of intriguing ideas, from its expansive world-building to the mysteries surrounding its historical past. Nevertheless, regardless of these promising concepts, the execution falls brief, making it troublesome for the participant to totally interact with the story and mechanics.

Set in a world the place the Aladissian Empire as soon as flourished via alchemy, the sport explores its downfall following a catastrophic occasion believed to have been attributable to the very craft that after sustained it. Centuries later, alchemy is outlawed and thought of taboo. The story follows Yumia Reisfelt, a younger alchemist ostracized for her ardour. After shedding her mom in a tragic accident three years prior, Yumia learns of her household’s deep ties to alchemy and resolves to observe in her mom’s footsteps. This choice leads her on a quest to uncover the reality behind the autumn of Aladis, the thriller surrounding her mom’s dying, and the explanations behind alchemy’s condemnation. Alongside the best way, she allies with the Aladis Analysis Workforce, whose members every have their very own private motivations, additional including layers to the overarching thriller.

A Distinctive Narrative In a Completely different World

Atelier Yumia’s story gives gamers an alternate world fairly totally different from earlier video games. Alchemists aren’t beloved or thought of useful people however are shunned for utilizing a forbidden craft. Alchemy’s origins are additionally totally different and tied to a previous civilization, and the character of Mana and the way alchemy operates are additionally totally different. Whereas these new ideas are attention-grabbing and distinctive, they’re not introduced or executed in an entertaining approach. The plot boils right down to Yumia and her mates touring throughout the continent discovering the origins of alchemy and Aladis, however not a lot comes from it, nor are the discoveries that thrilling.

Every mission mainly includes Yumia’s group shifting from one location to the following, clearing up dense miasma-like Manabounds that prohibit motion, and serving to folks with their discoveries. The one thrilling moments of the narrative are when gamers encounter the sport’s few bosses, who’re all attention-grabbing and have their very own mysteries to find. The characters, together with Yumia, whereas endearing in their very own methods, are additionally fairly bland and lack depth. And whereas not overly tropey, they persist with the identical fundamental character tropes seen in anime and JRPGs. 

Enjoyable however Flawed Gameplay

When it comes to gameplay, Atelier Yumia is sort of a blended bag. The sport consists of some new options which are each extremely handy and enjoyable, however some which are nearly the exact opposite. For instance, the brand new Easy Synthesis function permits gamers to craft issues on the sector and on the fly, like bandages, tenting kits for resting, zip line gloves, and extra. These are extremely handy and make exploring much less monotonous and tedious. Nevertheless, the brand new Vitality system is a major instance of an inconvenient and sometimes annoying new aspect. Yumia has an vitality vial that permits her to do mainly all the pieces from sprinting to dispelling Manabounds. Nevertheless, vitality runs out fairly rapidly, particularly when traversing Manabound areas, and enormous jumps, a core a part of traversal, turns into inconceivable till gamers discover constructions or crops that refill their Vitality vial. Whereas this method isn’t all the time annoying, it does really feel prefer it was needlessly tacked on to make exploring unnecessarily extra tedious in hopes of being tougher.

Talking of tedious parts, among the worst parts of Atelier Yumia are navigation and  traversal. Shifting throughout the map is downright torture, because it includes making an attempt to navigate the place to go, what construction is climbable and the way, whether or not or not you’ll want to climb issues, and the way the dynamic climate system closely impacts the visibility at night time, which is already fairly low. What’s worse is that if your vitality is totally depleted when navigating complicated flora and forests, and you may’t bounce or run, which makes motion depressing.

Essentially the most obtrusive difficulty with Atelier Yumia on PC is its poor efficiency, significantly on the Steam Deck. Whereas I didn’t encounter any crashes or main glitches, the body charge is constantly dreadful, considerably impacting the gameplay expertise. Exploring ranges is suffering from frequent and extreme drops, particularly within the sport’s opening space and densely populated areas stuffed with flora and monsters. Even fight isn’t spared from these technical points, although the body charge dips happen much less steadily than throughout exploration. These efficiency issues make traversal irritating and detract from the general immersion.

Your Fight Will Lack Depth

Aside from that, the Synthesis system is generally much like fashionable video games like Atelier Ryza. Gamers accumulate elements as they roam the world and head again to Yumia’s atelier to craft objects and equipment. You utilize particles collected throughout exploration so as to add extra traits equivalent to particular results and elemental bonuses, improve already-made objects, and study new helpful recipes. The system is notably a lot quicker and streamlined as a result of auto craft system and how briskly and straightforward it’s to seek out and use supplies. General, the crafting system is maybe one of the best the collection has been shortly.

When it comes to fight, combating enemies and managers is enjoyable and feels seamless however the fight system notably lacks depth. Every character in Yumia’s occasion has a handful of abilities they will use in fight. Nevertheless, these abilities are restricted and get repetitive rapidly, and new abilities get unlocked very slowly, which is disappointing. Gamers may craft elemental fight instruments like frost axes or a flamberge, however these instruments don’t do a lot harm in comparison with common abilities.

As fight is turn-based and characters have few particular abilities exterior linked assaults, combating enemies in Atelier Yumia is overly easy and will get boring rapidly. Nevertheless, combating bosses is all the time enjoyable as gamers should strategize with their choices and discover methods to mix all of them throughout these uncommon, difficult moments.

Closing Ideas

Regardless of its flaws, Atelier Yumia does have redeeming qualities, significantly in its crafting system and visible presentation. The synthesis mechanics stay probably the most refined facets of the sport, making merchandise creation each environment friendly and rewarding. The world itself is superbly crafted, with wealthy environments and detailed character designs that showcase the collection’ signature allure. The facial animations and expressions are notably well-done, including life to interactions. Moreover, the sport options one of many strongest soundtracks within the collection, additional immersing gamers in its world. These parts elevate the expertise, even when different facets battle to keep up engagement. Lastly, the sport performs effectively on PS5 as I encountered zero bugs or crashes.

Sadly, these strengths are sometimes overshadowed by irritating gameplay mechanics and a scarcity of depth in fight and exploration. The vitality system feels unnecessarily restrictive, making traversal extra of a chore than an enticing function. Fight, whereas initially pleasurable, rapidly turns into repetitive as a result of restricted ability selection and gradual development of latest skills. Whereas boss battles present occasional pleasure, they’re few and much between, leaving a lot of the sport feeling monotonous.

In the long run, Atelier Yumia is a sport stuffed with potential however hindered by design decisions that detract from its total enjoyment. Whereas future updates might enhance its efficiency and steadiness, because it stands, it stays a blended expertise that struggles to succeed in the heights of its predecessors.