There’s one thing each thrilling and terrifying a few new sport in a beloved franchise. As an enormous fan of the Atelier collection, I felt each of those emotions going into Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Reminiscences & the Envisioned Land, particularly because the preliminary trailers appeared to be one thing of a departure. Would Yumia dwell as much as my hopes for the Atelier collection?
Atelier Yumia is the newest addition to the Atelier franchise and the primary important sport within the collection because the finish of the Atelier Ryza trilogy, which introduced a wave of latest consideration to the decades-spanning collection (not together with the free to play gacha sport Atelier Resleriana, which is ending service on the finish of this month). Due to the brand new eyes that have been on Ryza, Yumia has loads driving on it as the way forward for the franchise.
For many who are simply moving into Atelier, the franchise is break up up into a number of collection which have their very own story and continuity, and Yumia is the beginning of the brand new Envisioned subseries. Which means Yumia is in some ways designed as an entry level to the Atelier collection. You want no earlier information of Atelier to play this. All of that is to say that, in case you are somebody who’s curious concerning the collection, this could be entry level, as a result of Yumia is a superb sport each for newcomers and current followers alike.
Atelier Yumia is about in a world the place alchemy is taboo, the reason for earlier calamity on this planet and, a pressure of destruction. Yumia, an alchemist, has joined a analysis crew to analyze the fallen Aladissian empire. Alongside the best way she meets different characters who’ve ties to alchemy, explores the land and learns extra concerning the previous of the empire and the characters themselves. Thus far this story is strong – the darker tone of alchemy and its relationship with the world jogs my memory a little bit of the Nightfall subseries. As of writing I’ve put a number of hours on this sport however I really feel like I haven’t come near discovering its secrets and techniques. The true pleasure, very similar to different Atelier video games, is within the characters. Yumia is a compelling character, who has to navigate alchemy as a forbidden artwork with the folks round her. She’s very completely different to Ryza, which I think about was on objective, to keep away from comparability, however she’s a pleasant character to observe round. I additionally actually benefit from the interactions with Yumia, the analysis crew, and her social gathering of character. Yumia, not like many different Atelier protagonists, doesn’t know any social gathering members forward of time, so you’re feeling the characters develop collectively. This can be a enjoyable dynamic, and I like simply how completely different Yumia’s circumstances really feel from the everyday Atelier protagonist.
The world of Atelier Yumia is an open world and a whole lot of focus is put into the exploration, which is a pleasure in Atelier Yumia. All through your expertise with the analysis crew an enormous focus is on pioneering objectives, as they set up themselves on this area. Along with important and aspect quests you will have completely different objectives which unlock extra in every of the sport’s areas. The extra you discover, the extra elements you discover, which ends up in the basic Atelier gameplay loop of exploring to search out elements, going again to your atelier to make use of alchemy to make new gadgets, and utilizing these gadgets in fight to get additional and discover extra. It’s a extremely nice loop that works in Yumia nicely.
There are additionally new techniques at play in Atelier Yumia. For the primary time you may make some fundamental gadgets on the fly within the area. Primary bandages for therapeutic, bullets to your gun workers (sure, your important weapon is a workers that can also be a gun, whoever got here up with this deserves a elevate), and instruments for exploring. There’s additionally an entire building system the place, in particular areas that permit for constructing, you are able to do base constructing. Whereas I haven’t gotten into the beauty aspect of this a lot but, there’s something good about with the ability to make basically a second Atelier in numerous elements of the world by constructing an area for alchemy, a container for elements, and the opposite stuff you want. The gadgets you craft for constructing use the decrease high quality elements you choose up, which can also be good as a result of this provides a objective to each merchandise you choose up, even should you wouldn’t sometimes use it in your alchemy.
The fight can also be actually satisfying. Slightly than returning to the flip primarily based fight of earlier titles, Yumia expands upon the motion fight of Ryza and improves upon it, making you observe enemy assault patterns, dodge assaults and use fight expertise in addition to gadgets you crafted with alchemy. It’s not fairly a full motion RPG however it appears like a pleasant steadiness – the fight flows properly and feels tactile, but in addition strategic.
Regardless of all these adjustments and additions, one of many issues I need to stress most is simply how a lot Atelier Yumia appears like an Atelier sport, which is one thing I discover to be fairly exceptional. This sport is making an attempt for lots of various issues and is clearly the Atelier crew’s try and broaden what the franchise can appear like, however there are such a lot of little moments that simply really feel like Atelier. The core gameplay loop is identical, the characters really feel like Atelier characters, however in addition they accomplish that a lot new. I believe this strikes an ideal steadiness of trying new issues however nonetheless in the end making an Atelier sport.
Sadly, there’s one massive caveat to this expertise, and that’s the visuals and efficiency on Change. Whereas a whole lot of the artwork designs look nice and there are lots of moments the place the sport appears stunning, it’s very clear that the expertise was not tailor-made to the Change’s {hardware}. After I first began the sport, the placement for the tutorial made my coronary heart sink, with textures that regarded, frankly, dangerous. When you get to the primary open world space it appears loads higher, which is sweet, however it nonetheless wasn’t a fantastic first impression. The framerate, whereas often steady, can also be not one of the best. All of this has led to a sport that, whereas very playable on Change, is clearly not optimized for Change. I ponder how Atelier Yumia will play on Change 2 or different consoles. For those who solely have a Change or (like me) get pleasure from taking part in Atelier video games on Change then this shouldn’t cease you, simply know that there are a number of moments that really feel irritating primarily based off of the sport’s efficiency.
That each one being mentioned, Atelier Yumia is a sport I believe it’s best to expertise, both in case you are an skilled Atelier fan or are on the lookout for a brand new entry level into the collection. Whereas I’ve but to complete the sport (therefore why this can be a assessment in progress)I’m completely having fun with every part new and previous that Atelier Yumia has to supply. If that is the way forward for the Atelier collection, the longer term is trying vibrant for Atelier followers.
