There’s one thing each thrilling and terrifying a few new sport in a beloved franchise. As an enormous fan of the Atelier sequence, I felt each of those emotions going into Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Recollections & the Envisioned Land, particularly because the preliminary trailers one thing of a departure. Would Yumia dwell as much as my hopes for the Atelier sequence?
Atelier Yumia is the most recent addition to the Atelier franchise and the primary principal sport within the sequence for the reason that finish of the Atelier Ryza trilogy, which introduced a wave of recent consideration to the decades-spanning sequence (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 quite a bit driving on it as the way forward for the franchise.
For individuals who are simply stepping into Atelier, the franchise is break up up into a number of sequence which have their very own story and continuity, and Yumia is the beginning of the brand new Envisioned subseries. Because of this Yumia is in some ways designed as an entry level to the Atelier sequence. You want no earlier data of Atelier to play this. All of that is to say that, if you’re somebody who’s curious concerning the sequence, this is perhaps a great entry level, as a result of Yumia is a wonderful sport each for newcomers and present followers alike.
Atelier Yumia is ready in a world the place alchemy is taboo, the reason for earlier calamity on this planet and, a drive of destruction. Yumia, an alchemist, has joined a analysis group to research 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. To date 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 actual pleasure, very like 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 function, to keep away from comparability, however she’s a pleasant character to comply with round. I additionally actually benefit from the interactions with Yumia, the analysis group, and her social gathering of character. Yumia, in contrast to many different Atelier protagonists, doesn’t know any social gathering members forward of time, so you are feeling the characters develop collectively. It is 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 plenty of focus is put into the exploration, which is a pleasure in Atelier Yumia. All through your expertise with the analysis group an enormous focus is on pioneering targets, as they set up themselves on this area. Along with principal and aspect quests you might have completely different targets which unlock extra in every of the sport’s areas. The extra you discover, the extra elements you discover, which ends up in the traditional Atelier gameplay loop of exploring to seek out elements, going again to your atelier to make use of alchemy to make new objects, and utilizing these objects in fight to get additional and discover extra. It’s a very nice loop that works in Yumia properly.
There are additionally new programs at play in Atelier Yumia. For the primary time you may make some primary objects on the fly within the area. Primary bandages for therapeutic, bullets in your gun workers (sure, your principal weapon is a workers that can 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 enable 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 several components of the world by constructing an area for alchemy, a container for elements, and the opposite belongings you want. The objects you craft for constructing use the decrease high quality elements you choose up, which can be good as a result of this provides a function to each merchandise you choose up, even in case you wouldn’t usually use it in your alchemy.
The fight can be actually fulfilling. Somewhat than returning to the flip based mostly fight of earlier titles, Yumia expands upon the motion fight of Ryza and improves upon it, making you comply with enemy assault patterns, dodge assaults and use fight expertise in addition to objects you crafted with alchemy. It’s not fairly a full motion RPG but it surely seems like a pleasant stability – 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 seems like an Atelier sport, which is one thing I discover to be fairly outstanding. This sport is making an attempt for lots of various issues and is clearly the Atelier group’s try to increase 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 similar, the characters really feel like Atelier characters, however additionally they achieve this a lot new. I feel this strikes an ideal stability of making an attempt new issues however nonetheless in the end making an Atelier sport.
Sadly, there may be one large caveat to this expertise, and that’s the visuals and efficiency on Swap. Whereas plenty of the artwork designs look nice and there are a lot of moments the place the sport appears to be like stunning, it’s very clear that the expertise was not tailor-made to the Swap’s {hardware}. Once 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 principle open world space it appears to be like quite a bit higher, which is nice, but it surely nonetheless wasn’t an excellent first impression. The framerate, whereas often secure, can be not one of the best. All of this has led to a sport that, whereas very playable on Swap, is clearly not optimized for Swap. I ponder how Atelier Yumia will play on Swap 2 or different consoles. For those who solely have a Swap or (like me) get pleasure from taking part in Atelier video games on Swap then this shouldn’t cease you, simply know that there are a number of moments that really feel irritating based mostly off of the sport’s efficiency.
That each one being mentioned, Atelier Yumia is a sport I feel it’s best to expertise, both if you’re an skilled Atelier fan or are in search of a brand new entry level into the sequence. Whereas I’ve but to complete the sport (therefore why this can be a evaluation in progress)I’m totally having fun with all the pieces new and previous that Atelier Yumia has to supply. If that is the way forward for the Atelier sequence, the long run is wanting shiny for Atelier followers.
