Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Reminiscences & the Envisioned Land is the newest entry within the long-running Atelier sequence, introducing recent modifications 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 quick, making it tough for the participant to completely have interaction with the story and mechanics.
Set in a world the place the Aladissian Empire as soon as flourished by way of alchemy, the sport explores its downfall following a catastrophic occasion believed to have been brought on by the very craft that when sustained it. Centuries later, alchemy is outlawed and regarded 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 comply with in her mom’s footsteps. This determination leads her on a quest to uncover the reality behind the autumn of Aladis, the thriller surrounding her mom’s loss of life, and the explanations behind alchemy’s condemnation. Alongside the best way, she allies with the Aladis Analysis Group, whose members every have their very own private motivations, additional including layers to the overarching thriller.
A Distinctive Narrative In a Totally different World
Atelier Yumia’s story affords 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 offered or executed in an entertaining method. 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 transferring from one location to the following, clearing up dense miasma-like Manabounds that prohibit motion, and serving to individuals 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 keep on with the identical fundamental character tropes seen in anime and JRPGs.Â
Enjoyable however Flawed Gameplay
When it comes to gameplay, Atelier Yumia is sort of a combined bag. The sport consists of some new options which can be each extremely handy and enjoyable, however some which can be virtually the exact opposite. For instance, the brand new Easy Synthesis characteristic permits gamers to craft issues on the sphere 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 Power system is a first-rate instance of an inconvenient and sometimes annoying new aspect. Yumia has an vitality vial that permits her to do mainly every little thing from sprinting to dispelling Manabounds. Nevertheless, vitality runs out fairly rapidly, particularly when traversing Manabound areas, and huge jumps, a core a part of traversal, turns into not possible till gamers discover buildings or crops that refill their Power vial. Whereas this technique isn’t at all times 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, a number of the worst parts of Atelier Yumia are navigation and traversal. Shifting throughout the map is downright torture, because it includes attempting 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 soar or run, which makes motion depressing.
Essentially the most obvious subject with Atelier Yumia on PC is its poor efficiency, notably on the Steam Deck. Whereas I didn’t encounter any crashes or main glitches, the body price is persistently 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 crammed with flora and monsters. Even fight isn’t spared from these technical points, although the body price dips happen much less often than throughout exploration. These efficiency issues make traversal irritating and detract from the general immersion.
Your Fight Will Lack Depth
Apart from that, the Synthesis system is generally much like trendy video games like Atelier Ryza. Gamers acquire components as they roam the world and head again to Yumia’s atelier to craft gadgets and equipment. You utilize particles collected throughout exploration so as to add extra traits comparable to particular results and elemental bonuses, improve already-made gadgets, and be taught new helpful recipes. The system is notably a lot quicker and streamlined because of the auto craft system and how briskly and straightforward it’s to seek out and use supplies. General, the crafting system is probably one of the best the sequence has been shortly.
When it comes to fight, preventing enemies and executives is enjoyable and feels seamless however the fight system notably lacks depth. Every character in Yumia’s celebration has a handful of expertise they’ll use in fight. Nevertheless, these expertise are restricted and get repetitive rapidly, and new expertise get unlocked very slowly, which is disappointing. Gamers may also craft elemental fight instruments like frost axes or a flamberge, however these instruments don’t do a lot injury in comparison with common expertise.
As fight is turn-based and characters have few particular expertise outdoors linked assaults, preventing enemies in Atelier Yumia is overly easy and will get boring rapidly. Nevertheless, preventing bosses is at all times 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, notably in its crafting system and visible presentation. The synthesis mechanics stay some of the refined elements 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 sequence’ signature attraction. The facial animations and expressions are notably well-done, including life to interactions. Moreover, the sport options one of many strongest soundtracks within the sequence, additional immersing gamers in its world. These parts elevate the expertise, even when different elements battle to take care of 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 an absence of depth in fight and exploration. The vitality system feels unnecessarily restrictive, making traversal extra of a chore than an enticing characteristic. Fight, whereas initially pleasurable, rapidly turns into repetitive because of the restricted talent selection and sluggish development of recent 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 crammed with potential however hindered by design decisions that detract from its total enjoyment. Whereas future updates might enhance its efficiency and stability, because it stands, it stays a combined expertise that struggles to succeed in the heights of its predecessors.
The Assessment
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Reminiscences & the Envisioned Land
PROS
Nice visuals Nice soundtrack
CONS
Terrible efficiency Boring fight
