Atelier Yumia | REVIEW | PC

''EVOLUTION IS A MYSTERY. A SMALL CHANGE THAT NO ONE SEES''

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Developed: Koei Tecmo

Published: Koei Tecmo

Genre: RPG

Release Date: March 21st,2025

Platforms: PC/PS5/PS4/Xbox Family/Switch

Review copy provided to me by Koei Tecmo

Atelier Yumia is the latest entry into this long running franchise an it is developed and published by Koei Tecmo. With his generation seeing a resurgence of the RPG market, which to me is a great thing, Koei Tecmo decides its time to bring this charming and cozy series back once more with a brand new entry Atelier Yumia The Alchemist of Memories and The Envisioned Land. Questionable long name aside, was this the right call give another entry to? or should it have been kept on the back burner a little longer? Only one way to find out, so lets go!

''THE GIRLS ARE BACK IN TOWN''

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GAMEPLAY:

Charming and a cozy RPG franchise is really what best describes the long running Atelier franchise, one that extends over 20 different titles over the last 28 years. While that may seem like a ton of entries, sure, it definitely is, it better watch its back because the way Naughty Dog is working right now, there will be more remasters of the first two The Last Of Us games than the entirety of the Atelier franchise.. I mean heck there's already more remastered title in that series than mainline entries so... hey it can happen. But number of entries aside, Atelier has stood the test of time for simple reasons like being centered around things like item crafting, loveable character and easy to get into RPG mechanics that makes it more accessible to a wider audience to play without making people learn 500 different mechanics as some RPG's tend to do.. I'm talking to you Star Ocean. In Atelier Yumia, the game follows a girl named Yumia as she attempts to master the art of alchemy, which if you're familiar, you know is a mainstay in this franchise and one of the core aspects that ties them all together, and it uses alchemy this go around to craft an intricate system of narrative that pushes the story forward, alongside its combat and exploration, making it really the first title in many years that utilizes all these elements to its advantages, rather than picking one to test out and a lesser focus on the remaining - nope, this time its all in on all aspects and hoping it all pays off for them. Usually jack of all trades ends badly for games because if you focused on 3 or 4 things, then no ONE thing itself is great as you're spread thin, however, here in Atelier Yumia, surprisingly it works rather well, unlike myself when I bring the groceries thinking I can carry more than I can hold in my arms and either I end up falling an whiffing it or bottles of ragu slam and splatter all over the floor. Be like Atelier Yumia, not like me, dont have your neighbors stop and stare at you and secretly laugh at you as you roll around in sauce and pain. BE BETTER, DO BETTER. My trauma aside, lets get back to talking about the game itself, otherwise you'll have an hour long compilation of my daily Charlie Brown fails.

While some things stay the same in this entry that still keeps the core value of what fans know, love and expect from it all these years, it still attempts to revolutionize itself departing from just gradually progressing entry by entry like past titles have done in playing it safe with incremental updates to string you along every new title, this time they decide to go for broke and jump into the realm of open world design. While that might instill heavy sighs or annoyance to people that are tired of everyone and their mama's franchise going open world these days, even my girl Hello Kitty doing so as well, the end more than justifies the means in this case and makes that abundantly clear as you set out to find Yumia's atelier, which is a workshop for fellow alchemists, In which makes you journey through vast areas that puts you in the mindset of ''awe'' similar to my reaction when I first entered the Grasslands in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth or first time stepping foot into the Great Plateau in Breath Of The Wild - the world design is simply gorgeous. By elevating its scale compared to previous entries into the series and adding more intricate and immersive environments, you get to bask in the great visuals that go hand in hand with the mechanics of the game itself, both in movement based mechanics, battle mechanics and its a parkour system that's powered by Yumia's alchemical heels. Move over Dororthy, go find aunty or crush another wicked witch with house because we got some new OP heels and unlike you, we dont need to click them 3 times to wish to go home because were perfectly content in staying in this world where were not surrounded by demon kids who wont stop singing and dancing. Introducing a base building mechanic, on a different than you may have previously remembered from the Atelier Ryza trilogy, players are able to express their own creative freedoms by customizing your very own atelier, picking your designs, construct buildings, adding new paint and even using resource nodes for things like mushroom patches to grow or wells for water, which if you know me is once again a BAD thing, but not in the BAD way you're thinking. Why is this ''BAD?'', simple, because when you give me building mechanics or ways to create my own shelters or headquarters in games, I simply forget about the main story nearly ever single time and spend countless hours just creating my own comfy cozy housing sections... and that tradition continues here. Sorry main story, you me to continue? well, just like Steve Rogers, ''No.. I dont think I will''. But there's a few things that long time fans might be weary about, mainly people that have PTSD from the Iris era of this franchise in which things went a little TOO unconventional for some fans of the series liking and Atelier Yumia here attempts that again by doing away with the need for a cauldron or fixed alchemy locations and tries to integrate these changes in a way that still maintains the feel of the franchise, without keeping it stuck in one place too, in the hopes that pays off and evolves the franchise to a brand new level. Its a scary gamble, sure, many franchises have attempted this type of moving forward and expanding of their titles, only to crash and burn and ruin the reputation of a franchise, luckily to my own dismay, it works out just fine for Atelier Yumia and makes it feel both familiar and distinct.

Here in Atelier Yumia, you play as, of course, Yuma who shifts from what you expect out of a typical Atelier alchemist and arms herself for combat sake with a staff that doubles as a rifle, because... why not I guess? Its a little weird yes, sorta like in the vein of Squalls Gunblade in Final Fantasy 8, but at least its not as cringe worthy and redundant as having a gun for a leg like in Planet Terror. Please, dont google that or watch it, just dont. Shes bold and fearless and exuberates a ton of confidence, which makes you like her nearly immediately from the start of the game and unlike previous games where the core theme of alchemy where it was something that was misunderstood , now its basically hated, shunned and looked down upon and downright reviled due its history of being involved in an ancient catastrophe and even a modern tragedy that befalls Yuma and her own team, which sets the stage for a darker narrative than usual, focusing a lot more on storytelling and giving it more emphasis on how you and alchemy effect the world itself, which changes the franchise from it susual lighthearted outing to one with more stakes involved - all casting our girl Yumia in journey that aims to unravel the mystery of this ancient catastrophe, alongside trying to prevent anything like it from happening again. I wish that would work for me, something needs to stop me in the same vein of ''never happening again' when I tell myself ''I'm only going to buy one more plushies, this is I swear'', only to look like the closet from E.T. afterwards with them piled a mile high in the sky. I CAN CHANGE I SWEAR. The Combat here in Atelier Yuma takes what worked in the Ryza series, which is the active combat battle system and refines it to be even more faster paced with its encounters that feels a lot more seamless when fighting then transitioning to your overall exploration. Moving to an active combat format that allows more movement in combat using Manga Surges that unlock different powerful abilities, it might seem like the game feels a little too easy at times, which may turn off long term players, however, there is a hard mode to be played as well, so if you're looking for a challenge, one still exists. To make most of your combat, its emphasized to master your use of synthesized items, which can now be used as reusable skills rather than just simple consumables, which makes item management WAY more tolerable and more strategic - its definitely one of the better changes made to the series formula. Well curses, there goes my hoarding mindset of collecting every item I see because its glowing. My ADHD thanks you game.

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''BATTLING WITH STYLE''

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OVERALL:

At the end of the day, Atelier Yumia ends up a great step forward to this series, evolving it further than its ever gone before. However its not without its own flaws too, albeit nothing super major. The game on PC has a few audio glitches that effect sound effects and music from time to time, as well as fps stuttering issues when launching the game, mechanics while simplified overall to follow, sometimes fall short in actually explaining them like setting up your camp fire or specific quests lacking guidance and making you figure it out for yourself since some quests asks you to hunt for a specific item on the map but no actual indicator on said map to actually know its vicinity. Thankfully that's where the ''negatives'' end and the positives begin with the titles ambitious scope, great world, fast paced fun combat, gorgeous environments, fun story, likeable characters and an overall successful venture into blending the tradition of this series with the brand new ideas brought to the table to form an entirely new evolution for the series that sets the bar for all future games in this series going forward. So with all that having been said, my verdict is clear, GameNChick says BUY NOW

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