The cute and comfortable item creation RPG seriesAtelierhas released 20+ games in 28 years, with another still lined up after the upcoming release ofAtelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & The Envisioned Land. This means thatAtelier Yumia, set to release March 21, is part of a prolific Japanese RPG franchise that has high expectations.
True to franchise form,Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & The Envisioned Landfollows its titular protagonist, Yumia Liessfeldt, as she learns the ins and outs of alchemy: the heart and soul of theAtelierfranchise. Alchemy provides the detailed and versatile item creation mechanics that feed into everything else in the game, including the narrative, combat, and exploration. For all the waysAtelier Yumiaventures away from the series formula, this core trait is emphasized all the more.
And it does venture away, feeling more like a revolution for the franchise than the typical iterative steps taken to keep up with its high release cadence.Atelier Yumiais truly a new moment in the storied and accomplished franchise, taking the slow direction the series had been going in a massive leap. Setting out to find Yumia’s new atelier—a workshop alchemists use as their home base—feels like the moment the playerleaves the Great Plateau inLegend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It’s in the spirit of what came before, but the immersion and scale feel beyond anything the franchise has ever achieved.
Atelier Yumia is a True Evolution of the Series
Atelier Yumiafully adopts open-world design, for example, rather than the fields previous games have used. It also introduces a basebuilding mechanic, which was only lightly touched on by its predecessor:theAtelier Ryzatrilogy. The scale of these improvements adds to the feeling of walking through the ruins of a fallen empire, makingAtelier Yumiafeel more immersive than prior franchise releases. It’s ultimately so easy to get lost inAtelier Yumia’s open world, especially with its stunning visuals. Before even reaching the titular atelier, there are plenty of activities to engage in, and the environment invites a sense of curiosity from the player. Movement is fluid, and the simple parkour enabled by Yumia’s alchemical heels feels satisfying, even if “parkour” and “heels” really don’t belong in the same sentence.
The openness and creativity thatAtelier Yumia’s basebuilding featureprovides is also second to none. Instead of choosing unlocked features to put in predetermined spots like inRyza, however,Yumiahas a full build menu with freedom to place things, construct buildings, paint features, and even place gathering nodes like wells or mushroom colonies in the yard of the various build sites players are granted.
Similarly,Atelier Yumiadoes away with some trappings that have been franchise staples across the decades. While not the first time in the series that alchemy can be done in the field or without a cauldron, for instance, these deviations from the formula are very noticeable. It’s worth mentioning that the other noteworthy time these elements were cast aside was theAtelier Irisera, itself an experimental attempt to appeal to players outside the franchise’s dedicated fanbase. On that front,Atelier Yumia’sfocus and themes blend with the gameplaybetter thanAtelier Irisdid, so it still maintains the feel of anAteliertitle, albeit an unusual one.
Atelier Yumia’s Narrative Takes a Dark Direction Than Fans May Expect
From the jump, fans seeYumia Liessfeldt isn’t a traditional alchemist. She may have the staff the franchise associates with alchemists–a crucial tool for the synthesis process in most of the series–but hers also functions as a rifle. Yumia is agile, a sniper, an adventurer, and shown as eminently capable right out of the gate.Atelier Yumiadoesn’t just treat alchemy as a suspicious, ancient, or foreign art, but as something outright hated. This is because alchemy is related to both the ancient disaster the expedition Yumia is part of is researching, but also a more recent disaster that touches the lives of Yumia and her companions in her Research Team.
The game’s narrative takes a darker direction on occasion than fans of the franchise might be used to, with a much stronger focus on that narrative than some of the other titles in the franchise. Where an averageAtelierprotagonist isthe best shopkeeper in an RPG world, Yumia is the typical heroine exploring the unknown to understand a disaster and stop it from happening again.
The Cycle of Synthesis and Combat
Difficulty is a funny thing in theAtelierseries. It’s never been the most challenging series, but the default difficulty can often be trivialized by someone who knows the ins and outs of the franchise. That remains true forAtelier Yumia, as the standard difficulty makes the game feel a little too easy. Increasing the difficulty to Hard made the combat more engaging, but it walks a fine line between providing a fun experience for casual and veteran players. Sometimes, it feels like it stumbles in that regard.
The battle system continues the refinement in active combat that began withAtelier Ryza 2, providing a fast-paced and engaging encounter with smooth transitions from the combat mode to exploration, though a distinction between the two still exists.Atelier Yumiauses a more active style of combat, as opposed to the franchise’s turn-based past, and it adopts this more modern combat well enough. However, it’s worth mentioning that this style of combat means players will spend a lot of time dodging, as opposed to openly engaging. Combat also includes Mana Surges that give access to stronger abilities, though these generate slowly and aren’t commonly available in normal encounters.
One of the changes that came with the transition to active combat, though, was that the items synthesized for battle are simply another kind of skill to use, rather than a consumable that must be managed. This has its own pros and cons; while less time is spent repetitively making Plajigs, players also don’t have to manage a limited stock of these items, allowing them to be spammed in combat. Taken on its own, this essentially turns alchemy items into customizable skills. That may not sound like a big change, but in comparison to earlier titles, it is a significant change to the mindset of battle that, in practice, is actually more significant than switching from time-based to active combat.
Synthesis goes hand in hand with combat, and while earlier titles mostly used a spreadsheet management style system to maximize certain values, recent titles have aimed at getting a more visually engaging minigame to produce the item being synthesized. In the case ofAtelier Yumia, the minigame involves learning and leveling up recipes with particles gathered throughout the world, and then slotting materials into nodes on a shape with the intent of having their Resonance circles overlap with other nodes and stars to improve the item’s quality and effects. This minigame starts simple but grows more complicated as more advanced recipes and materials add new layers to the shapes used in synthesis.
Atelier Yumia is a Solid 2025 Take on a Long-Running Franchise
Starting with its global debut inAtelier Iris, the series had strong English voice acting for a decade until it ended withAtelier Sophie.Atelier Yumiacontinues this trend and skips over English voice acting, which feels like a missed opportunity given therelative success of theAtelier Ryzatrilogyand other design changes intended to broaden the franchise’s appeal. Overall, however, Atelier Yumia carries the full weight of a 2025 release in a long-running franchise.
However, it has its fair share of occasional gameplay issues. There was nothing necessarily game-breaking, but there were a handful of audio issues that would impact the entire PC, as well as stutters especially when launching or closing the game. There were also times when something in the game felt “off,” like a highlighted word only being partially highlighted or interactions being slanted away from the intended item. Players will spend a fair amount of time adjusting their position with certain objects or NPCs to be given the necessary interaction.
Atelier Yumiaalso does a poor job of explaining some gameplay systems, like where a campsite can be set up, and some quests suffer from a lack of direction. For example, one quest tasks players with killing a specific stray panther but doesn’t even mark an area for that panther, forcing players to arbitrarily attack stray panthers until the right one is found.
At the end of the day,Atelier Yumiais a strong entry in the beloved JRPG franchise. Despite a few growing pains, it adopts the cozy and niche franchise into something more digestible for a wider audience thanks to a well-executed open-world format, modern takes on iconic features, and an engaging, untraditional story.
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land
WHERE TO PLAY
In a world where alchemy has become taboo and is considered evil, Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land follows the adventures of Yumia Liessfeldt, and her companions as they seek to uncover the truth behind the fall of the Aladissian Empire, which once thrived with alchemy, and the memories of a lost history. Yumia’s quest will take her across a ruined continent and despite the uncertainties of confronting her past, she will need to create her own path if she hopes to unravel the mysteries behind the cataclysm that destroyed Aladiss.Freely traverse the vast open field in all directionsThis unknown land stretches across the length and width of the continent, and the player can forge their own path utilising a wide range of actions and items.Game CycleExplore the field to gather materials and synthesis items. The items you create can be key to advancing the story and can also be used in battles and exploration. Additionally, you can “Simple Synthesis” and make items directly in the field, as well as create your own base with “Building.“Customize items by creating them on the field and tailor your base to your liking!“Simple Synthesis” can be done on the field, opening pathways by making tools for exploration and make items that will help in battles and synthesis. Additionally, in “Building” you can build a base and customize it by crafting and arranging furniture to your liking.
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & The Envisioned Landreleases on March 21. Game Rant was provided a Steam code for the purposes of this review.
