Alchemy has always been at the heart of the Atelier series, but Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land (Atelier Yumia) shakes things up with a moodier story, a vast open world, and real villains lurking in the shadows. With the Ryza trilogy bringing the series to new heights, I had high expectations for this latest entry.

With a new protagonist, an easy-to-pick-up battle system, and the same addictive alchemy, there is plenty for fans to be excited about. That said, the Switch version struggles visually, showing the system’s age with grainy textures and performance hiccups.

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As a huge Atelier fan, I was immediately hooked by Yumia’s tale, which carries a more mature tone than past entries. If you’ve never played an Atelier game before, think Xenoblade Chronicles style exploration, mixed with deep crafting, alchemy and customisation. It is truly a cosy JRPG experience.

A Legacy Lost: The Story of Yumia

In a world where alchemy is dismissed as dangerous sorcery, Yumia Liessfeldt dares to challenge the norm. After the tragic loss of her mother, she discovers a legacy of alchemy in her blood. This revelation sets her off on a quest to uncover why the once-mighty Aladissian Empire fell and why alchemy is now shunned.

Yumia’s adventure is classic Atelier: a curious protagonist, forgotten lore, and mysteries waiting to be unlocked. But this time, there’s a grittier edge that I really enjoyed, making the story more impactful. Her journey isn’t just a coming-of-age tale, it’s a defiant rebellion against a past that refuses to stay buried, with every twist challenging what she once believed.

A Cast of Curious Companions

Atelier Yumia’s character designs are a highlight, with expressive animations and detailed outfits that add plenty of personality. Koei Tecmo’s touted new facial animations bring extra charm to cutscenes, making interactions feel more natural. However, the game’s muddy graphics let them down; fine details are often blurred, preventing the designs from truly shining.

Enemy designs follow a creative approach, taking real-world animals and giving them a fantastical twist; beavers with extra fluffy tails, dragons adorned with dazzling gemstones, and plenty of other quirky creatures that fit right into the series’ whimsical world.

Yumia herself is a textbook Atelier protagonist, with clear influences from past leads. She’s determined and curious but starts off as an outcast due to her alchemy. Her companion, Flammi, a keepsake from her mother, helps her scan areas and uncover hidden secrets. Their blunt, emotionless remarks make for some of the game’s best interactions.

While I enjoyed the story overall, I did struggle to connect with the characters at first. In the Ryza games, you meet your best friends right from the start. Here, the bonds develop slowly as the tale unfolds. If a sequel to Atelier Yumia emerges, I hope it brings back these characters early on so I can fall in love with them even more.

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A World Without Borders: The Gameplay

Does every game need to be open world? Atelier Yumia fully embraces the format, but in doing so, it loses some of the heart found in previous titles. Unlike previous games, which featured open-zoned areas with distinct towns, Atelier Yumia throws you into a vast world where fast travel, through ziplines and a motorcycle, replaces the sense of community. NPCs are scattered around the world, except they all look similar and don’t have anything interesting to say.

You’ll spend a lot of time venturing out, gathering materials, and returning to your Atelier to craft. The game wastes no time getting started either, dropping you into a combat tutorial the moment you load in. And you’ll need to master it, throughout the story, you’ll battle four villains — tough encounters that demand well-crafted equipment.

Alchemy remains the heart of the game, but this time, it comes with a twist. Crafting requires unlocking item cores and enhancing them with resonating ingredients, creating an addictive cycle of upgrading that kept me constantly searching for mana.

Gathering this useful resource is essential for unlocking forgotten synthesising recipes. I loved hunting down blue mana geysers scattered across the world and scanning lost memories, each discovery bringing me one step closer to restoring long-forgotten alchemical knowledge at my Atelier.

It’s a clever system that makes unlocking new recipes feel like uncovering ancient alchemical secrets. Levelling up recipes boosts their effects, offering plenty of incentive to keep experimenting. While you can level up Yumia like in any other RPG, this has far less impact than crafting. I found building stronger synthesised weapons and items were the real key to my survival, especially against the angry bosses.

Alchemy in Motion: Combat

Atelier Yumia shakes up the combat system with a blend of action and turn-based mechanics, carving out its own identity in the series. Battles begin seamlessly in the open world, no loading screens (apart from a few stutters on Nintendo Switch) or interruptions — just you, your enemies, and plenty of flashy attacks.

It’s a fun and engaging system that offers plenty of depth, though it takes time to master all its nuances. The learning curve may slow you down initially, but the rewards are well worth the effort.

You’ll learn new arts as you progress, each with a cooldown before they can be used again, though some can be chained together for extra impact. There’s also a satisfying mix of ranged and melee combat, with a stun meter that, once emptied, leaves enemies vulnerable for a proper thrashing. 

Defensive play gets a boost with a precision guard that cuts damage and a nimble dodge roll to evade attacks. Time it right, and your next skill earns a power boost, a tactic I found indispensable during the challenging boss fights. When you nail the timing, it feels incredibly satisfying, adding a dynamic layer of strategy to each encounter.

Atelier Yumia’s optional combat challenges add a fresh layer to the gameplay. Follow the red beam to a giant crystal to unlock side quests featuring tougher foes or waves of enemies. These battles offer a fast and fun way to farm essential mana. I truly enjoyed discovering them. They changed the way I approached resource collection, making each fight feel worth it just to collect more of that sweet, sweet mana.

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A World of Beauty… and Blurry Textures

Atelier Yumia struggles on the Nintendo Switch, with a noticeable drop in resolution and heavy anti-aliasing that leaves characters and objects with fuzzy edges. Textures often appear grainy and smudged, especially in handheld mode, where performance dips further. Loading times are also lengthy, particularly at the beginning.

Once the world opens up, the graphical downgrade becomes even more apparent, with dull visuals and a chugging frame rate that makes platforming frustrating, especially with the added risk of fall damage. Hopefully, future patches can smooth out these issues (or the Switch 2?)

The lighting system doesn’t do the game any favours either, with character shadows looking unnatural, half the face often darkened while the other half appears oddly washed out. It’s baffling how other Atelier games can run so well on Switch while Yumia gives me Pokémon Scarlet and Violet vibes.

The audio, however, is a real treat. The Japanese voice acting is full of passion, bringing each character to life, even if the subtitles can be a bit hard to catch at times. The soundtrack blends bright, upbeat Atelier themes with region-specific melodies and battle tracks that add excitement.

A New Atelier Adventure with Mixed Results

Atelier Yumia takes the series in a new direction. The darker, more mature story is a fresh approach and generally enjoyable, even if it takes a while to fully connect with the characters. The open-world design offers plenty of room to explore, but it loses some of the charm that made Ryza feel like an adventure shared with lifelong friends.

Combat also plays a much bigger role this time, blending action and turn-based mechanics for fast, strategic battles — and alchemy is more important than ever.

Atelier Yumia is a commendable blend of tradition and evolution, capturing the spirit of past games while daring to reinvent its narrative style. Though, as much as I love my Nintendo Switch, the graphics on the hybrid system just aren’t up to par. I recommend any Atelier fan play this on another platform for a better experience.

Koei Tecmo just announced that a demo drops on March 17th, and that your progress will carry over to the main game.

Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land launches on all platforms on the 21st of March, with the base edition starting at $90.55.

Quest Daily scores Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land:

7.5/10

A review copy of Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land was supplied to Quest Daily for the purpose of this review.