Welcome to EXPlay, (Explain & Play) the review series where we care not for scores but tell it how it is when it comes to every game we get our hands on, whilst also taking the time to include some lengthy gameplay, to give you the reader, the chance to shape your own impressions and views whilst watching and reading.
In this instalment, we’re covering Atelier Yumia: Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land by developer Gust.
Atelier Yumia: Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is the newest entry in the Atelier series developed by Gust. With Reisalin Stout’s story put to rest in Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key, Gust have begun a new story that follows the Alchemist Yumia Liessfeldt, a young woman with extraordinary gifts in alchemy who joins a research team to investigate the downfall of a once powerful empire centuries ago.
Unfortunate for Yumia, the practice of alchemy is considered taboo as it is heavily suggested that it was the cause of the downfall of the great Aladissian Empire, and an accident involving Yumia’s mother which, caused a great explosion taking the lives of many people, has not helped matters and many members of the resarch team are reluctant towards Yumia and her talent with many of them fearing that no good can possibly come from it. Yumia is resilient though and is enlisted by the chief of the research team as he believes that her skills in alchemy may help the team in the perilous land they have come to explore.
If you are new to the Atelier series, Atelier Yumia: Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is a pretty good entry point as it has no real connections to other titles in the series, meaning you do not require previous experience to be able to jump right in. The gameplay is not too different from that of the Atelier Ryza series, with Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key probably being the closest match in terms to overall gameplay. Atelier Yumia: Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land has a vast open world for players to explore at their own leisure with the main quests tied to story progression, along with side quests and pioneer missions to help keep you entertained during your playthrough.
The core mechanics of the game are exploration and gathering materials to be used in crafting new items through a process called Synthesis. The items you can create range from weapons, armor, accesories, furniture, and other materials that could be used in creating other items. While not necessarily a new concept, in certain areas, you can create bases where you can rest up and synthesize items.
What is new is that you can new build your bases using building parts like walls, doors, windows, flooring, furniture, roofing, etc., kind of like in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom where you could build your own house. This is taken much further as you are not limited by how many pieces you can use and you can build multiple structures all over the map. This gives you the freedom to construct your own bases to your own design or opt for set presets that will use up the poorest quality of your materials so you still have your better quality stuff for synthesis of more important items.
A couple of new features also include simple synthesis where you can craft items whilst in the field like recovery items, repair kits, bullets (yes bullets. Yumia has a gunstaff to take enemies down with and can use it to shoot out of reach objects and panels), and camping sets. Camping sets can be used in wide open areas where there are no monsters roaming around. It provides players with the means of resting to change the time of day, cook meals to add temporary effects to the party, and also chat with your fellow party members who accompany you on your adventure.
Combat does feature in Atelier Yumia: Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land although it is not its sole focus. That said, there are plenty of materials that you can procure from fighting monsters and there are some side quests and missions that require you to fight them as well. Much like most RPG’s, there is a levelling system where you earn experience upon defeating monsters in combat and you can level up your characters to make them stronger. During the game, there will be points where you must fight key enemies so while you can breeze past most enemies that are not normally a threat to you, you will still need to make sure your party is strong enough to take on tough baddies when the occassion calls for it.
As for how combat actually plays out, you will engage in combat when hitting an enemy out in the field or if they come into contact with you. You will be taken to a battle screen where you can use an assortment of skills to attack your enemy. Each skill has a limited number of uses and a cooldown timer before you can use it again so you will need to be careful not to spam attacks carelessly. Unlike previous entries in the Atelier series, you do not have a timer on when you can attack or when enemies will retaliate. Instead, you can freely move within a confined space so you can avoid/block attacks and change your position to use long range or close range attacks.
You can also use certain items that you have synthesized to cause additional damage to enemies as well as heal party members. You can also change between party members to help follow up on attacks and by stunning enemies, you can also activate Friend Actions to deal additional damage with items and Precision Counters that will change to another character to deal damage just before an enemy unleashes a strong attack upon you.
My time with Atelier Yumia: Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land has been quite an interesting one to be sure. Although the Atelier Ryza subseries is still my utmost favourite, Atelier Yumia is still on of the most ambitious entries into the series yet with its vast open world, familiar enemies, simplified synthesis and the addition of the building mechanic to prop up structures in suitable areas make this by far a welcome entry into the Atelier series that can be enjoyed by both series veterans and newcomers alike.
The story has a much darker tone than previous entries in the Atelier series but it does offer a very rich experience and deep character development for the main cast of characters to make you feel stronger connection to each and every one of them. I was surprised to learn that the main character’s weapon is also a gun which I believe is a first in the Atelier series, but it does open up new and interesting ways to explore as you can shoot down ladders, drop items from up high or activate out of reach targets to open doors, pathways, and special chests.
Atelier Yumia: Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is truly a brilliant game and one that I am really having a lot of fun with. It isn’t without its faults though and there are some issues with performance on Nintendo Switch like drops in framerates, freezing, and the occasional crash that forces closure of the software on the system. Fortunately, I didn’t lose much progress on as the game had autosaved sometime before it happened but I do dread to think what would happen if the game crashed whilst autosaving. On the plus side, it isn’t anything a patch or two can’t fix and everything else that the game offers I would personally say outweighs its issues. If you have another platform that you can play this game on, you should definitely give this game a try, but it is still a very enjoyable experience on Switch as well.
Game Specifications:
Developer: Gust
Publisher: Koei Tecmo
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Category: Action, Role-Playing
No. of Players: 1 player
Release Date: March 21, 2025 (Worldwide)
Price: $59.99
File Size: 4.2 GB
Nintendo.com Listing
