Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land PC Steam Deck Review

Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Recollections & the Envisioned Land is the most recent entry within the long-running Atelier sequence, introducing recent adjustments 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. Nonetheless, regardless of these promising concepts, the execution falls brief, making it tough for the participant to totally 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 attributable to the very craft that when sustained it. Centuries later, alchemy is outlawed and thought of 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 dying, and the explanations behind alchemy’s condemnation. Alongside the way in which, she allies with the Aladis Analysis Workforce, whose members every have their very own private motivations, additional including layers to the overarching thriller.

A Distinctive Narrative In a Completely different World

Atelier Yumia’s story presents gamers an alternate world fairly completely different from earlier video games. Alchemists aren’t beloved or thought-about useful people however are shunned for utilizing a forbidden craft. Alchemy’s origins are additionally completely different and tied to a previous civilization, and the character of Mana and the way alchemy operates are additionally completely different. Whereas these new ideas are fascinating and distinctive, they’re not offered or executed in an entertaining approach. The plot boils right down to Yumia and her buddies 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 subsequent, clearing up dense miasma-like Manabounds that limit motion, and serving to folks with their discoveries. The one thrilling moments of the narrative are when gamers encounter the sport’s few bosses, who’re all fascinating 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 persist with the identical fundamental character tropes seen in anime and JRPGs. 

Enjoyable however Flawed Gameplay

By way of gameplay, Atelier Yumia is sort of a blended bag. The sport contains some new options which can be each extremely handy and enjoyable, however some which can be nearly the exact opposite. For instance, the brand new Easy Synthesis function permits gamers to craft issues on the sector 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. Nonetheless, the brand new Power system is a first-rate instance of an inconvenient and infrequently annoying new factor. Yumia has an power vial that enables her to do mainly every little thing from sprinting to dispelling Manabounds. Nonetheless, power runs out fairly shortly, 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 more difficult.

Talking of tedious components, a number of the worst components of Atelier Yumia are navigation and  traversal. Transferring throughout the map is downright torture, because it includes making an attempt to navigate the place to go, what construction is climbable and the way, whether or not or not you might 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 power is totally depleted when navigating complicated flora and forests, and you may’t leap or run, which makes motion depressing.

Essentially the most obvious situation with Atelier Yumia on PC is its poor efficiency, significantly on the Steam Deck. Whereas I didn’t encounter any crashes or main glitches, the body fee is constantly 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 full of flora and monsters. Even fight isn’t spared from these technical points, although the body fee dips happen much less incessantly 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 usually just like fashionable video games like Atelier Ryza. Gamers accumulate elements as they roam the world and head again to Yumia’s atelier to craft gadgets and equipment. You employ particles collected throughout exploration so as to add extra traits similar 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 as a result of auto craft system and how briskly and simple it’s to search out and use supplies. General, the crafting system is probably the very best the sequence has been shortly.

By way of fight, combating enemies and executives is enjoyable and feels seamless however the fight system notably lacks depth. Every character in Yumia’s get together has a handful of abilities they will use in fight. Nonetheless, these abilities are restricted and get repetitive shortly, and new abilities 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 abilities.

As fight is turn-based and characters have few particular abilities exterior linked assaults, combating enemies in Atelier Yumia is overly easy and will get boring shortly. Nonetheless, combating 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, significantly in its crafting system and visible presentation. The synthesis mechanics stay probably the most refined facets of the sport, making merchandise creation each environment friendly and rewarding. The world itself is fantastically 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 components elevate the expertise, even when different facets wrestle to keep up engagement. Lastly, the sport performs nicely on PS5 as I encountered zero bugs or crashes.

Sadly, these strengths are sometimes overshadowed by irritating gameplay mechanics and a scarcity of depth in fight and exploration. The power system feels unnecessarily restrictive, making traversal extra of a chore than an attractive function. Fight, whereas initially pleasurable, shortly turns into repetitive as a result of restricted talent selection and gradual development of latest talents. 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 full of potential however hindered by design selections that detract from its total enjoyment. Whereas future updates may enhance its efficiency and stability, because it stands, it stays a blended expertise that struggles to achieve the heights of its predecessors.