Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist & The Mysterious Dream Reviews
Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.
Atelier Sophie 2 is a very entertaining title, with an audiovisual section superior to what we have seen in the series and that, together with the playable novelties and its entertaining story, place this delivery among the best of the gust role-playing saga. That is no small thing for a 25th anniversary, although it arrives untranslated and some tasks are repetitive.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream is an absolute gift. Sophie is just as charming and inspiring as ever, and even though the story tacks on more dimensional time-travel drama than I would've cared for, it's just as touching and cozy of an experience as the first Atelier Sophie. Gathering, crafting, and battling are all plenty of fun too, and flooded with enough layers of mechanics that it's easy to pick an area you want to focus on and purely master that one element of the game. By looking to the past, this surprise sequel has delivered a promising vision of the future of the Atelier series.
Gust and Koei Tecmo return to the Mysterious universe of Atelier, featuring Sophie and Plachta in a new adventure. This additional chapter revisits the old trilogy's mechanics in a new light, fixing the past issues and introducing some new interesting ideas to an already working formula. Presentation is stronger than ever and the new cast, albeit the stereotypical writing, grants some well-paced and relaxing Atelier experience without compromises of sort. This is what the Mysterious trilogy should have been and Gust knows it for sure.
Review in Italian | Read full review
For a series that has been hiding in the shadows and deemed a cult classic franchise for quite some time, Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist Of The Mysterious Dream proves that even though it may be the underdog in a genre saturated with many, many entries, it can come out from the shadows and prove that it's a one of a kind experience.
Atelier Sophie 2 is a high point in a fantastic series. Gathering and alchemising materials has simply never been so compelling.
Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream presents an immediately engaging gameplay hook. The story is interesting and can get new players caught up fairly quickly, though the character designs can leave a lot to be desired. Battles and alchemy are a ton of fun, but the game does have trouble explaining all of its systems effectively.
Regardless of my complaints, Atelier Sophie 2 does many things right to warrant a recommendation. It’s a great entry-level RPG with some intricate systems that will keep you entertained. The turn-based system might be a turn-off for some players, but I believe that we could work more with this genre, and Gust seems like they are willing to experiment more with it.
Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream is the best installment in the franchise yet. The vast innovations made to the alchemy gameplay loop make sure that the franchise's main selling point is the best it has ever been. Not only will Atelier fans love this, but just about any JRPG fan will have a great time playing it.
The Atelier series just keeps getting better and better as the years go on. Koei Tecmo has done a fantastic job at crafting charming games that feel much more accessible than before, to welcome new players, whilst also offering a new experience for fans of the series. Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream is a great way to celebrate the series anniversary.
Atelier Sophie 2 follows in the same vein of its predecessors, refining the general formula while mantaining it pretty much intact. It's still a good comfort game, but it could use some work when it comes to combat and story.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Atelier Sophie 2 massively improves upon everything from the original game. It has a much more interesting story, plenty of heart-felt character interactions, and a ton of different side activities to keep you busy. Becoming a master alchemist and exploring this vibrant dream world is a fantastic way to celebrate 25 years of Atelier titles.
Atelier Sophie 2 does a lot of things well, keeping pace moving forward at a relatively good pace. At the same time, it leaves plenty of opportunities to grow as there are some franchise issues that remain in place.
Atelier Sophie 2 continues to build on the Atelier franchise’s solid foundation and the result is another excellent game in the series. Granted the game can admittedly be grindy and repetitive at times. With its likable cast, addicting gameplay loop, touching narrative and feel-good charm, however, Atelier Sophie 2 is another welcome addition to the franchise, whether you’re a newcomer or a veteran who waited seven years for this surprise sequel.
If Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream had been published before the furious revolution unleashed by the two Atelier Ryza, probably some of its imperfections would have seemed little compared to its merits.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Atelier Sophie 2 stands as a wonderful achievement for Gust and the Atelier series. What we have here is an entry that feels like the perfect fusion of the old and the new. Sophie's new adventure may not have much to offer up in the story department, but it more than makes up for this with its streamlined design, thrilling combat, expansive world, and addictive alchemy system. This is a title we'd recommend to both longtime fans and newcomers-it's one of the best Atelier releases yet. If you're at all curious about this one, we'd strongly encourage you to give it a shot.
Atelier Sophie 2 adds a lot of new features that help engage the players of the previous Sophie title. Combat feels fresh with the support party member mechanics. One problem is the alchemy system needing prior knowledge of previous games to succeed.
Atelier Sophie 2 manages to synthesise old and new in a way befitting improvements to the franchise while leaving it comfortably with the rest of the Mysterious games. It shares some minor similarities with Sophie's first game but is generally quite different. It doesn't quite reach the heights of Atelier Ryza 2, but will still definitely keep most Atelier fans quite happy.
Atelier Sophie 2 is an incredibly high quality and wonderfully crafted follow-up to the original, and one of the best Atelier games to date.
While Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream does nothing totally different as a sequel, the streamlined crafting and simplified combat system allow players to be more invested in the story without becoming bogged down in complex game mechanics. For long-time fans, however, those mechanics are still available.