Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land Reviews
Despite a few growing pains, Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Land is a worthwhile entry in the long-running franchise.
If you dropped Final Fantasy VII Rebirth like a hot potato because the phrase “Regional Intel” haunted your dreams, you might need to give this game a skip, but for everybody else out there, expect a bit of a bumpy ride that is ultimately well worth the turbulence.
In most respects, Atelier Yumia is an impressively ambitious and strong new entry for the long-running series, blazing a trail to parts unknown much like its titular protagonist. Things like the darker story, action-heavy combat, and increased focus on exploration gameplay all work well in its favor. The only major complaint is that this was clearly designed with much stronger hardware than the Switch in mind, and while its performance here is just about acceptable, it's very far from ideal. At any rate, we'd give this one a recommendation not only to long-time Atelier veterans, but also to fans of other vast JRPG adventures such as the Xenoblade series. Atelier Yumia is a bold step forward for this franchise, and it stands as a strong indication that the Atelier series has a lot of life left in it yet.
This game is very ambitious in terms of what has been done to the franchise up until now, and I think it is definitely going in the right direction. This is exactly what the game needed in terms of a fresh new look, and the open-world aspect of the game truly created an experience for me that I wish I would've had with all the games in the franchise coming up to this one.
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is a fresh step forward with just as much charm and joy as the rest of the series. It's an incredible starting point for newcomers and an exciting change of pace for long-time fans.
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Imaginary Land isn't the definitive installment in the series, but its ideas and new approaches establish it as a perfect entry to attract new fans looking to enjoy a JRPG formula that's unusual in the genre.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Just like its impressively long and unwieldy title, Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is a messy game. But it’s a messy game with lofty ambitions and a lot to like, even if which pieces you end up liking are not the pieces you expected or wanted to like, especially if you’re a returning Atelier fan.
After years of small-time games, the franchise finally reached more people than its dedicated niche following. Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land capitalizes on successes from the Ryza trilogy and blazes its own trail with changes of its own.
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is a soft reboot of the popular series with a focus on exploration and puzzles in a much darker world.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Despite the dumb downed Alchemy and some technical issues, Atelier Yumia marks a great first step towards a new future for this long running series with its fun and rewarding exploration and enjoyable fast paced combat.
Sometimes too over-simplified, Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land charts a new path for the series as they try to draw in new players that might have found the mandatory crafting and time limits of earlier Atelier titles too daunting.
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land Atelier Yumia represents a turning point for the series, offering a more ambitious experience than previous chapters. The open world formula only attempted in the past has finally managed to come true by following the path paved by the most popular gacha titles of the moment and the decision to make the narrative and gameplay of the series more in line with what one would expect from a classic JRPG will surely meet the preferences of a wider audience.
Review in Italian | Read full review
All in all, Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is a fun adventure in crafting and exploration. Its chill atmosphere mixes quite well with the slightly heavier themes. And the crafting is excellent.
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is a wonderfully charming addition to the long-running JRPG series. It's a fantastic jumping in point to the franchise for new players, and has enough tweaks to the established formula to provide a breath of fresh air for existing fans. The story is a little slight, but the appealing characters, streamlined yet robust crafting system, and rewarding exploration make this a recipe for a good time.
Atelier Yumia represents an evolution for the series, which makes some pretty big changes — literally and figuratively — to its world design and combat. The game doubles down further on the open world introduced by Atelier Ryza 3 while also moving the pendulum further toward action for its combat. Not everyone will be happy with the changes. Folks who want to see something different and fresh with the longtime JRPG series, however, just might find Atelier Yumia to be the ideal alchemical romance.
The narrative, centered on the memories and secrets of alchemy, is supported by deeply rooted character interactions that will leave you spellbound on this beautiful journey that begins on Xbox.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land takes the series in a direction that will appeal to fans of open world JRPGs, but may leave fans of previous Atelier games scratching their head. It also has numerous technical issues on the Switch. It’s still a fun adventure, it just leaves room to improve in its inevitable sequels.
With a successful transition to a fully realized open world, Atelier Yumia is a strong start to a new series while serving as a fantastic follow-up to the Atelier Ryza games. The world is large and rewarding with something around every corner, and the cast is unique and lovable while having a whole lot of heart.
While the combat system has its flaws and the gameplay doesn't innovate much within the open-world genre, Atelier Yumia is a fantastic starting point for newcomers to the Atelier franchise.
Open world Atelier could still work, but Atelier Yumia does a bad job at realising this idea. A generic story, dumbed down alchemy, and lacking open world all lead to a middling RPG.