Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout Reviews
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout has been a fun addition to the Atelier series. As a game that focuses on crafting, it has a wonderful crafting system. At the same time, it does not skip on the RPG and elements and questing. This was my first real playthrough of an Atelier game. With a great story and a deep crafting system and casual playstyle, it has been a joy to play.
While keeping most of the series traditions, Atelier Ryza manages to stay fresh by making just enough changes to its gameplay that it doesn't outstay its welcome. This might not be the best game in the series, but it is one of the most enjoyable ones.
Atelier Ryza is a delightful and visually pleasing Japanese RPG filled with vibrant colors, a variety of characters, beautiful open-world environments to explore, and tells a heart-warming coming of age story about wonder and adventure.
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness and the Secret Hideout changes quite a few mechanics around for the better and its charming protagonist help a slow starting story pull together.
Atelier Ryza is a great game slightly marred by a poor port, lack of enemy variety, and hard-to-find ingredients. But anyone who likes crafting games absolutely owes it to themselves to play this, as it's a huge amount of fun.
Atelier Ruza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout is a rather meditative story about friendship and mutual assistance, which abandoned timers, cruel search for rare components and a too complex system of alchemy. All errors can be corrected, death in battle returns you home with a slightly reduced number of components collected, and songs and dances on the background of the fire will fill you with the warmest feelings. Atelier Ryza is a great choice for beginners, but also potions veterans will not be disappointed for sure.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Gust has done a brilliant job of taking this long-running franchise and making it appeal to the mainstream more than ever here and, if you’ve ever been tempted to give the world of Atelier a try, this is a perfect jumping-on point.
In a lot of ways Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout is an improvement. Here we have someone who is getting into alchemy because they want to, plus a mysterious plot that is building in the background, making it one of the better stories to date.
Atelier Ryza is a solid start to a new trilogy.
If you want a really well done, cozy game to kick back with at the end of a long day, Atelier Ryza is one of the best titles on the market to do it with.
It will keep you busy for hours trying to craft better gear and foraging throughout the map for that much-needed material. Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout is a cutesy, time-consuming monster for the Switch, and it's worth getting.
With Atelier Ryza, Gust took some risks, and it definitely paid off: this is, in our opinion, the best entry of the franchise so far, thanks to a quicker battle system and improved alchemy one. Don't miss it if you fancy the series.
Review in Italian | Read full review
In the grand scheme of things, Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hidout is just another entry in the series, which doesn't have what it takes to be declared the absolute best amongst its many siblings. That said, and although a little more emphasis in alchemy and storytelling, as well as a more open-ended structure would be more than welcome, this is definitely one of the best Atelier titles ever. It's an immersive, beautiful, and relaxing journey, which smells like summer and childhood adventure.
Even if you’ve never played an Atelier game before, Atelier Ryza is one worth jumping into.
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout is a solid by-the-books Atelier title. It does everything pretty well, and its only real flaws are a somewhat lackluster story and an overall low difficulty level. If you like the Atelier titles, then you'll like this one, and if you're interested in getting into the franchise, this is a solid starting point. There's no lack of Atelier games to play, but Ryza is one of the more enjoyable ones available. Besides, who doesn't like crafting a bomb so powerful that it blows up a dragon?
Atelier Ryza is the best place for new fans of the series to jump in and a relaxing entry for older fans. Not the easiest game to get a handle on but once it clicks, you won’t want to put it down.
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout is a game that may not go down in history, but it does its job: to propose an interesting story alongside the alchemy so normal in the saga. It is a perfect game for all those new to the saga, as it offers certain new aspects. However, I'm sure the traditional player will also like it, as it's, above all, a very solid game.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The pacing of the story wasn’t the best in the world and the characters weren’t as charming as some other titles, but it was a relaxing journey with well developed characters and an interesting world. Overall, the gameplay is one of the better systems I’ve experienced for a JRPG too and it comes paired with a beautiful world and character design.
I don’t know how Gust managed to go from one style of Atelier game to another in the span of a year, but they managed to pull off quite the fun adventure, one that manages to refine the alchemy mechanics to make them more addicting, and being a perfect game that works great for getting back into no matter how long you take a break or get distracted from it!