The Atelier series has seen numerous crossovers over the past 25 years. Be they collaborations with Capcom and NIS like Cross Edge and Trinity Universe, one-versus-one-thousand Musou games like Warriors All-Stars, or even town management sims such as Nelke and the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of the New World, this long-running franchise is no stranger to throwing a handful of alchemists into the multiverse and hoping for the best. Over the decades, the Atelier series produced numerous fan-favorite characters such as Marie, Totori, Ayesha, Escha, Logy, and Ryza. So, what better way to celebrate the series than to cram every possible character into a free-to-play gacha? The result is better than expected.
As a longtime Atelier fan, it was initially frustrating to see the company move in this direction, given how predatory and short-lived gacha games can be. Unless it’s a MiHoYo game, a new gacha often feels like a ticking time bomb holding a collection plate: Shin Megami Tensei‘s Jack Frost demanding a purchase or they’ll self-destruct. However, after spending a few dozen hours with the game, Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night Liberator proves itself to be an Atelier game through and through. Despite its unwieldy name, it has the heart and soul of the series while taking a page out of Super Smash Bros.‘s book by pouring out an entire bucket of characters and shouting, “Everyone is here!”
Despite previous failed attempts at making Atelier mobile games (see: Atelier Online), Koei Tecmo has finally managed to make a game that lives up to the expectations of longtime fans while reaching the high visual bar set by the Secret (Ryza) entries. Except this time, Gust isn’t at the helm. Akatsuki Games, the mobile dev best known for the Romancing SaGa Re: Universe gacha, put their well-honed skill set to work to produce a game that feels like a proper Atelier mobile title. The game is simultaneously a love letter to fans and a unique entry in the Atelier series. It feels like it earned its spot as A25 (side note: every mainline Atelier project has an Ax name).
Atelier Resleriana‘s story is slowly paced yet serviceable overall. Due to the structure of the game, pacing takes a general hit with every scene and battle broken up into bite-sized pieces. A single chapter often climbs as high as 60+ scenes. While the frequent check-pointing created by the numerous scenes and chapters works beautifully for playing on the go, it can feel strange to pause dramatic events and go back to crafting new items, gathering materials, or overloading on pies. Surprisingly, the writing is competent and the story is intriguing, despite the absurd number of characters present at any given time. Once the introductions are over and the cast slides into their new roles in a new world, the narrative ball gets rolling, leading to some strange yet ultimately impressive world-building.
Atelier Resleriana‘s gameplay is incredibly simple and menu-driven. Players have a home page with a slew of different options that are just a tap away. Synthesis, exploration, missions, character setup, story chapters, and more live on the main menu. Even the world itself is reduced to a pseudo-side-scrolling experience with little interaction other than tapping the occasional gathering point. The sense of exploration is simply non-existent, and I can’t help but wish the developers went with a more interactive 2D exploration system akin to Valkyrie Profile. Admittedly, the environments themselves are full of fantastic views and rewarding vistas. As pretty as the flora is, it only further cements that Atelier Resleriana is a mobile game first.
As a longtime Atelier fan, I love it when a new synthesis system gets introduced. Each system has a thesis to it, and as the subseries progresses, it becomes refined and evolves. I have a soft spot for the simple yet intriguing card system of the Dusk series, I adore the puzzle-like grid system of the Mysterious series, and I greatly enjoy the Secret series’ focus on refining and rebuilding. However, Atelier Resleriana‘s system feels a touch too basic. Granted, this is due to the dozens (soon to be hundreds due to alternate costumes and themes) of characters who all must be able to contribute something to the synthesis. While Atelier synthesis systems often feel narrow and deep, Atelier Resleriana‘s feels shallow and wide.
The synthesis system feels a bit like pulling a lever on a slot machine. The characters that are part of the synthesis have a list of skills they might contribute. Occasionally, the stars align and it can be exciting to get all the sought-after skills, but it can also be disheartening to get sub-par skills on an item that was expensive to make in terms of time and materials. Part of the reason I love the Mysterious and Secret series is because of the ability to rebuild and redo. Failures feel like a part of the learning process, and applying the knowledge and materials back into something ensures the next one will be better. Overall, the synthesis system in Atelier Resleriana is acceptable and serviceable, but it doesn’t feel like a modern Gust synthesis system, which is fitting given they had little to do with this game.
Combat, on the other hand, suffers less from the lack of Gust than expected. Atelier Resleriana takes a page from Honkai: Star Rail with its deceptively simplistic combat system. Players control a party of five characters who fulfill one of four roles: Breakers focus on breaking enemies and shredding defense, Attackers deal high damage, Defenders act as tanks with high defense and HP, and Supporters provide buffs and heals at the cost of attack power. Each character also has their own element and unique skills that may buff the party, debuff the enemy, increase damage on the next turn, and so on. With such a massive cast of characters that keeps growing, the combinations and team compositions feel nearly endless.
Despite characters being limited to two moves and a special attack, combat is more tactical and involved than one might initially expect. As is Atelier tradition (for the turn-based games, at least), timeline and character action management are the main focus. The action timeline has panels with buffs and debuffs on it á la Trails games, yet it also includes the ability to use a character’s special attack. These panels can apply to both enemies and allies—special attacks included—so players are encouraged to use faster or slower moves, push back enemies on the timeline, and find various ways to manipulate turn order to ensure the party benefits while the enemy suffers. While simplistic, the battle system certainly feels like an Atelier system, albeit one without the mechanical complexity of recent games.
On the visual front, Atelier Resleriana is gorgeous and one of the best-looking games on mobile, hands down. On PC, the game looks wonderfully crisp at higher resolutions and feels like a game made for 4K and scaled down to mobile rather than the other way around. However, much of this is due to the small scope of the world. While the game rivals Atelier Ryza 3 in visual fidelity, the lack of an open world allows the devs to pack as much into the small areas as possible. That said, the character models are still the impressive focal point. It’s heartwarming to see longtime fan favorites brought back into the light with high-quality 3D models, especially for characters without an updated asset with the various crossovers or celebratory games, such as Nelke.
Of course, fantastic music in an Atelier game almost feels like a legal requirement at this point. It’s safe to say that Atelier Resleriana‘s soundtrack is just as wondrous as the main series. While the developers could get away with pulling in several tracks from the past twenty-five years, they instead opted to create a full-fledged OST that feels right at home within the series. The town, shop, and synthesis themes create vivid auditory landscapes that are both welcoming and encouraging, while the battle themes have an upbeat and dramatic flair that gets the blood pumping.
While Atelier Resleriana certainly feels like an Atelier game, it also feels restricted by its status as a mobile game that happens to have a PC port (which runs beautifully, by the way). The sense of exploration is lacking because simply moving from the left side of the screen to the right is generally unrewarding. Were there any platforming elements or puzzles, the decision to go with 2D linear exploration would’ve been far more satisfying. The world itself feels broken and disjointed, unlike most Atelier games, but given Atelier Resleriana‘s story is about a shattered and cobbled-together world, the design decisions at least feel narratively accurate.
Atelier Resleriana is a solid game through and through and proves itself to be more than one of the cynical cash grabs that we’ve seen time and time again. It has the heart and charm of the series and serves as a love letter to longtime fans. The biggest problem with Atelier Resleriana being a gacha game, however, is that it will ultimately go end of service one day and become permanently inaccessible. Such is the nature of live service games, yet it feels counter to Gust’s recent efforts to remake and localize previous games. However, there is hope that all the effort in creating new 3D models for such a wide array of characters is an indication that fully-fledged remakes may be around the corner. While Atelier Resleriana isn’t exactly what I wanted out of the next mainline Atelier title, it serves as a celebration of all things Atelier and the best crossover game in the series by a country mile.
