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

Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Reminiscences & the Envisioned Land is the newest entry within the long-running Atelier collection, introducing recent adjustments to its characters, narrative, and lore. It presents a novel tackle alchemy, shifting it from a revered self-discipline to a forbidden and shunned follow. 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 interact with the story and mechanics.

Set in a world the place the Aladissian Empire as soon as flourished by means of alchemy, the sport explores its downfall following a catastrophic occasion believed to have been attributable to the very craft that after sustained it. Centuries later, alchemy is outlawed and thought of taboo. The story follows Yumia Reisfelt, a younger alchemist ostracized for her ardour. After dropping her mom in a tragic accident three years prior, Yumia learns of her household’s deep ties to alchemy and resolves to observe in her mom’s footsteps. This choice 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 Crew, whose members every have their very own private motivations, additional including layers to the overarching thriller.

A Distinctive Narrative In a Totally different World

Atelier Yumia’s story affords gamers an alternate world fairly totally different from earlier video games. Alchemists aren’t beloved or thought of useful people however are shunned for utilizing a forbidden craft. Alchemy’s origins are additionally totally different and tied to a previous civilization, and the character of Mana and the way alchemy operates are additionally totally different. Whereas these new ideas are fascinating and distinctive, they’re not offered or executed in an entertaining manner. The plot boils right down to Yumia and her associates 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 following, clearing up dense miasma-like Manabounds that prohibit motion, and serving to individuals 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 follow the identical primary 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 consists of some new options which are each extremely handy and enjoyable, however some which are virtually the exact opposite. For instance, the brand new Easy Synthesis characteristic 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 primary instance of an inconvenient and sometimes annoying new aspect. Yumia has an power vial that enables her to do mainly every thing from sprinting to dispelling Manabounds. Nonetheless, power runs out fairly shortly, particularly when traversing Manabound areas, and enormous jumps, a core a part of traversal, turns into unimaginable till gamers discover buildings or vegetation that refill their Power vial. Whereas this technique isn’t all the time annoying, it does really feel prefer it was needlessly tacked on to make exploring unnecessarily extra tedious in hopes of being tougher.

Talking of tedious components, among 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’ll want to climb issues, and the way the dynamic climate system closely impacts the visibility at evening, 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 soar or run, which makes motion depressing.

Probably the most obvious difficulty 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 persistently dreadful, considerably impacting the gameplay expertise. Exploring ranges is tormented by frequent and extreme drops, particularly within the recreation’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 ceaselessly than throughout exploration. These efficiency issues make traversal irritating and detract from the general immersion.

Your Fight Will Lack Depth

Aside from that, the Synthesis system is generally much like fashionable video games like Atelier Ryza. Gamers acquire substances as they roam the world and head again to Yumia’s atelier to craft objects and equipment. You utilize particles collected throughout exploration so as to add extra traits resembling particular results and elemental bonuses, improve already-made objects, and be taught new helpful recipes. The system is notably a lot sooner and streamlined because of the auto craft system and how briskly and simple it’s to seek out and use supplies. General, the crafting system is probably the most effective the collection has been shortly.

By way of fight, preventing enemies and executives is enjoyable and feels seamless however the fight system notably lacks depth. Every character in Yumia’s social gathering 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 can even 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 outdoors linked assaults, preventing enemies in Atelier Yumia is overly easy and will get boring shortly. Nonetheless, preventing bosses is all the time 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 some of the refined points of the sport, making merchandise creation each environment friendly and rewarding. The world itself is superbly crafted, with wealthy environments and detailed character designs that showcase the collection’ 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 collection, additional immersing gamers in its world. These components elevate the expertise, even when different points wrestle to take care of 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 enticing characteristic. Fight, whereas initially fulfilling, shortly turns into repetitive because of the restricted ability selection and gradual development of latest skills. Whereas boss battles present occasional pleasure, they’re few and much between, leaving a lot of the sport feeling monotonous.

Ultimately, Atelier Yumia is a recreation full of potential however hindered by design decisions that detract from its general 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.