Review – Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & the White Guardian

After the success achieved with the recent Yumia, Ryza and Marie, reinforcing the choices of developers, comes a return to the origins of the longest franchise that Koei Tecmo has, after experimentation with real -time action elements, opting for a completely -based combat system that dialogues directly with the foundations that made the iconic series.

With over 25 games released in the series, Reslerian Atelier: The Red Alchemist & The White Guardian can explore a variety of news, from gameplay narratives, serving as much a spin-off connected to the reslerian Mobile Atelier game: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night Liberator and as an independent work that can be enjoyed without prior knowledge of previous titles.

Alchemy beyond the ingredients

During the dozens of hours, we follow the story of Rias Eidreise and Slade Clauslyter, two young people who return to their devastated hometown in search of answers about a mysterious disaster that swept Hallfein twelve years ago, causing the entire population to disappear into a red haze. The game can create an engaging atmosphere early on, with captivating characters that carry deep emotional scars and a narrative that, although predictable at times, keeps the player interested in discovering the secrets behind the tragedy.

The synthesis system followed the same path of news and received a significant reformulation with the introduction of Gift Color Synthesis. This new method is based on the color connection of the ingredients to create items with specific attributes, allowing a much larger customization than in previous titles. The process occurs in two distinct phases, where the first requires specific ingredients to form the base item, while the second allows you to add up to three optional ingredients to transfer traces and increase quality. The complexity of the system is impressive while it can be complex for novices, especially when the Morph Morph mechanics increases items by completely transforming the item type based on the ingredients used.

Another very important feature in Reslerian Atelier: The Red Alchemist & The White Guardian, the management of the city and the store, remains one of the most pleasant steps and adds an interesting strategic layer to gameplay. You need to sell synthesized items to generate funds that allow the development of Hallfein districts to offer new revenues and resources according to their evolution. To further facilitate learning, the sales system uses the same color mechanics as the synthesis, making it more intuitive to plan items on the shelf.

Atelier Resleriana also marks a return to the shift -based combat system, even after the real -time action chosen and praised for the Ryza and Atelier Yumia trilogy. Seeking to be more strategic and offering a timeline system, we have multi-action mechanics, which allows support characters to perform up to three consecutive actions, mix item, which rewards the sequential use of alchemical items with additional effects, while Unite Attacks are automatically activated when headline characters consecutively act with the full unity meter.

Synthesizing emotions

Following the standard of the franchise, Atelier Resleriana has a very attractive art direction that maintains the visual identity characteristic of the series. Character designs can convey personality and energy through careful details in clothes, accessories and expressions, leaving to the protagonists and the support cast, a vibrant anime look, with each character having distinctive visual elements that reflect their personalities and origins.

The visual contrast between the devastated hallfein and the restored areas can convey the central theme of the game about renewal and hope. Environments can also create appropriate atmospheres for each narrative situation throughout history, mainly because it has beautiful scenes to reinforce important sequences for history and further raise significant dramatic moments, although I had the impression of being used smaller than in other games.

The soundtrack, as well as the look, remains with compositions that favor soft and contemplative melodies, perfectly suitable for the relaxed and introspective tone of the narrative. The songs that follow the synthesis sessions are pleasant while during the fighting, the song can rise the tension properly.

As much as it seems to be a flawless game, Reslerian Atelier: The Red Alchemist & The White Guardian can be a title that inhibits the new players by presenting a very float rhythm that floats a lot because of their episodic structure, with many moments that make the game look slower than it should.

Following this same footprint, excess strategy, especially in combat, can make it repetitive and complete. It can also happen because of the synthesis system can be a significant obstacle to new players because of its multiple layers of mechanics involving colors, traces of ingredients, synthesis phases, recipe morphism and catalysts.

Reslerian Atelier: The Red Alchemist & The White Guardian can take the place among one of the franchise’s best titles, but it is increasingly evident that the series has been focusing much more on Atelier’s devout fans. For those who can look beyond their standard characteristics and complexities, they will surely be able to see an interesting story within a charming and contemplative adventure, full of charismatic characters and deep gameplay systems.