Review: Atelier Yumia Is What I Wanted Tales of Arise to Be

Having not played an Atelier game since the first Ryza, I will admit this series from Gust and Koei Tecmo has never quite grasped me. Outside of my first game Atelier Rorona, which I still adore to this day, I haven’t completed a single game in this series. Well, until now, with Atelier Yumia, which is by far the best game in the series I’ve played yet. While it takes some bold steps in unique directions, it still retains its core alchemist ideas while also being what I had hoped Tales of Arise would be.

For starters, this is an almost true open-world experience. There are four key regions the player is able to explore. Though most regions are locked at the start until you progress later on, they are seamlessly connected to one another. In addition, loading times when fast traveling is nearly instantaneous, even on the underpowered Steam Deck where I reviewed this title.

Image via Koei Tecmo

Atelier Yumia opts for a fascinating open-world experience that feels similar to survival games in some ways like Valheim, which directly inspired it. Instead of sprawling cities and towns to explore, it is a vast, diverse, and often beautiful land that is customizable to the player’s liking in many areas. I will say the lack of true explorable cities with loads of NPCs and vendors is one of the few major gripes I have with the experience.

It takes some adjustment, but this is not the type of experience Gust seems to be going for. Instead, Atelier Yumia is all about building out your own bases. While you can’t build anywhere, you frequently unlock home bases and campsites where you can customize to your heart’s content. You might want to turn one location into a three-story mansion. In another place, it might be the custom headquarters for your party.

There is a lot of freedom in the building system to make what you want. However, it is welcoming to newcomers to this type of gameplay as well. There are blueprints you can create instantly for various types of places. Or, you can do what I did and just create your own home from scratch. The UI is intuitive, snappy, and easy to use.

The best part is how the building ties into the rest of gameplay. You use the materials you gather all throughout the world to build. This adds a neat dual nature to the materials that would normally just be for the alchemy. Speaking of which, alchemy is back and with a new system. It is a bit daunting and confusing at first, but it is actually quite simple. You can use almost any material to make any type of item, but there are bonuses for using preferred materials. This leads to an alchemy system that is far more welcoming and open. While I prefer some of the older games’ alchemy still, it is certainly better than Atelier games in recent memory.

Image via Koei Tecmo

When not synthesizing weapons and recipes or building your dream fantasy home, you’ll be exploring the four regions that is full of content. Fortunately, there is something interesting to do every few feet. I had a lot of fun doing the side content in Atelier Yumia, such as little minigames to restore a terminal or an optional boss battle. There are also welcome side quests as well. Some of them are short and sweet gather or battle sequences, while others are story quests with your party members that lets you learn more about them.

The battles in Atelier Yumia are also radically different and another example of the more mainstream approach this title takes. I would fully describe this as a true action RPG now, even more than the Ryza games. Battles take place in essentially a circular arena. There is a circle you can rotate 360 degrees around the enemy target. You use this to dodge AOEs and the like.

You can spam various skills in succession to create combos to deal damage to enemies. However, you are only able to use the skills on your face buttons (if using a controller) a few times before they run out. This then requires you to switch to the weapon items you craft. You basically have two hot bars of four skills each to constantly use to consistently be dealing damage.

In addition to this, there are two ranges within the circle. You can switch at a moment’s notice between close range attacks and long range ones. These two ranges even come with their own set of skills to boot.

Image via Koei Tecmo

Then there is the ability to switch between party members, who all control radically different. For instance, Viktor is the dedicated tank, Rutger is the powerful scythe-wielder with underrated gun attacks, and so on. Without a doubt, Atelier Yumia has one of the most unique action RPG systems I’ve seen and it takes time to master. However, the depth is incredible and, while I still prefer traditional turn-based gameplay, it justified itself and felt far more enjoyable than Ryza’s battles.

That said, the standout, most surprising parts about Atelier Yumia are the characters and story. This is not your usual friendship is magic, happy-go-lucky storyline right here. The backstory of the ancient empire that you’re exploring the ruins of is immense and at the heart of the experience. Alchemy is forbidden in this world and the titular character Yumia has to combat this discrimination head-on.

The plot goes in some shocking directions that don’t get too grim, but are far more serious and emotional than I expected. This is especially true with a couple of the party members. Yumia herself is the best protagonist in the series hands down; she is not overly positive, but is still passionate about the alchemy her mother taught her and her dreams.

Then there is Rutger and Nina whose writing really surprised me with how well done they are. The party members interact with one another so well, too. With the six party members and action combat, this game reminds me quite a bit of Tales of Arise, but it addresses all of my problems with that game. Instead of the six party members pairing up and really only having solid interactions with their “love interest,” you see everyone have a relationship with one another. For instance, Rutger understands and respects Nina, bonds over shared circumstances with Yumia, has a healthy rivalry with Viktor, and constantly pisses off Isla. And this character depth is true for nearly all six party members, too.

Image via Koei Tecmo

Better yet, this rich character development even goes to the villains. The villains in this story are some of my favorites, both in design and writing, in a long time. I won’t dare spoil them, but just know they make a tragically solid case for why they do what they do. In fact, there is at least one boss battle that was painful plot-wise for both myself and the main characters.

Overall, Atelier Yumia is an extraordinary and highly surprising direction for the series. It retains the core alchemy and strategic combat, but builds upon everything in fascinating ways. While the world doesn’t have enough civilizations, it makes up for that with worthwhile content around every corner and a remarkable yet optional building system. The combat might switch fully to action, but it stands out with how uniquely deep and enjoyable it is. And then there is the story and characters, which is far and away better than anything Gust has done up until this point. This all comes together to make Atelier Yumia the best game in the series and the most widely appealing at the same time.

Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land releases for Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on March 21, 2025.

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