Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land Review: Perfect Combination of Exploration & Alchemy (PC)

In a world where alchemy is taboo, one aspiring alchemist seeks to change how her craft is viewed. Teaming up with a research group, she explores a land ravaged by alchemy. As she improves her skills, she learns more about the land’s history. New threats emerge and threaten the status quo with alchemy as the only weapon against them. Can the mistakes of the past be avoided and will alchemy regain its place in the world?

Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land provides a great mix of exploration and crafting that’s fun to work with. The world is vast, your creations are all beneficial, and nothing is overly complex. Combat is fluid and the story doesn’t drag the game down. There is a steep learning curve and the visuals noticeably drag the game down. But if you stay the course, Atelier Yumia will surprise you at how fun it can be.

Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is available on PC, PS4/PS5, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch for USD 69.99.

Yumia’s goal is to show the world that alchemy can be used for good.

Story – Alchemy is Taboo

The story revolves around the titular Yumia as she joins a research group to explore the Aladissisan Empire. Due to the continent’s destruction by alchemy, it’s become a taboo practice and Yumia is shunned by most of the group. However, she is determined to find out what happened to Aladiss and slowly gains allies in the group. Nefarious forces are also emerging in Aladiss who hold the truth of the empire’s ruin.

While the stakes are more serious, the story is similar to games like Cuisineer. You are trying to change the perception of alchemy one step at a time. As Yumia develops her skill as an alchemist, she gains new allies who help her explore Aladiss. The story isn’t groundbreaking but it does address the topics appropriately. Yumia’s allies and supporting characters aren’t just nameless faces, with several opportunities to learn about them personally.

Every character is in Aladiss for their own motivations.

Following the narrative isn’t difficult and there’s no immediate rush. You can explore Aladiss at your own pace while taking care of side quests. There are benefits to proceeding with the story like unlocking new regions and ingredients, along with gaining new allies. But there’s no pressure and that helps you acclimate to the world and invest your time in it. Aladiss is vast and there’s plenty to do even outside of the story.

Gameplay – Exploring a Mana-filled Land

Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is a mix of exploration, crafting, and combat. Aladiss has several regions to explore and there’s lots to do. As an alchemist, Yumia needs several ingredients from the environment and monsters. She also needs to help out the research group which forms various side quests. Performing all three activities immerses you in the gameplay as you actually feel like you are helping out.

Aladiss is a marvel to explore as there is lots to do.

Crafting starts in your atelier early on but you can eventually craft synthesizing altars at campsites and bases. You can also use simple crafting to create exploration tools on the go. Yumia’s recipe stock is limited at first but she eventually gains more as the story goes on. Improving and unlocking recipes requires particles that you must find through exploration. Yumia eventually gets better quality ingredients to synthesize better equipment.

Combat is fluid and dynamic, giving you a variety of moves against your enemies. Analysing enemy weaknesses and using special moves like Friend Actions is key to winning battles. You can switch characters and positions as necessary, giving you access to different moves as needed. It’s tough but like many things in Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land, it needs practice.

Combat isn’t easy to grasp at first since it’s fast paced.

Learning Curve – Steeper than it Looks

The overall difficulty of Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land isn’t different from games like Silent Hope. What makes this game hard is that tutorials only appear once and you can’t reference them again. Since your early efforts are likely going to be amateurish, it hurts since you can’t review what you just learned. Everything in the game has many aspects, meaning it’s easy to forget something crucial while you are learning how to play.

There is an online guide you can use for the basics but it pales in comparison to the number of tutorials thrown at you. This means lots of trial-and-error and maybe some lucky button presses to figure out how to play effectively. Everything gets harder as you progress through the game and it would be nice to get some tutorial guides. Without them, you can expect to spend lots of time learning how to play rather than enjoying the world.

Crafting isn’t easy and the tutorial disappears after the first creation.

Audio & Visual – Fantastic but Flawed

The audio of Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land is great but the visuals are where significant flaws exist. While the graphics look fantastic most of the time, it’s easy to tell when something looks out of place. Limbs running into clothing, camera angles vibrate unnecessarily, and unclear furniture placements are some of the problems. These issues aren’t enough to take away from the game but are too much to ignore.

Even changing the settings to push the quality higher doesn’t fix all the problems and can still affect performance. It snaps you back from the immersion since you can’t put it out of your mind. It feels like more work could have been spent tidying up some of the graphics to ensure everything ran smoothly. While big games will have their imperfections, the visuals stand out in a way that isn’t great.

Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land was reviewed on Steam with a code provided by the publisher from ICO Partners.