Every once in a while, as a treat, Gust’s Atelier series of alchemy-adventure RPGs allows itself a fan service game. Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & The White Guardian is one such effort. Ostensibly, this is a follow-up to the mobile-only (and now defunct outside of Japan) Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy & the Polar Night Liberator, but in the likely event that you didn’t play that game or even know about it, don’t sweat it too much. This game mostly stands separate from that one despite a few inconsequential callbacks here and there. At the same time, I doubt this is meant to kick off the next chapter in the Atelier franchise. This Switch version is also not the best way to play it.
One thing this game shares with its mobile counterpart is that it is, at its heart, a crossover game. The last one of these we saw on consoles was Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of the New World, which was a clear-cut spin-off focusing on town management rather than the tried-and-true crafting RPG core of the main games. Atelier Resleriana opts to have its cake and eat it, too. In most ways, it’s a throwback to the pre-Ryza era of the franchise, but with a little streamlining here and there for good measure. But it’s also a simple town builder, as your efforts feed into rebuilding your hometown, which has fallen on hard times. As you play, all kinds of familiar faces will show up. Some of them are relatively deep cuts, depending on how long you’ve been with the series.
There are two protagonists to choose from here off the hop, though after a short prologue, they’ll meet up and things more or less proceed the same from there. Conveniently, they both have ties to the town of Hallfein, which played host to a mysterious event twelve years in the past. Rias is an energetic young woman who quickly develops an interest in alchemy, and Slade is a young man who really loves to fight. He has the ability to open Dimensional Paths, which are essentially procedurally-generated dungeons where you can go to gather goodies, engage in battles, and locate necessary items to move the plot forward. The two team up due to their mutual interests and end up working to restore Hallfein while unraveling the mystery behind what happened in that fateful event years ago.
The loop, as it were, sees you going into a Dimensional Path, gathering up stuff, fighting some battles, heading back, doing some alchemy, selling some things, checking off quests, and investing in the town. As the town grows, you’ll be able to make more progress in the story. More people will join your party, more people will move into town, and that’s about how things work. The battles are traditional turn-based affairs, albeit with a small timing-based blocking mechanic. It features a system where certain turns will have effects tied to them, and you can manipulate who benefits from that by removing enemies from the equation. There’s also a cool system where you can trigger special actions by doing specific combinations.
And hey, it all works quite well. I think the alchemy system is a little too streamlined, but otherwise, I had a pretty good time going through this game. There are various signs that this game is trying to make a lot of soup from a slightly thinner broth than usual, such as some visual elements looking below the series’ standards or some overly-simplified systems. At the same time, I imagine most Atelier fans are going to find the core experience enjoyable enough to look past such things. The cameos feel very gratuitous at times, but I think Atelier cameos in general tend to be like that. Well, it’s a crossover. You know what you’re getting into.
What is a bit of a bummer is how Atelier Resleriana runs on Switch. For the most part it’s in line with what we’ve seen from many other Atelier games on the platform. You’re getting a worse image quality than other platforms, and the lighting in particular is a bit grungy this time around. The difference here is that Atelier Resleriana needs to load a lot more often than the usual Atelier game, and those load times are pretty chunky on the original Switch. If you play on the Switch 2, the loading times are significantly better. It’s the only obvious improvement you’ll get on there, though. It’s not enough to ruin the game by any means, but if you have other options, you may want to explore them.
Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & The White Guardian probably shouldn’t be anyone’s first entry in the series, and the loading times on the original Nintendo Switch can get pretty annoying over time. The charming characters and breezy set-up are points in its favor, however, and longtime fans of the Atelier games will likely enjoy both the cameos and classic style. It’s also a rather decent choice in general if you’re looking for an RPG to zone out on and don’t mind if you can’t pick up on all the references. Of the three Atelier releases this year, it’s probably the one I’d recommend least, but in the end? I’d still recommend it. Good comfort food.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch
Review Copy Provided by Koei Tecmo
