Gust Is Really Going for It with Atelier Ryza

Gust has overly relied on the Atelier series since the company’s existence was established over 20 years ago, but they’re taking their dependence on it to an unseen level this year. They’ve already released two installments in the franchise in 2019, with Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists and Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland. The former was an RPG with town-building elements featuring several characters from multiple Atelier series throughout its history to commemorate the 20th anniversary. The latter was the fourth installment in the Arland series, the first of its kind. Both games received okay-to-good reviews from the fanbase, and sold decently in Japan.

So, when Gust teased a new title through a short video, most who saw it before the announcement figured it was either a successor to an old franchise or a brand-new IP. Everyone else thought Gust was really going through with another Atelier game so soon after the aforementioned two released. You probably already know who ended up right.

The new title is Atelier Ryza: The Queen of the Eternal Darkness and Secret Hideout (the name is a literal translation, and will likely be changed for the eventual localization), meaning Gust really is brave (or dumb?) enough to release three brand-new games in the same franchise within the span of a year. It’s not as if these games will be that different from each other either, as they’re all turn-based RPGs. This one will be the most rudimentary installment of the three this year, representing the likely start of a new series after the Mysterious trilogy concluded with Atelier Lydie & Suelle in 2017. The game is coming so quickly because it was in development nearly in tandem with Lulua.

Atelier Ryza will be a coming-of-age story that focuses on Reisalin Stout, nicknamed the titular “Ryza,” an ordinary girl with no distinguishable skills of her own at the start of its tale. She’s a reckless tomboy with a sense of justice, and is sometimes stubborn to a fault. Given the game’s name, she’ll eventually stumble upon alchemy and become capable of creating items and equipment herself. The teaser video and artwork show how she’ll initially be accompanied by a female priest and a young scholar, though their identities aren’t being revealed yet. The artwork on the official website also shows the young scholar being carried by an older red-headed guy, who also isn’t being identified. They’ve left plenty of info to reveal over the next few months.

The overall story synopsis almost sounds like it came from an Atelier plot generator, with adjustments to differentiate it. But Ryza might be distinguishable from previous games in the franchise thanks to Gust enlisting the efforts of Yashichiro Takahashi, creator of the Shakugan no Shana manga. That’s “might” because it’s possible he might only provide drafts that Gust’s writers will edit so they’re not too dissimilar from what prior Atelier stories have offered, similar to what happened with Shin Kibayashi’s scenario for Fire Emblem Fates. They’ll presumably further clarify the level of his involvement in the coming months.

That’s not the only big difference: They’re also giving ample focus to Ryza’s ridiculous thighs, a clear focus from character designer Toridamono. This is mainly notable because she’ll be one of the few female Atelier protagonists to not wear a dress, though her posture in the main artwork looks spine-altering.

The battle system will remain turn-based, but will be streamlined so battles themselves are faster-paced. The same applies to the synthesis system, which will be easier to comprehend than in previous installments thanks to being a menu that resembles a skill tree. There’s no word on whether this will be one of the Atelier games to have a time limit for completing missions and synthesizing items yet, a feature that tends to come and go depending on the installment.

Regardless of how much you like the Atelier series, three installments within the same genre in one year is excessive. This is presumably happening thanks to Gust’s other original properties underperforming. The first Nights of Azure game sold fine, and garnered an okay critical reception. But that couldn’t be said for Nights of Azure 2 in terms of quality and sales. It’s a similar story with Blue Reflection, though its sales were better than NoA2’s despite its also-middling critical reception. Now, they feel they have only Atelier to rely on.

But releasing too many games in the same franchise so soon is a fantastic way to induce fatigue, if fans don’t already have it from the annual installments. Atelier game sales aren’t as good as they were during the Arland trilogy, which explains why it was the first series to get a fourth game with Lulua. But it’s risky to start a potential new trilogy this soon when it doesn’t have many differences compared to previous installments. It’s similar to how Koei Tecmo releases too many Warriors games in a year, and it may be no surprise this is happening with Atelier now considering they own Gust.

Atelier Ryza will release in Japan on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch this fall, and will arrive on Steam at a later date. The Steam version might be a worldwide release, implying a western localization is already in the works, though western territories might have to wait until early 2020 depending on how early in the fall it arrives in Japan. Gust will provide several updates about the game between now and the release, and Koei Tecmo’s western offices could join them soon.