PREVIEW: Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key

With Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key, fans are staring down the end of the story of the young upstart alchemist Reisalin Stout –“Ryza” to her friends. The Atelier Ryza trilogy has maintained the Atelier franchise's tradition of cozy atmosphere with charming character writing. We were lucky enough to try out the opening hour of Atelier Ryza 3's PC port to see what else it brings to the table.

Atelier Ryza 3 appears to inherit the tone set by its predecessors. Once again, the games are set during the summertime; Kurken Island is fully in the dog days of summer, with its warm sunlight and cicadas buzzing in the background. Not only were we able to explore Ryza's lived-in hometown, with its cobblestone streets and many alleyways, we were also able to explore the woods around her hideout where she conducts her alchemic experiments. As with the other Atelier games, Ryza has an important place in her town: when the game begins, she's arguing with the town elder to convince him to use a desalinization device in order to get the town more water. She also has to remind him that she makes the medicine for his back. Beyond that, there are also the many requests Ryza takes from villagers; many townspeople will have need for all manner of knickknacks easily crafted through alchemy. Ryza can also talk to some villagers (or animals) to earn materials, or even old notes that could lead to hidden pockets of treasure.

These requests are satisfied through item synthesis. Ryza can gather materials from resource points and use them to create items. Every material has an elemental affinity attached to it, as well as a variety of potential skills. By using these items in item recipes, the items you make can have better qualities to them, with better materials leading to better items. These items are also important for exploration: Ryza can produce tools that help her gain items from other kinds of synthesis points, like axes and hammers for rocks and logs, or fishing poles for gathering fish. Satisfying requests or producing items also grants Ryza SP that she can use on her Skill Tree. From there, she can buy new recipes, expand her inventory, or gain the ability to harvest higher-tier materials.

The combat system has been revamped from Atelier Ryza 2. While combat is still initiated from making contact with enemies, and you still gain a Tactical Level advantage by striking enemies before combat, there's more of an active system at play. Characters have their own meters over their head which, once full, allow them to take action. Once you can take action, you can use a simple button combo to initiate basic attacks which earn you AP; AP, in turn, is used for Skills in combat. Landing blows against enemies increases your Tactical Level, which can earn you bonuses after combat. There's also a Guard mechanic; while Defending halts your timing meter and prolongs your inability to take action, Defending just before impact can drastically decrease the amount of damage your characters take.

So far, the new system feels a bit iffier than its predecessors'. It's still very unclear when enemies will attack you from off-screen, and the new active controls for combat don't feel quite as precise. It was hard to tell if I had input the proper commands or not, and if my attacks were being recognized as I had input them. It was also hard to judge enemy strength; we lost a fight against a group of monsters but it was hard to tell why. The enemies weren't any stronger than the others we had fought, and we were seemingly overwhelmed before we could tell we were losing. Thankfully, losing a fight isn't terribly punishing: you simply wake back up at the nearest landmark minus a few of your gathered materials.

With Atelier Ryza 3's release fast approaching, fans can look forward to an emotional send-off to Reisalin Stout. There are still minor fixes that need to be applied to the game before final release, like implementing some minor graphical improvements or smoothing out some performance issues. But so far, it seems like fans have one final magical summertime adventure to look forward to. Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key will release on March 24th for the PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Steam.