Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Land from Koei Tecmo America and Gust brings us the latest entry in the beloved series on PS5. Check out our Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Land review!
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Land from Koei Tecmo America and Gust brings us the latest entry in the beloved series on PS5. The Atelier franchise got its start way back in 1997 on the original PlayStation console, and it has now over 25 games in total not counting spin-off releases or remakes. I’ve had a chance to review many of the Atelier games, such as Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea on PlayStation 3, Atelier Ayesha Plus: The Alchemist of Dusk on PlayStation Vita, the Mysterious Trilogy Deluxe Pack on Nintendo Switch – which includes Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk DX, Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky DX, and Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea DX – and even Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg, which finally brought us the former Japan exclusive on PlayStation 5. It’s now 2025, and it’s time to dive into a new adventure!
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Land is the story of a young woman by the name of Yumia Liessfeldt, who lost her mother due to an accident in her childhood. With a major cataclysm destroying the great continent of Aladis, alchemy is now considered taboo in this world… but it turns out that Yumia’s mother was an alchemist! Yumia joined the Aladiss Research Team to learn more about what her mother did and what Yumia herself could now do. As the game’s name suggests, the theme for this game is that of memory, of moments in people’s lives that come under the spotlight… for better or worse. Sure, relieving good memories is always great, but what about memories of failures or hardship?
Things have changed when compared to a big chunk of the previous entries in the series, making for an excellent way for those new to the franchise to jump in. I reviewed the series reboot DYNASTY WARRIORS: ORIGINS earlier in the year, which took the beloved DYNASTY WARRIORS series for a new spin that made the whole thing feel very fresh. The same can be said about Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Land since it takes the elements that make the Atelier series such a fun experience and streamlines the whole thing so that gamers of all skill levels can get a chance to enjoy this new entry.
The first thing you’ll notice is how combat is now in real-time, which makes for a very different experience! If I had to compare it to another series, I’d say that, at times, it kinda feels like, say, the Valkyrie Profile games at times. Don’t worry, since you’ll get to learn the basics a minute after booting up the game, thanks to the tutorial combat segment during the prologue. When you come into contact with an enemy on the battlefield, you’ll be sent into battle. Your goal is simple: attack all enemies to reduce their HP to 0 before they do the same to your party. Each of the characters in your party will get to learn special skills, which will be mapped to the X, Circle, Square, and Triangle buttons.
Using a skill will put it into cooldown, and you won’t be able to use it again until its timer is up. Skills that have two or more uses can be used multiple times in a row, and their cooldown period won’t begin until the skill animation is over. Pay attention to your enemies while in combat since you’ll have a small window of opportunity to defend yourself against their attacks. Time things just right, and you’ll be able to use the L2 button to parry attacks with a Precision Guard, which will considerably reduce how much damage you receive. If you don’t want to risk messing up and being damaged, you can also press left or right on the left analog stick and the L2 button to perform an evade jump that will hopefully allow you to fully avoid that enemy’s attack.
The battle area will be split into two areas: the inner range and the outer range. You can change between ranges by performing a range shift, which is done by pressing up or down on the D-Pad. This will allow you evade an enemy’s attack when it’s only targetting the inner range or the outer range, respectively. Something else to keep in mind is that your enemies will have physical and magic stun symbols. If you damage an enemy with an attack that matches the displayed icon, it will reduce the displayed number. Bringing the number down to zero will stun that enemy, which will allow you to deal more damage while it remains in that weakened state.
For some battles, all enemies will be in the same area, which will trigger a rumble fight. Enemies in rumble fights will be a bit more vicious and aggressive, so you’ll have to be extra careful with how you deal with them as a group and how you try to avoid their attacks. Being able to get a Precision Guard during rumble fights will be very important since you might not have enough time to evade attacks when groups of enemies target you… especially when they’re using area-of-effect attacks. Sure, you could always use the left analog stick to move around and try to find the one spot where the attack won’t hit you, but the timing is going to be a bit tricky at first as you learn each enemy’s attacks and skills.
Press the R1 button to switch between using skills and using the different items in your inventory. Once you switch between one or the other, just press the face button corresponding to the mapped skill or ability to activate it. You can use items as long as you have some uses left for them. The more items that Yumia crafts with Synthesis, the more options your party members will have! Speaking of which, to switch between party members, hold down the R2 button and press the Square or Triangle button to switch to another character. By using items, attacking enemies, defending, and evading, you’ll increase the Battle Rate, which you can see in the upper right corner of the screen. Filling the Battle Rate will shorten the cooldown of your actions, which will allow you to gain the upper hand. Do be careful when fighting enemies, because, if you’re KO’d, then your Battle Rate will be reduced in half.
While exploring an area, you’ll be able to control Yumia with the left analog stick, jumping by pressing the X button. If jumping while facing a wall, you can perform a second and third jump by continuing to press the X button, which will allow you to reach higher spots. You can make Yumia sprint by pressing in on the left analog stick. Pressing in on the right analog stick will show you some wavy energy lines that will lead you to your next destination. Found an obstacle in your way? Just press the Triangle button to grab onto it and then press the R2 button to push it. You can also press the Circle button to crouch, which will allow you to go under low ceilings or to move through tight spots.
You’ll be able to use the shoot ability to progress further. Just press the L2 button to ready your gun, and then press the R2 button to shoot as needed. This will make it possible for you to collect ingredients from high places or activate switches that could, for example, trigger a ladder to fall down so that you can climb to a higher spot. Or maybe you’ll need to shoot a fan so that it stops spinning long enough for you to move through without being sliced by its blades! You’ll need to have ammo to be able to shoot, which you can create by way of Simple Synthesis – more on that in a bit. Pressing the R1 button while your gun is out will allow you to lock on to the closest target, which makes shooting a lot easier! Oh, and you should also try to shoot at enemies you find while exploring so that you can gain an advantage when entering the battle.
Exploration is also more seamless, featuring a large world for you to check out instead of more segmented locations where you used to collect resources as time quickly passed so that you could hopefully collect enough ingredients to use Synthesis to create useful items. This time around, you’ll be able to perform Simple Synthesis while out and about. As the name suggests, this is a more simplified Synthesis process that makes it possible to use the resources you’ve collected so far to perform a Synthesis that will yield new items while exploring. Just press the L1 and R1 buttons to open up the radial menu! That does mean you won’t need to go back to your Atelier to perform some Synthesis processes for, well, simpler items, so be sure to give it a go! Simple Synthesis and regular Synthesis are processes by which you’ll be able to tap into the Mana contained in items to create new ones.
You will need to gather resources a lot. When near things with the gather icon, all you’ll need to do is press the Triangle button to obtain some valuable resources. These will be the ingredients used for Synthesis and will be added to your basket as you collect them. Your Atelier is still important since it will serve as your base. From there, you can work on Synthesis and use leftover resources that are not useful for Synthesis to create items and upgrades for your base at the workbench. These include, for instance, floors, foundations, walls, and roof pieces to repair your base, as well as furniture to decorate the location and make it a bit cozier. You can also build modules that can unlock things such as being able to change the outfits of your party members, storing surplus resources, or even something to replenish the energy of your Energy Core. Energy generators will charge over time, and you can take the energy they’ve accumulated to fill up your Energy Core.
Proper Synthesis at the Atelier will require that you make the most of your alchemy skills to create items from recipes that, for lack of better words, weave together memories from the Mana in said items. The first thing you’ll Synthesize will be Luft, an air element attack item. You’ll be using a Memory Vial for this process since it contains the memories of recipes. Once Synthesis begins, you’ll be able to use the Core that you’ll have to strengthen to craft a more powerful item. This is done by providing the core with Mana to activate it so that you can then add ingredients to slots to boost the item you aim to craft. The ingredients you add will create resonance areas depending on their power and quality. A higher quality and more powerful item can make a big difference during Synthesis!
You should find additional locations to set up a base so that you can then build additional energy generators to restock your Energy Core, thus expanding your exploration range. Why is this important? Because the energy in your Energy Core will be used not only for performing additional jumps to climb higher when jumping against walls, it will also be used to unlock landmarks and interact with certain objects. This is crucial for your mission, as is defeating as many enemies as you possibly can while moving toward your next objective so that you can collect experience points. Once a character has obtained enough, it will get to level up. This will boost the value of its stats, such as HP, attack, defense, and speed.
By checking up on Shrines of Prayer, you’ll be able to obtain Energy Prisms. You can use Energy Prisms to upgrade your Energy Core, as well as to unlock additional skills in the Skill Tree. If, for some reason, a Shrine of Prayer isn’t activated, then that means you first need to return it to normal. Look around the area to see if there’s something for you to shoot or a mechanism that must be repaired. Energy Prisms are artificial crystals that have the power needed to activate the latent potential in Mana, which is why they’re so important. At the Skill Tree, you’ll be able to work on unlocking skills for the Synthesis, Exploration, and Combat sets. You could, for example, boost the drop rate of rewards in combat, increase the number of items created in a single Symple Synthesis, increase the rank of ingredients obtained by shooting, or boost the size of your Exploration Bag so that you can carry more materials.
With this one being a retail release, it has a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy for you to try to add to your collection. And since it’s a Cross-Buy title, you’ll be able to download the PS4 and PS5 versions to your PlayStation 5 console at no extra cost, and each game will have its own trophy list to work on. Each list will be split into 34 Bronze trophies, 9 Silver trophies, and 3 Gold trophies. There are plenty of objectives for you to work on, but since the entire trophy list is compromised of hidden trophies – yes, really – I’ll try to be as spoiler-free as possible by only mentioning a handful of trophies. There’s a trophy for completing the prologue map and another one for unlocking your first landmark. You’ll get another trophy once you’ve gathered all of your party members. Another trophy will pop when you go fishing for the first time. One more trophy will unlock when you recall a recipe for the first time. You’ll also be rewarded once you perform Simple Synthesis 100 times!
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Land is the story of a young woman by the name of Yumia Liessfeldt, who lost her mother due to an accident in her childhood. With a major cataclysm destroying the great continent of Aladis, alchemy is now considered taboo in this world… but it turns out that Yumia’s mother was an alchemist! Yumia joined the Aladiss Research Team to learn more about what her mother did and what Yumia herself could now do. As the game’s name suggests, the theme for this game is that of memory, of moments in people’s lives that come under the spotlight… for better or worse. Sure, relieving good memories is always great, but what about memories of failures or hardship?
As you explore the Lignus Region, the Sivash Region, and the Auruma Region, you’ll get to learn what it is that makes each one of them stand out from each other, with plenty of characters to meet, new enemies to battle and resources to gather. And before I forget, I know that the game is fully voice-acted, but it’s only available in Japanese. Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Land launches on March 21 as a Cross-Buy title, so your $69.99 purchase will allow you to download both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions of the game at no extra cost. If you pre-order the game, you can get these bonuses:
Atelier Yumia – Limited Photo Poses and Frames
Includes five different poses and three types of frames which can be used in photo mode.
Note: Photo mode is available after base building has been unlocked. This content may become available for purchase or for free separately at a later date.
Atelier Yumia – Aladiss Investigation Preparation Set
Includes a costume for both Yumia and Flammi, three “Training Wrist Weight” accessories, and the recipe for Training Wrist Weights. Training Wrist Weights increase the experience gained from defeating monsters by 3% while equipped.
There’s also the Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land Digital Deluxe Edition for $79.99, which adds the Atelier Yumia – Colorful Collection, offering costume palette changes for Yumia, Flammi, Viktor, Isla, Rutger, Nina, and Lenja (2 for each character, 14 total), three “Puni Badge” accessories, and the recipe for Puni Badges. While equipped, Puni Badges increase the experience gained from defeating Puni-type monsters by 50% and guarantee that they will drop items. And if you want to go all-in, you can get the Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land Ultimate Edition for $119.99.
This one includes the Ultimate Edition bonus: “Black Rose Magician” Costume for Yumia, as well as the Season Pass content! The Season Pass includes 19 items, which are as follows:
1) Season pass purchase bonus: Atelier Yumia – Additional Hair Color Set
Five hair color changes for Yumia, Flammi, Viktor, Isla, Rutger, Nina, and Lenja (Flammi’s fire color changes). There are five different colors for each character.
2-8) Unique swimsuit costumes for each of the seven party characters
9-15) Unique academy-themed costumes for each of the seven party characters.
16) Recipe and Blueprint Expansion Pack “The Art of Aladiss”
17) Additional Map 1
18) Additional Map 2
19) Gust Extra BGM Pack
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This Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Land review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by KOEI Tecmo America.
