PLATFORM: PC, PS4, PS5, SWITCH (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: 29TH JANUARY
It feels like the Atelier games have been around since the dawn of time. Lost Legends is the 22nd game in the main series (not counting spinoffs), and takes place three years after the events of 2019’s Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout. In keeping with series tradition, where two or three separate titles follow the same overarching storyline, we once again meet up with Ryza, the enthusiastic and curious alchemist who has now sailed to the city of Ashra-am Baird where she tracks down her old pals, makes a whole bunch of new acquaintances, learns more about the art of alchemy and – as the title suggests – investigates some lost legends involving a secret fairy…
Ryza 2 is a game of several parts. It’s very story-heavy – many missions involve nothing more than going to a location and watching things develop between Ryza and her friends – but there are plenty of other (more adventurous) things to do. The main bulk of the gameplay revolves around exploring the local ruins, fighting monsters, gathering crafting materials and expanding your knowledge of alchemy to create increasingly powerful items which will help you to explore bigger ruins, fight stronger monsters, and so on.
Combat is turn-based, and feels quite fast-paced compared to many other JRPGs. There are far too many mechanics to go into here, many of which feel overwhelming to start with but quickly fall into place after a few fights. It’s a similar story with the alchemy side of things – the tutorials don’t do the greatest job of explaining what you’re supposed to be doing, and the layout of the crafting screen may well blow your brains out the first time you see it. It all becomes a bit clearer if you spend some time figuring out how it all works (or you can just use the handy feature which allows you to create items without doing all the hard work yourself), although there are a few aspects that may well remain a mystery for many, many hours…
There are a few other gameplay elements too – decorating your workshop, feeding your puni (honestly…), developing shops, increasing your relationships with the various factions around town, completing jobs for the cafe’s bulletin board – which help to break things up a bit. It’s all very calm and relaxing and, for the most part, completely stress-free, but there’s more than enough going on to keep your brain ticking over and there are plenty of rewards and upgrades to make you feel like you’re making progress.
If you’re already familiar with the Atelier universe, Ryza 2 is pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a new entry in the series. It’s a fine enough starting point for newcomers too, although keep in mind that the dialogue is all in Japanese so you’ll be reading an awful lot of subtitles, and the story is part of an ongoing narrative so any references to what happened in the last game will most likely go over your head – although this may well pique your interest enough that you’ll end up wanting to go back to fill in the gaps. The updated combat mechanics mean that Ryza 2 surpasses the previous instalment, which itself quickly became a fan favourite. Being an improved version of a highly-acclaimed title makes this a solid recommendation for JRPG fans!
