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Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Land marks the 26th mainline entry in the long-standing series of alchemy-themed JRPGs that began back in 1997 with Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg. As it’s branched onto PC, the games have begun to see increased popularity on Steam, with the recent Atelier Ryza trilogy proving a notable winner. Yumia’s launch has been met with the game’s highest numbers yet on the Valve platform, but reviews show that not everyone is happy.
Atelier Yumia follows the cozy, alchemical themes that make the series among the most endearing and enduring JRPGs around, but it also continues developer Koei Tecmo’s penchant for reinvention. Along with its newest eponymous protagonist, Yumia adopts a slightly older, ‘cooler’ cast of characters, and draws inspiration from the likes of Genshin Impact and Breath of the Wild to deliver a sprawling open-world game that ramps up the pace of combat.
The newest installment has been met with the most impressive response the Atelier series has ever seen on Steam, with a player count peak of more than 14,000 active users in its first weekend. That’s double the high that Ryza 3 reached and more than 50% above the record set by the most recent entry, Atelier Resleriana, which began life as a mobile game before coming to Steam in January.
Early Atelier Yumia Steam reviews, however, are mixed. Just 64% of the players who have submitted a rating recommend the game positively. The most common complaints relate to performance issues, with many users reporting severe framerate issues and stuttering even on midrange systems.
Koei Tecmo has already responded to these concerns. An early update introduces the ability to set your graphics options before the game’s prologue begins, adds a display setting to show estimated VRAM usage, and offers the ability to switch to a ‘limited CPU thread count’ mode designed to lighten the load on your system. The developer notes that more optimization is in the works and will be rolled out with future updates.
Other negative reviews bemoan the changes from past entries, saying that the signature crafting and equipment elements Atelier is known for feel oversimplified and repetitive here, favoring grinding for resources over creativity and experimentation. The increased focus on real-time combat (something also seen in the Ryza games but expanded on here) has also split opinion.
It’s certainly not all bad news for Yumia, however – the more high-stakes story seems to be going down well, and several reviews praise the crafting for continuing the series’ trend of allowing you to make some particularly overpowered gear if you put the time in. Hopefully Koei Tecmo is able to iron out the optimization issues soon and deliver an experience players can enjoy to the fullest.
Atelier Yumia is out now on Steam, priced at $69.99 / £54.99. If you’re curious to try it first, you can download a demo from the game’s store page. Save data from this may be carried over to the full version if you decide to continue.
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