Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key – Review

It has already been two years since we took a closer look at Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy, which we quite enjoyed. The second installment of the game further built upon the foundation of its predecessor and smoothened out quite a few mechanics. Now, the third installment, Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key has been released, and we were quite eager to see what Ryza would be up to now.

Story

Atelier Ryza 3 takes place a year after the events of the second game. It seems that peace has once again been restored to Kurken Island, and Ryza is enjoying her life to the fullest. A few of her friends, Tao and Bos, decide to visit Kurken Island to see how Ryza is doing. While this would be the ideal situation for a relaxing summer vacation story, it actually turns into a new adventure for Ryza. Out of the blue, new islands have appeared around Kurken Island, and these islands host quite a few monsters. Sadly, the monsters are also reaching the shores of Ryza’s hometown, and it’s clear something has to be done about this. To make things even more bizarre, Ryza is suddenly hearing a voice in her head instructing her to craft a key with alchemy. Now it’s only a matter of finding out where to use this key.

The story progresses pretty much in the same fashion as it did in the previous entries of the series. You’ll get enough information for your quests, and the gameplay will occasionally be interrupted for cutscenes. Even though we would not suggest this entry as a starting point for the Ryza arc, the developers did include a useful cinematic you can view that explains the events of the first two Atelier Ryza games. For obvious reasons, this cinematic contains quite a few spoilers. We still suggest playing the games in order.

Graphics

When reviewing the second installment of the Ryza arc of Atelier games, we stated that this series has taken the franchise to the next generation. This still rings true, as the game simply looks gorgeous on the Switch. We had quite a few environments to explore, and even though a lot of assets are reused throughout the game, the world simply looks fun to explore. Of course, like other games in the series, you’ll still encounter quite a few empty areas, which is still a shame. The character designs, however, look as cute as ever, and we loved seeing new characters being added to the ever-expanding universe of Atelier Ryza. The game looks best in handheld mode, but the text font and the UI are so incredibly small that it’s very straining for the eyes to play for longer durations of time. When playing in docked mode, the game does show a few more rough edges, but the colorful world of the game makes up for a lot.

Sound

The sound design is very well handled. The game has a cinematic soundtrack, which makes the adventure that unfolds just that tiny bit more epic. We had somewhat Zelda-esque vibes when exploring the world thanks to the background music, but also because of the many grunts and shouts Ryza would make when smashing rocks or chopping lumber. The many voiced dialogues, however, steal the show here, and we were quite amazed that so many dialogues in the game were voiced. Only smaller sub-conversations are text-only, but that’s only a minor remark when looking at the bigger picture.

Gameplay

Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key is a JRPG game in which you’ll take Ryza on her third grand adventure. The game will have you explore different regions, while collecting materials to perform alchemy, as well as battle foes that you may come across. The overall offset is quite simple, as you’ll get quests to complete and these will generally tell you where to go next. The franchise saw some modernization throughout the course of the previous games, and if you played Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy, you’ll probably know what to expect from this one.

Just like always, alchemy is, of course, a staple for the Atelier franchise. This game will have you crafting new items at a steady pace, and you’ll be able to determine the quality of the items you create via alchemy. If you are somewhat pressed for time, or simply want to focus more on exploration and combat, you can always have the game add ingredients of the chosen quality automatically. This does increase the flow and pacing of the game for those that want to focus on other things. Even so, the alchemy process is quite entertaining, and it’s actually really relaxing to choose the materials for your next crafting project. We found ourselves enjoying the general loop of collecting materials to then dive into crafting again, while also making sure we had a nice stock of items in case we needed them.

Combat has remained mainly unchanged compared to the previous game. Once again, you can always control one character at a time during battles, but you’re also able to switch freely between party members on the battlefield. There’s an action meter that just keeps filling, except when you’re guarding attacks. Due to this, you’ll have to pay attention at all times, as enemies will always attack when their meters are filled. You can choose what strategy your allies use, which mainly means choosing between if you want your allies to save up AP (Action Points) or consume their AP and attack more aggressively. The first one is interesting if you wish to do most of the skill casting yourself, but if you rather focus on one character, it might be interesting to have your AI-controlled allies do the heavy lifting themselves.

While most things are enjoyable, a few mechanics are still a bit rough around the edges. The menus are a bit wonky to work with, the general controls are not always as precise as you want them to be, being able to jump often feels useless as small obstacles cannot be crossed this way, and gathering materials does at times suffer from poor hitboxes. These are all minor issues in the grand scheme of things, but they do get noticeable when playing the game for a while.

Conclusion

Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key is a great continuation of Ryza’s adventures and it may as well be one of the best entries in the Atelier series as a whole. We loved exploring the colorful world with Ryza and her companions, while also spending huge chunks of time in our hideout to craft to our hearts’ content. While the game still has a few rough edges, such as the text font being ridiculously small in handheld mode and somewhat wonkier controls, there is a lot to love here. If you’re a fan of the series, then this one is a must-have addition to your collection.

Ibuki

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Aspiring ninja.

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