The latest in the long-running JRPG Atelier series will release on Steam next year, when Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream drops on February 25, 2022. It’s the sequel to 2015’s Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book, which released on Steam earlier this year in a DLC-included complete definitive edition.
The announcement was made at this year’s Tokyo Game Show alongside a reveal trailer. The story is a direct sequel to the first Atelier Sophie, but features a new character with the same name as the talking book from the first game. That’s the mystery, I’d reckon.
The Atelier series are RPGs that prominently feature puzzle-like crafting minigames, where ingredients with many different effects can be combined to create new things. Much of its appeal is in the level of customization that players have, twisting and changing recipes, adding powerful traits to existing items, or using unexpected ingredients in them: Doing stuff like cranking the sharpness stat of a sword to inhuman levels, or adding regeneration on top of your health potions. It gets really complicated.
You can find more about Atelier Sophie 2 on its official website, and you can see the previous game on Steam.