It’s been five years since the first Atelier Ryza game launched, bringing its charming blend of colorful anime designs, JRPG combat, and satisfying alchemy to our PCs. That initial entry was far from the first game to bear the Atelier name, which dates all the way back to 1997, yet its most recent trilogy has earned it much more attention among a Western audience. To commemorate the anniversary, Koei Tecmo Games has given all three games a polish, with optimization updates, quality-of-life features, and additional improvements.
The Atelier Ryza trilogy follows its eponymous protagonist, Reisalin ‘Ryza’ Stout, who joins her friends on an adventure away from their dull village lives that quickly escalates and sees them embroiled in a dangerous conflict on the mainland. While I found the main stories of each to be fairly by-the-books, the personal tales of each character in the Ryza series are what make it really shine, and there’s a coziness to its style that makes them very pleasant JRPGs to sink into for an evening.
Combat across all three games is a blend of turn-based and real-time that will feel quickly familiar, but there’s enough at play to keep things interesting. The most distinctive hook, however, is in the alchemy system core to the entire series, which allows Ryza to collect all manner of resources and combine them to create all manner of useful items. While it’s a rather satisfying mechanic, if it’s not to your tastes then the Ryza trilogy allows you to automate these elements so you can focus on the narrative and the action.
The anniversary updates apply across the entire trilogy. All three games have been improved on Steam, with the addition of graphics settings and better keyboard and mouse control customization through the options menu. You can fast-forward through event scenes and fatal drives if you’re sick of watching them, and there are now options to auto-play text during events as well. The first game has been given an auto-save feature, while the latter two now have a new ‘very easy’ difficulty setting if you’re just there for the story.
The Atelier Ryza fifth anniversary series optimization updates are out now. You can find all three games on Steam, priced at $59.99 / £49.99 each.
Alternatively, there are even more of the best crafting games to satisfy that urge to create, or dive into the best RPGs if it’s character-building and storytelling that really draws you in.
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