While I’ve absolutely had the pleasure of checking out loads of indie games over this generation on the Switch, I’ve also had the opportunity to dip my toe into gaming territory I’ve been missing out on all these years. While it’s clear that, in some form, the Atelier series has been around for quite some time, with this being my first foray into it I’ll admit that it’s pretty overwhelming to tackle. Unquestioningly stylish, focused on exploration and crafting, and feeling like it gives you the power to chart your own way through it, it still left me with a very positive overall impression.

One saving grace that helped me feel less disoriented is that this is apparently the beginning of a new character’s overall story arc in the series, breaking away from some of its traditional conventions and doing something new. For other newcomers like me, this did help to minimize the intimidation factor that can be felt when you jump into the middle of things, left to start out a game feeling lost since you’re simply not up to speed on anything that’s happening in the world. Playing as Yumia, you’re in a bit of a tough spot since you’re an Alchemist, which clearly makes those around you deeply concerned and wary of what dark things you may be capable of. Thankfully, given your relatively chipper attitude, once you’re able to prove yourself things do turn around a bit in that area.

In terms of gameplay, as noted there’s quite a world around you to explore. Given that one of the major systems in the game revolves around crafting for a variety of purposes there are plenty of ingredients to source all around you, but in order to move around you’ll also need to deal with a variety of enemies. I’ll absolutely say that of everything in the game, the combat system was the most surprising, featuring a very action-oriented approach while still requiring some engagement with strategy and nuance. You’ll have the ability to chain some attacks, and then while you’re waiting for their cooldowns to expire try to avoid those from your enemies and try to put yourself in position for another round. The further along you go you’ll need to start to take more into account, working to make the most of your opportunities when you get them, but in general I’d consider the combat hectic in a good way that helps to keep you invested in it.

One aspect of play that’s unfortunately hard to ignore on a somewhat consistent basis has to do with the game’s overall performance, which makes it clear that the aging Switch hardware is up to the task of running the game to a degree, but it has its struggles. I wouldn’t consider it to be game breaking by any means, but this does feel like a situation where if you’re interested in the game and have another means of playing it you may want to go that route, at least unless portability is your primary concern. Overall, though I was initially pretty intimidated with the experience, I’d say that the developers did a superb job of helping even someone new to the series get me off on the right foot. While perhaps there were things going over my head that more veteran players would catch, it was still a good time and I’m intrigued to see what’s coming for the series in the future.