Product Info

Platform

Switch, PlayStation 5, PC

Publisher

Koei Tecmo

Developer

Koei Tecmo

Series

Atelier

Genre

RPG

Players

1

File Size (Minimum)

4.7 GB

Release Date (NA)

Sep 26, 2025

Purchase From

eShop

PSN Store

Steam

Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & the White Guardian is a laid-back adventure game that offers players a variety of enjoyable activities. While there is plenty to do, there are a few tweaks that could enhance the overall experience.

Returning Home

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Hallfein was once a thriving town known for its mining and trade. However, a mysterious red mist descended upon the town, causing a catastrophe in which most of its residents disappeared. Over a decade later, the town is still in the process of rebuilding, and the mystery of the missing residents remains unsolved. Rias Eidreise, a vibrant young woman who used to live in Hallfein, returns to help rebuild the store her grandfather once ran. She overhears news of a newly discovered ruin and rushes to explore the uncharted area. There, she encounters Slade Clauslyter, a young man who also hails from Hallfein, and together they seek to uncover the secrets of his late father’s memento leading them to a hidden atelier room that holds the key to many mysteries, including the downfall of Hallfein.

The storyline of the game offers a laid-back adventure, focusing on various activities such as monster hunting, town-building, and unraveling the secrets intertwined with Slade’s enigmatic book. Players can progress at their own pace until they reach a point where they must advance the game’s main story. As the game progresses, the relationship between Rias and Slade grows and becomes intriguing to watch.

The Red Alchemist & the White Guardian is set in the same timeline and universe as Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy & the Liberator of Polar Night, a game that originally launched on smartphones (iOS, Android) and PC (Steam) in early 2024 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Atelier series. Many characters from the previous title make a return in the latest installment of Atelier Resleriana. If you are unfamiliar with the Atelier games, you may not fully appreciate the special appearances in this game.

Familiar Faces

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You will play as Rias and Slade for a short period until Raze Meitzen, a swordsman from another world, originally from Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy and Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy & the Liberator of Polar Night. Later you’ll encounter other characters from previous Atelier titles such as Ryza Stout and Marie from the first Atelier game, Atelier Marie. Many of these characters make up the supporting cast to assist you in retrieving ingredients for your alchemy. It is unfortunate and somewhat of a missed opportunity not to see characters like Ryza and Marie in battle.

At the very least, Sophie Neuenmuller from the Atelier Sophie series and Totori Helmold from Atelier Totori will lend a hand in battle. Additionally, Wilbell Voll-Ersleid, refuses to admit publicly that she is a witch, from the Atelier “Dusk” series, also assists in your battles. This gives you a total of six playable characters.

Create, Build, Explore, and Sell, Sell, Sell

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While players have the freedom to take their time with the game, the gameplay in Red Alchemist & the White Guardian is very similar to other Atelier games. Players must explore, gather ingredients, and synthesize items in order to increase character levels, stats, and equipment to progress in the game’s story.

Synthesizing items in Red Alchemist & the White Guardian is one of the simplest setups in the series. Players have a set of required spots to add ingredients but they should try to link ingredients based on colors, also known as Gift Colors, to improve the item’s quality. Colors are divided into two halves, allowing players to sync different colors on either side. As players gain more knowledge of synthesizing, they can try different items to create new recipes. Like in other Atelier games, players can experiment with the alchemy mechanics and add “Catalyst” ingredients to change the Gift Color and enhance their synthesizing. There is plenty to explore and players may find themselves spending hours on this aspect of the game.

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However, making items isn’t the only thing to do. You can take ingredients and crafted items you’ve made in your cauldron to Rias’s shop downtown. When selling, you’ll utilize the Gift Color system here too to help make a profit. Selling your goods will not only help your wallet grow but also contribute to the growth of the town. Since the town is in need of financial assistance, you can also donate funds and required items to further the town’s recovery. Each time your town improves, you’ll notice areas are cleaned up and rebuilt. This brings in more marketplace vendors to buy ingredients from, side quests, and character development to unlock skills. It’s one of the most satisfying things to see the growth of your business and town unfold.

However, Rias needs assistance in running her shop. Luckily, there are the fairies, who made their first appearance in Atelier Marie, another set of familiar faces for veteran players. These little guys are found in dimensional paths, hidden areas where you can explore thanks to Slade’s mysterious tool called a “Geist Core”. Hire them to work at your shop and they’ll be glad to get out of the dangerous area and straight to work. Each time you open your shop to sell goods, they require payment. The game’s layout explains in detail what your profit is when the shop sells out. You don’t have to worry about leftovers as everything sells; it’s a matter of what types of items you are selling to earn extra cash and drive the market based on supply and demand from customers living in your town. If you sell more weapons than food, you’ll have more adventures wanting to spend on weapons than food items. There’s some planning to do on how to balance your customers and how to increase profit by adding displays at your shop. It’s not too deep but enough to finesse with and overall it’s a balanced, fun experience in-between your activities. 

Explore Where You Can

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As you discover more Geist Cores, additional dimension paths will open up. Completing them will unlock more tools in your atelier such as improving the quality of items you craft. After finishing a dimension path, a more challenging level will appear to provide you with a new challenge. It might be beneficial to take on some of these challenges to help level up your characters, as upcoming story-based boss fights will become more difficult. While you can save anywhere in the game, you cannot save while exploring these dimensions.

Upon completing a dimension path for the first time, you will be teleported to an unknown location on the same continent as your world. These areas can be revisited if you wish to return to your town or atelier. The game offers fast travel right from the start, a feature that many role-playing games do not provide until later on. Although dimension paths may feel limited, the areas outside feel more expansive. However, the game is not nearly as open-world as Atelier Yumia.

While exploring outside the dimensions, the game includes a daytime and nighttime clock. It does not follow real time, changing within a set number of minutes. Different enemies and ingredients appear at different times, requiring players to invest more time in exploration.

Shuffle and Attack

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Atelier Resleriana features a turn-based combat system where players must strategize their moves against their foes. Up to three characters can be in the front row of action, while three others can wait in the rear to avoid confrontation.

Players have the ability to shuffle their characters’ order in various ways, such as initiating a “Multi-Action” event where multiple characters can attack in succession, creating a flurry of attacks before the enemy can retaliate. To do this, players need to fill up their “Technical Points” (TP) by initiating attacks on enemies or successfully parrying enemy attacks. These points are shared among all characters, so players must be mindful of their usage. The game also allows for “interrupting” at random points in the battle timeline, enabling a character to throw an item at enemies to disrupt their actions and potentially change the order of battle. 

The game’s battle system introduces the “Unite Gauge,” which fills up based on the number of attacks landed during battle. When the gauge reaches at least level two, players can unleash consecutive attacks with multiple characters or trigger a “Unite Burst” at maximum level. This allows characters to deal continuous damage to enemies for a limited time. However, the gauge depletes after each round, so players must use it strategically to maximize its effectiveness. It can take some time to build up the gauge to its maximum level, which may result in missing the opportunity to use it effectively. For example, if a party member falls in battle, the number could jump higher to initiate the Unite Burst faster. 

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Players also have the option to switch between rear and front characters, but this action consumes a character’s turn. Additionally, players can block enemy attacks by using the button command on the controller at the right time to reduce the enemy’s attack power.

While the game offers a variety of scenarios to defeat enemies, some battles may feel unbalanced. For example, the battle against Lara Trockel and Geron Diezel on normal difficulty may seem challenging, as enemies can have multiple consecutive turns landing powerful blows if players are not careful with blocking and healing. Lara’s unblockable powerful attack can instantly take out a player’s character, which can be frustrating. It is questionable why the game’s difficulty spikes when you confront these two. However, players have the option to adjust the difficulty at any time during the game to suit their preferences.

Overall, Atelier Resleriana provides an engaging, flashy turn-based combat experience with strategic elements and various challenges to overcome.

Vibrant and Soothing

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The world in Atelier Resleriana is vibrant, colorful and soothing, with landscapes filled with bright color schemes. Gorgeous and colorful character illustrations offer a variety of designs from one to another. Risa’s red colored hair and fox-like ears make her appearance stand out, while Wilbell’s witch-style outfit and Lara’s unique pupils bring out their character designs.

The soundtrack’s soothing scores make it a relaxing exploration. When encountering tougher foes in the wilderness, the music brings out an upbeat and joyful tune that adds a positive spin to battling. Battling against Lara and Geron for the first time uses a vocal track to emphasize the importance of this battle.

The Final Core

Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & the White Guardian is an entertaining and fun game that features simple alchemy and battle mechanics. The game also explores a laid-back setting with many activities to enjoy, but it is not without some minor hiccups along the way.

A PlayStation 5 review code was provided for this review. Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & the White Guardian will be released on September 26, 2025 for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and PC (Steam). Fans can visit the official website for more information and purchasing options.