Let’s find out together, in this dedicated review, what are the strengths and weaknesses of Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg, Gust’s title that takes us directly back to 1997: a nice journey through time, who knows how it will end
In this era now marked every year by a long sequence of Remastered, Remake and Reboot, every now and then it’s nice that to be revived, rejuvenated and modernized are also titles that once were part of the niche and which, perhaps, are never really left the country of production. And this is precisely the case of Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg, progenitor of the series that has recently seen a new direction arrive with Atelier Ryza, but which many often forget how it really was in the beginning. We took our time to explore it thoroughly, over the approximately 12 hours it took us to complete a playthrough, and bring you as detailed an article as possible, but it will be difficult not to fall into the indifference that underlies this review of Atelier Marie Remake: that is, it is a video game too old. Let’s see why.
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Marlone, who from now on we will call Marie for simplicity, is a young woman who attends the Salburg Academy, the origin of the greatest alchemists in history. The problem is that, apart from the fact that she is actually our protagonist, Marie certainly does not shine for academic skills and risks being kicked out when she fails yet another exam. The instructor Ingrid, who saw in her a great potential that has not yet been expressed, however has an alternative plan in mind to stimulate our Marie to study and commit herself.
And we’re talking about an incredibly advantageous plan, for our Marie, at least at first glance. Ingrid gives her a real personal Atelier as a gift, in which she will be able to practice the art of alchemy, rather than study its theory, and take the field directly by completing the requests of the inhabitants of Salburg and travellers. Over the next five years, and no later, Marie will have to create such an extraordinary object through alchemy to satisfy even his demanding instructor, under penalty of definitive expulsion from the Academy. Simple isn’t it?
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So far, as an incipit, there would be nothing strange in reality: we are used, in the Atelier series, to have evolving plots at hand, not always complex and at times too stereotyped, but still all in all pleasant. The problem with Atelier Marie is that this is not the incipit, but literally all that the plot will offer in the course of the young alchemist’s adventure. Literally: there is no plot other than the one we have already explained to you. In addition, with the exception of the protagonist, who with her light-hearted and childish savoir faire has managed to conquer us in the space of a few hours, the other characters are easily forgettable and at least anonymous.
This is because Atelier Marie focuses almost entirely on crafting and exploration, leaving aside any narrative content. Something that we can definitely understand for the times in which the original title came out (we’re talking about 1997), but which, to date, is decidedly too old as an approach. And if you manage to reach the end credits of the first run, it will not be enough for you to know that there are eight different endings that you can get to give yourself the desire to start over.
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So let’s come to what should be the pivot of the Atelier Marie experience, that is its gameplay. Salburg will act as a central hub from which to start, every time, in search of new materials for the creation of useful objects meet the demands of various citizens, all obtainable from the inn. This will allow us to obtain reputation points, for increasingly important requests, and money, which is decidedly essential in the Atelier Marie ecosystem.
In fact, the money will be used not only to buy pieces of equipment that improve the party, but also to hire its members. This is because, although Marie’s friends can join the party completely free of charge, to continue in the increasingly advanced areas we will necessarily need to have decidedly more valid fighters on our side. And to do this we will, of course, have to pay them each time we return to the Atelier in a fixed fee which we assure you will deplete your finances.
The money will also be used to hire the imps, who will collect elementary grade resources for you, to buy alchemy tomes, useful for learning new recipes, or buy basic items at the Academy shop and much, much more. You will therefore understand well how fundamental it is to complete the right requests in the right timeto obtain maximum economic return from the effort made in terms of collection, combat and alchemy.
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Everything perfect, what’s the problem? That in Atelier Marie, as in all the chapters preceding the Secret trilogy, there is the mechanic of the time limit. That means the five years instructor Ingrid was talking about are effective five years of the game. And we assure you that, if you don’t know how to manage your timing in the best possible way, you risk losing entire weeks of play in the space of a few minutes. Traveling from Salburg to the area of interest takes time, gathering resources takes time, fighting enemies takes time, and so on.
And although, in this case, we admit that we have always appreciated this mechanic in the old Ateliers, in Marie the expenditure of time needed to carry out any action is decidedly too onerous. Frustrating, we dare say, considering that if the five years foreseen for Marie (and for the player) really expire, it will be Game Over. To overcome this and to bring even those who might have found these limits too daunting, Gust introduced the Unlimited mode, selectable when starting a new game, which breaks down the time limit imposed by the instructor. Simply, at the end of the five years, you can still continue to play undisturbed and explore the colorful world of Atelier Marie.
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Two words about combat. The party consists of Marie and up to two hired warriors, who may or may not belong to different classes, and who all have unique attack abilities. The combat system is very classic, with a bar at the bottom right of the screen indicating the order of attack and the possibility for our warriors to carry out a basic attack, a special one, use an object or defend themselves. That’s all, nothing transcendental, on the contrary: again, it’s all too old-fashioned and not very thorough.
The only part that we really liked about this Remake of Atelier Marie is the graphic makeover of the title. Leaving aside the generous curves of Atelier Ryza and the laces of previous episodes, in this case Gust preferred to use a chibi style for the polygonal character models (and not for the more classic dialogue sprites), immersed in 3D environments for the first time. All for an aesthetic rendering, we admit it, really pleasant throughout the adventure. Colorful and lively, the world of Atelier Marie Remake has really captured us in terms of aesthetics and, indeed, a run with the Unlimited Mode would deserve it. The audio sector is also good, of which it is possible to enjoy the original version or the one rearranged for the remake.
Long, Long Ago…
In short, to conclude this review of Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg with some perplexities. Gust obviously wanted to keep the original experience of a 1997 title as intact as possible, for better or for worse, with all the limitations and defects of the case, thus making it appear too old a title to be enjoyed by a circle of gamers who , although fond of the franchise, they have grown up and therefore have different needs. However, we found the remaking of the technical and aesthetic sector good, as well as the rearrangement of the original musical tracks. In short… much more could have been done for Marlone.
Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg is out now on PC, PS4, PS5 and Nintendo Switch. Let us know what you think below in the comments and stay tuned with us at techgameworld.com for all the gaming and tech-themed news, guides and reviews! And if you are interested in game keys at advantageous prices, we suggest you take a look at the Kinguin catalogue!
Plus points
- Attractive and well-remodeled aesthetic compartment
- Really catchy rearranged OST
Points against
- Narrative compartment absent
- Gameplay too old school
- Time restrictions so exorbitant that they could discourage most
- In general, too old a title