Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & The White Guardian

Not so crafty.

Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & The White Guardian is certainly a mouthful of a title, an entry that takes place in the world set up via the Mobile entry, Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy & The Polar Night Liberator. While it is entirely fine to have not played through this gatcha-based mobile entry, certain characters, events, and moments that take place in this mobile game do feature here, almost making this newest entry an advertisement for it. That said, as the worldwide version of this game is now discontinued, you'll have to brush up on your Japanese and play that version instead. 

This latest Atelier sees you choosing between Rias and Slade as they each attempt to get to the bottom of a mystery that saw them each lose a loved one in their village 13 years prior. Now, that said, the choice between who you play as doesn't really have much significance, as it really is just how you'll choose how the game starts. Once you meet, the game is what it is.

As a red mist flooded the village and saw its occupants vanish, Rias and Slade team up to discover just what happened and why Rias, all of a sudden, finds a mysterious cauldron that gifts her the ability to perform alchemy. Now, this isn't the only mystery, as Slade's father bestowed upon him special gems that can open up Dimensional Paths that fill the cauldron with Mana, as well as a book that might very well hold the secrets to what happened to the village all those years ago. This mystery binds the two adventurers together and uses their gifts not only to find out what happened to the village but also to restore the current state of the village to its original glory.

Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & The White Guardian brings with it a whole new crafting system, as the way mana is used here is unique to the cauldron. In fact, Rias will meet previous heroines of the games who attempt to mentor her. Sadly, these are more cameos than justified supporting characters. When they mean mentoring, they mean a single cutscene, some new recipes, and a farewell as the more well-known characters then disappear into the aether.

I centered my playthrough via Rias, and as you gain more allies to discover the mystery around the cauldron, the dimensional paths, and just what happened 13 years ago, you'll work to restore the village of Hallfein. You'll do this by crafting items and donating gold. This act allows you to rank up the town, but the game is pretty vague on this, as there isn't a clear indication of what rank the town is, as you'll combine a bunch of individual ranks to understand your total rank instead of an actual rank number staring you in the face. For as simplified as some aspects of the game are, this whole restoration scenario is not executed as good as it should be. 

Gold is easy to come by; you'll sell items at your store to obtain it. I find it hilarious that the town is struggling with money to aid the restoration effort, when the townsfolk seem to pay outrageous prices for your goods. Your shop is also a mixed bag. You'll find fairies in the dimensional path that will work at your shop. However, they don't really run your shop as you are still manually tending to it. You can sell nine items at a time, and each transaction drains the energy of the fairy, again, for no reason whatsoever. I don't understand why you couldn't set a huge selection of items to sell and then visit back later to see the results of the shop being open after a few expeditions out into the world. 

Crafting requires a blind take on mixing items or using an established recipe. Some you can buy, others you'll discover on your own, or have as a reward for clearing a dimensional path. How crafting works is you'll have a series of three ingredients to apply to make the base, and then four that contribute to its stats, as well as the ability to morph it to the next item in the crafting tree. This is where RNG plays a huge, unfortunate factor in not just crafting, but progressing through the story. 

Ingredients have two colors associated with them to color-code to the next item, to keep the combination going. This boosts the item, but certain items will glow a certain color and can be used to modify the item to continue down the crafting tree to find new items to craft. This is where RNG comes into play.  What adds a bit of frustration is that some items that are crucial to progressing the game are these modified recipes, but there is no indication where on the tree they are, or even what item they belong to. You'll be spending as much time experimenting via crafting as you do taking part in combat.

That said, combat is the best quality of Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & The White Guardian, given that it keeps it simple, and the party you'll recruit has some great attacks and character designs. Wilbel, Raze, Totori, and Sophie make up your team. You can have three in active battle and three on the bench, who can interrupt attacks if you so wish, and the TP to spend. You'll have your turn order displayed, and stunning enemies as you fill their stun gauge can delay their attacks, and you’ll also have a parry that can be used to negate incoming damage with a timed press. Characters have elemental attacks that counter or match those of your enemies, so making sure to take advantage of a weakness is crucial.

As interruptions use TP, so do multi-attacks, which allow you to group up for a few back-to-back attacks. Unfortunately, attacks connected to this system are not unique, as you are just seeing the same attacks one after another. After playing Trails in the Sky alongside this, it's very noticeable how shallow the presentation here is.

While other platforms will certainly feature more improved visuals, the Switch gets the worst of it as there is no Switch 2 version, nor does there seem to be one in the cards. Textures are painfully blurry, and locations are devoid of a lot of personality that was a major part of the other games in the series. Despite the age, previous Aetier games on the Switch look noticeably better. Here, a blurry and bland texture is just a few steps away. 

While this is a whole entry in the series, it is very much self-contained, as Rias and Slade are new to the series. While this is a good jumping-on point, I still recommend the other games, especially the Ryza titles, as those are just vastly better experiences with more interesting characters, better visuals, and a far more engaging story. As it is, this title is a poor attempt at pushing the series forward and a hard game to recommend. 

Developer - Gust, KOEI TECMO GAMES.
Publisher - KOEI TECMO America. Released - September 26th, 2025. Available On - PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, PC. Rated - (T) - Fantasy Violence, Suggestive Themes. Platform Reviewed - Nintendo Switch.
Review Access - Review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.