Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists ~Ateliers of the New World~

A long, more than 1 hour long intro of not being able to do anything except for click on the indicated button, only get a slow, mostly automated city builder that is drowned in visual novel texts, with no way to skip anything... I like the Atelier games, but this is not a fun game. It's almost 2 hours in and I'm utterly exhausted by the game, unable to make any choices and forced to watch animated characters stagger slower than snails back and forth on the same background, I can't help but regret buying this game. I'll use my rights to refund this, and, needless to say, I'm not recommending the game. Maybe it works for some, but nostalgia alone isn't enough for me to play this.

Love and hate are just slightly above 5 cm per second in this game. Either love it to the core, or hate it with a passion. Tons of familiar faces from past series bring that sweet nostalgia, but the grinding is straight-up insane if the goal is to hit 100% in just one playthrough. Overall, it's a chill game where we can step away, do other stuff, then jump back in anytime. 10/10.

A fun and relaxing game, just keep an eye on your tasks very easy to miss some if you are not paying attention. As you progress you unlock more just like any other game, yet they make sure to give you plenty to start off with.

Nelke presents itself as a side game in the Atelier franchise, therefore I can jusdge it a little lighter on certain asects against other games in the franchise. Mainly the fanservice. This was obviously intended to be a funlittle fanservice game for fans of the franchise as a main goal. Every protagonist from before the release date returns, alongside a few other characters in a main role. Certain ones hae a bit more narritive focus, but every one gennerally has their moments. You'll probably only really enjoy it if you have played a lot, if not all of the pre Lulua games. If you've only played the Arland, Dusk and Mysterious games avalible on Steam, you'll have a fine time, but you'll certainly will miss out on a lot of context for interactions between characters of the first 10 games. I wish there were a few more returning side characters here though, the ones they pick aren't really my favorite However, this is definitly a side game. No real tension or stakes feel present, nor does the game feel necicairry to play. The main gameplay does not follow the structure of a regualar Atelier game, you're not exploring anything, not synthesising, nor do battles have any depth. This is…

Suprising how addicting and fun it is. Gust successfully managed to translate their alchemy games to a town management sim. While it lack depth in combat or the management aspect, the ribbon that ties it all together makes it work very well. P.S this is definetely not a game i would recommend playing before not having played at least 5 or 6 mainline atelier games, since the game borrows characters from every atelier game that came before it (so no Ryza)

If I ever have a fever dream, I want to dream about being in this game.