ATELIER DUSK TRILOGY DELUXE PACK
A cauldron full of crafty adventure
Alchemy is the focus of this longrunning JRPG series. Every Atelier sees you bunging ingredients you collect while exploring the world into a pot, then mixing them together to make quest items or tools to use in battle. 1 All the same, Gust always stirs the pot between releases, ensuring each game feels fresh and unique without making the older titles feel outdated.
The Dusk Trilogy encompasses the final three games for PS3,2 forming a selfcontained arc set in the Land Of Dusk where the secrets of a precursor civilisation have been forgotten, and the world is threatened with once again becoming inhospitable. Visually, it’s proof that strong art direction can trump realism. While these are in many ways obviously last-generation games, the watercolour-style designs of the characters and environments still pop.
The first two games feature time-based calendar systems within which you must do your alchemy, but once you realise you can clear each section with minimum alchemical exertion you settle into the routine of making friends and improving your alchemy. Each game sends you on a journey of discovery with new lead characters, exploring areas around a hub zone as you unravel the plot and improve your alchemy skills. Creating new items isn’t just the purpose of quests, it helps you get stronger so you can explore further afield. It’s a satisfying loop that makes you feel in control. Each game offers something unique, and together they’re a huge saga that’s still well worth playing, and represents Atelier at its most ambitious. Oscar Taylor-Kent