Some new features were revealed this week for Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key. The Atelier series has always been known for its in-depth and always-changing alchemy systems, which often included things like food recipes. But for Ryza 3, cooking has been cordoned off into its own bespoke system, offering new benefits for Ryza and her adventuring friends. And since that wasn’t enough added complexity to dive into, you’ll also be able to set up and customize multiple alchemy bases around the world, or Ateliers to keep things brand-friendly.
Related: Ryza’s Final Adventure in Atelier Ryza 3 is Delayed Worldwide
Cooking comes into play when players come across bonfires throughout their travels in Atelier Ryza 3’s new locations. Much like, say, Final Fantasy XV, players can set up camp at these spots to revitalize the party and share a meal. Naturally, there’s a massive list of meals you can cook up, and each one provides some kind of boost to the crew. For example, a screenshot provided in press materials shows the party cooking up some “White Sauce Ragu,” which provides a Gathering Quality Up buff with a ten-minute timer attached.
Alongside the camping, players will be able to set up an Atelier in each region, which will be customizable to suit player needs. There will be three types of Atelier available, one that helps somehow with exploration (Research Base), one that boosts gathering (Farm), and of course one that helps with synthesis (Laboratory). Puni makes a reappearance here, a friendly slime creature who players can feed and send on gathering expeditions. Further details aren’t available yet, but the potential here is pretty high based on smaller-scale customization from previous Ryza games.
Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key was delayed recently, with a new planned release date of March 24, 2023. The game is set to arrive for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and PC. If these are the kinds of new systems coming into play, it’s no wonder the team needed more time! Or perhaps it’s simply a matter of personally appealing to me and my tremendous backlog. Yeah, that’s gotta be it.
