Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout

 PlayStation 4
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
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  1. Video Chums
    Oct 27, 2019
    91
    With so many JRPGs remaining stagnant or trying to appeal to the masses, Atelier Ryza stands tall amongst its peers as a truly amazing experience. Whether you're a fan of the series or just a JRPG enthusiast, you need to play this masterpiece.
  2. GameCritics
    Apr 2, 2020
    90
    Atelier Ryza knows that it’s the start of a new franchise, and it ends with the promise of more to come. It’s dangerous to assume that the developers can keep up this level of quality, but after getting through the story and a robust assortment of side quests, I’m as excited about as I was after completing Atelier Sophie. Ryza isn’t the best in the series, but it certainly has the potential to be the jumping-off point for the best trilogy yet.
  3. RPG Fan
    Nov 6, 2019
    87
    Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout is a surprisingly nuanced, enjoyable RPG with a bevy of content.
  5. GameSpace
    Nov 6, 2019
    85
    It has a wonderful crafting system.
  6. Everyeye.it
    Oct 30, 2019
    85
    The eternal darkness of recent episodes now seems destined to give way to a radiant and exciting future.
  7. Multiplayer.it
    Oct 31, 2019
    82
    Quotation forthcoming.
  8. Pure Playstation
    Apr 28, 2021
    80
    Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness And The Secret Hideout refines some of the series’ classic gameplay pillars without abandoning the core experience that fans love. Although a little more mature than past games, it’s a great adventure that manages to stay upbeat and challenging. It has earned a sequel, and I’m excited to play that one as well.
  9. Worth Playing
    Jan 3, 2020
    80
    Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout is a solid by-the-books Atelier title. It does everything pretty well, and its only real flaws are a somewhat lackluster story and an overall low difficulty level. If you like the Atelier titles, then you'll like this one, and if you're interested in getting into the franchise, this is a solid starting point. There's no lack of Atelier games to play, but Ryza is one of the more enjoyable ones available. Besides, who doesn't like crafting a bomb so powerful that it blows up a dragon?
  10. Eurogamer Italy
    Dec 30, 2019
    80
    Quotation forthcoming.
  11. SpazioGames
    Nov 12, 2019
    80
    With Atelier Ryza, Gust took some risks, and it definitely paid off: this is, in our opinion, the best entry of the franchise so far, thanks to a quicker battle system and improved alchemy one. Don't miss it if you fancy the series.
  12. Vandal
    Oct 25, 2019
    78
    It finally feels like Atelier is making a solid effort to evolve the series. It’s still far from the big RPGs, but it’s a step in the right direction and, also, a good entry to discover the series.
  13. ZTGD
    Feb 12, 2020
    75
    In a bid to move the series forward towards a new direction, Atelier Ryza presents a new exciting combat engine and one of the best takes on alchemy yet, but falters with its plodding pace and a cast of forgettable characters.

Awards & Rankings

93
#93 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2019

User Reviews

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User Score
8.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 114 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 92 out of 114
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 114
  3. Negative: 13 out of 114
  1. jaymz1970
    Oct 29, 2019
    10
    apparently jerks are trying to review bomb this because of the eye candy in game. really fun game, beautiful areas, alchemy is also veryapparently jerks are trying to review bomb this because of the eye candy in game. really fun game, beautiful areas, alchemy is also very entertaining.
    first in series I've bought.
    noticed it BECAUSE of the eye candy, its not a bad thing, really sad people who have a problem with it..    … Full Review »
  2. Patters84
    Jun 25, 2020
    4
    I am new to the series, and While I do find the story somewhat fun and the alchemy pretty interesting, the EXTREME lack of monster varietyI am new to the series, and While I do find the story somewhat fun and the alchemy pretty interesting, the EXTREME lack of monster variety coupled with the low choice in party composition makes this kind of a letdown. The animations are pretty off in the cutscenes, as in, they're pretty stiff. Game seems pretty short, as I appear to be at the end of the game (according to the characters in-game).

    All in all, looking back, I would not have bought this game for $60, but I fed into the eye candy hype sadly. That said, I don't regret my purchase, but I would recommend waiting for the price to drop.    … Full Review »
  3. yorgash
    Nov 9, 2019
    7
    I played almost every Atelier games, and loved all of them since Rorona greatly.

    This one is... a bitter, very bitter letdown for me. I'm    I played almost every Atelier games, and loved all of them since Rorona greatly.

    This one is... a bitter, very bitter letdown for me. I'm not saying it's not a decent game, but if I rate other titles 9/10 I can not honestly give this one more than 5, were it not for the many new ideas implemented, and the somewhat decent if a bit overly basic story.

    1.) Synthesis:
    Of course the new ideas are welcome, but not if they come at the price of letting the old ones go. Nearing endgame it becomes more and more obvious that this game almost entirely lacks item traits; it has maybe 5 useful traits coupled with 5 "stack-able" level-based ones. Compared to the 100+ that could be combined in many ways in former titles. Not to mention the "reformed" synthesis is basically dirt-cheap compared to the second most recent one, Lulua (I could say Lydie+Sue or Shallie too) for example. You just... add materials if you have them to the effect you want to have. And you can edit it later, not even having to worry about the quality.

    2.) Battle
    The battle is also a mess. I see what they were trying to do, making it a bit more "active time" than plain old turn-based, but it really is just turn-based. Worse yet, one could say you can only control one character, since going for speed build and trying to control all characters is plain impossible. To be a little more exact, it needs you to make about 20 button mashed in 0.5 seconds. If there were a way to issue or set up tactics for your party that might actually work, but you can only choose "spam what they have enough AP for" or "normal attack". Can't even make them use items. Not to mention that aside from the 3 members you currently select the others are just there being reserves - no assists, stat boosts, combination, nothing. That's a huge step down from almost every other Atelier games. Not to mention you can simply not get excited to battle with any monsters, since basically there are 4 enemies recolored, two "big bad" ones, 1 optional boss for recoloring and maybe 2 additional models. Their strength increases linearly to match your progress while in the main story, nothing afterwards.

    3.) Characters
    Aside from the main character and maybe one of the other party members the others are just comically simple avatars of their archetypes. Of course the glasses shorty acts just like he's "supposed to" being a scaredy-cat bookworm. The hot-blooded warrior wants to beat up monsters. The "alchemist with a heavy past" is just that. The interactions between characters are minimal and hardly interesting or entertaining. You just... don't feel for any of them.

    4.) Music
    The music not only is forgettable, it's almost impossible to like them. And it's not that they are terrible; it has more to do with being way too atmospheric and trying hard not to overtake the scene. You can almost use the battle music for your atelier comfy music and vice versa... It's the first time that after playing 50+ hours I have no desire to listen to its OST - nor could I recall them if I wanted to.

    5.) The pros
    ...are the new things implemented poorly. The premise of a gathering synthesizer is good, adding materials in this fashion could be good, reactor forge is an interesting - if not overpowered - tool, no nonsense way to duplicate items is also pretty decent for an idea. Item rebuild would be a nice touch if it came with any restrains (aside from the ridiculously negligible constraint of your alchemy level). Most of these ideas could make a good foundation for an actually good implementation, but as is currently it's a pretty bad mix. And after getting through the initial confusion it's sickeningly simple.

    Overall this game could be improved upon so vastly it'd be more efficient to do it the other way around: just use any older titles and implement the good parts of this one. Atmosphere, OST, characters and everything... not saying they are terrible, but way out of Atelier's league.    … Full Review »
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