Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg

Although it takes an understandably simplistic approach to the familiar gameplay, there's so much to love about Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg that any fan of the series will absolutely adore almost every second of playtime.

Atelier’s roots remain strong. The slight friction still feels fresh, with the structure and brief length drawing you back for one more go-around. [Issue#31, p.76]

Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg is a great remake of the first Atelier game that does more than just give an old game a fresh coat of paint. While this release is a bit overpriced, it is well-worth getting for fans of the Atelier series looking to sample the origins on PS5 with a fantastic protagonist.

While some of the elements of the game don't carry over well for modern players, Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg is an excellent remake of a great game.

Atelier Marie Remake is an outstanding re-imagining that takes everything that worked about the original game while modernizing and creating a better-flowing experience.

Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg is a nice Remke that allows you to experience where the franchise began. Though the game is constant timing you on everything you do the time to prepare for whatever tasks ahead can lead to some great discoveries. With great visuals and entertain and simple combat there should be plenty for fans to enjoy and for new comers to discover.

While Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg feels very basic in some regards, and some elements of it can be repetitive or irritating at times, it’s hard not to be won over by it. This offers a good old-fashioned Atelier experience, where the events that play out are based on your actions. And with that comes plenty of freedom and a multitude of endings to discover. Whether you’re a series fan keen to explore its origins, or newcomer looking for a good entry point, this remake is well worth sinking some time into.

Compared to what we have now, it might be tempting to view this game as being somewhat tiny. And, to be fair, it kind of is. But that’s only looking at part of the picture. In my opinion, you need to look at it for everything that it stands for. Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg offers a relaxing, nostalgic, and enjoyable look into the Atelier series of yesteryear while simultaneously reminding us of just how far it’s managed to come after all of this time. Will we get more Atelier remakes? I have absolutely no idea, but if they’re anything like this, then I sure hope that we do.

Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg is a charming game with a delightfully simple premise. Though the game suffers from some finicky controls and a lack of complexity, the world and characters make up for many accidentally skipped cutscenes or days.

Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg is an exciting re-release of the first game of a RPG series that demonstrates that shows for both new and old fans that many of the elements that captivated them were present from the very beginning. Despite being limited by all its simplicity, the title is a lot of fun during its relatively short length.

While it may not offer the gameplay depth or compelling characters of a modern Atelier game, Marie is certainly charming. There’s a simple pleasure to looking back at where the series started, and seeing its faltering first steps towards the mechanics that would later come to define it. One thing is certain, though – this is a series that has always had its heart squarely in the right place. Every Atelier is, at its core, about a young woman desperate to make people’s lives better, and then allowing the player to guide her as she develops her skills to start making a real difference. Even in this most basic version, that’s always a journey worth taking.

Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg is a compact game that allows you to enjoy the series’ unique take on the slowlife genre. That said, the ending is weak and its simplicity can feel unsatisfying at times.

Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg will not be winning any awards for best Atelier entry, but its aim was never to achieve this. The whole point of this release is to bring the title to the non-Japanese market to celebrate the origins of the Atelier games for its 25th Anniversary, and that is exactly what Gust and Koei Tecmo have done. The bonus is that they decided to throw quality of life and visual improvements while keeping most of the mechanics intact to let fans discover how much the series has evolved over time from its infant beginnings on the PlayStation. Fans will enjoy seeing how it all began, the fascinating idea of hiring teammates and the implementation of the Atelier mechanics that fans have come to know over the years broken down into a much simpler form. I cannot fault the developers for putting in the effort to offer fans a piece of history that was once locked away in Japan. For that, Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg does it the right way and somehow manages to put a smile on fans’ faces.

Atelier Marie Remake is simultaneously a return to form and a fresh step forward for the Atelier series. It's incredible to experience the roots of this series, and as sad as I am about the barebones storytelling, the shifted focus to time-management and calendar events gives the game an addictive farm-simulator vibe that kept me glued to it for hours. I'm excited to see how ideas from this remake come forward to inspire whatever this series has in store for us next.

Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg returns after twenty-five years with updated graphics and a new art style (but little else).

Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg wanted to slightly improve what the original game did best, but it leaves us with the feeling that it lacked the courage to do much better than what we got.