Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings Reviews

In 2018, Sam Wachter hit 'The Great Atelier Burnout,' which was a dark period in her life when the series was no longer bringing her joy. Flash forward to 2026, when she had RPG Backtrack homework, finally knocking Atelier Lydie & Suelle out of her backlog.

With its bland story and uninteresting characters, this is a series that is in a dire need of a substantive reboot.

Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings is the final installment of the “Mysterious” series, also making it the 19th edition of the Atelier series. Published by Koei Tecmo and developed by Gust, the Atelier series heavily focuses on the use of Alchemy. With that and the combination of a wonderful cast of characters, set in a vividly bright world with your typical, but well played, JRPG tropes, we are given a great experience for lovers of the genre.

This different take on your typical fantasy world is part of the Atelier series’ charm, even 20 years in. Other games as of late may tout their unexpected diversion from norms like these, but Atelier has been doing it for years. In Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings, there’s a charming story and intricate systems that help make it one of the best entries to date. I can’t think of a better way to help celebrate 20 years of this long-running series.

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If you really love crafting, Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Paintings might be your jam. But if you like literally any other aspect of a typical JRPG, you’re going to be disappointed. It might be worth $20 for the curiosity, but at $60, I really can’t recommend it to anyone who doesn’t already like the series.

Given how many incredible JRPGs the PS4 already has, this wouldn't even be near the top of my recommendations for the genre on the platform- but if you're looking for a nice, sweet game to relax with, you could do far worse than Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings.

Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings is the third and final game in the Atelier “Mysterious” trilogy. If we take a quick look back at the previous two games then you’ll see that there have been some pretty big changes between them. Atelier Sophie was praised by many for getting rid of the time limit system, but this was then partially brought back in the sequel. Atelier Firis, however, managed to deliver a massive change providing huge open world setting to explore - a series first.

Gust's Atelier series has become, over the years, one of the most appreciated Japanese role-playing game series thanks to its light-hearted nature and the sense of discovery represented by some of its unique mechanics, such as alchemy. Last year's entry in the series, Atelier Firis: Alchemist of the Mysterious Journey, brought everything up a notch, granting players a huge amount of freedom, which is unprecedented for the series. This year, Gust is back with another entry, Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings, which sadly takes a few steps back, resulting in a game that's surely enjoyable but also quite predictable.