Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream

For a series that has been hiding in the shadows and deemed a cult classic franchise for quite some time, Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist Of The Mysterious Dream proves that even though it may be the underdog in a genre saturated with many, many entries, it can come out from the shadows and prove that it's a one of a kind experience.

Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream is an absolute gift. Sophie is just as charming and inspiring as ever, and even though the story tacks on more dimensional time-travel drama than I would've cared for, it's just as touching and cozy of an experience as the first Atelier Sophie. Gathering, crafting, and battling are all plenty of fun too, and flooded with enough layers of mech...

Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemyst of the Mysterious Dream is the sequel to the first game in the series and another RPG developed by Gust. For those who have been reading my work since I joined the site, this is the second Gust RPG I have had the pleasure to review. However, this is more familiar territory for me as I’ve played other entries in the Atelier series before.

It's a busy life for an alchemist. Making stuff, breaking stuff, making some more -- the orders never cease to roll in. So... who ordered the sequel?

Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream is the best installment in the franchise yet. The vast innovations made to the alchemy gameplay loop make sure that the franchise's main selling point is the best it has ever been. Not only will Atelier fans love this, but just about any JRPG fan will have a great time playing it.

Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream is yet another enjoyable game from Gust and Koei Tecmo. Even if you don’t get fully invested in the story, the adventuring alone is enough to keep you playing. A great alchemy system accompanies a fun battle system, all set in a world that’s a joy to explore – with a cast of characters that you’ll undoubtedly enjoy spending time with. If you’...

The Atelier games are a somewhat niche Japanese RPG series so it might surprise some to know that it's actually been around for 25 years, with 23 games in the main series and a heck of a lot of enhanced ports and side games. To celebrate this impressive achievement, developer Gust has decided to go back and continue the story of one of its previous alchemists, the ever cheerful and charming Sophie...

Atelier Sophie 2 adds a lot of new features that help engage the players of the previous Sophie title. Combat feels fresh with the support party member mechanics. One problem is the alchemy system needing prior knowledge of previous games to succeed.

Atelier Sophie 2 manages to synthesise old and new in a way befitting improvements to the franchise while leaving it comfortably with the rest of the Mysterious games. It doesn’t quite reach the heights of Atelier Ryza 2, but will still definitely keep most Atelier fans quite happy.

Atelier Sophie 2 does a lot of things well, keeping pace moving forward at a relatively good pace. At the same time, it leaves plenty of opportunities to grow as there are some franchise issues that remain in place.