Today’s issue of Weekly Famitsu included the first screenshots and specific information of Atelier Lydie & Soeur: Alchemists of the Mysterious Painting, hat was partly revealed by Gust back in June.
The game will launch for PS4 and PS Vita, but it will also add a Nintendo Switch version. For now we don’t have a release date, but just a Winter release window. According to the article, development if 58% complete.
The concept of the game, which is going to be the culmination of the “Mysterious” Atelier series is the “balancing daily and extraordinary life,” on top of the unusual story of traveling the world of a painting. It will also follow the standard set by the Mysterious series of having two illustrators work on the same game.
The story revolves around two twin alchemists who live in a small atelier in the capital, together with their father who is also an alchemist. They dream to run their own atelier in the countryside one day, but despite their lofty dreams, they’re still immature.
One day they find an old painting. The picture showcased a strange and dreamlike world with an unusual environment. Suddenly, the encounter with the painting made the twins’ dreams come close to being reality.
The protagonists, Lydie and Soeur, are 14 years old. There is little work to do at their father’s atelier, so the days go by boring and dull. That’s why they’re so inclined to daydreaming.
Lydie is enthusiastic and always goes at her own pace, she is studious and she is not easy to distract. She also has an unique artistic sense. Her character design is handled by Yuugen.
Soeur is a bit crazier and a bit of a twisted genius. She also has a devilish side, and at times she teases her sister, but she is supportive when needed. She is scared of insects, and makes a fuss when she sees one. She is designed by NOCO.
When the two twins discover a magical painting in the basement of the atelier, they actually find themselves projected in the world of the picture. In this world myriads of flowers are blooming, and floating islands can be seen in the distance. There are a lot of unusual ingredients that can’t be found in reality. By spending their days there and gathering ingredients, the two girls find out that there are many other painting worlds.
By using those ingredients, the twins also polish their alchemist skills and aim to improve the rank of their atelier by performing requests from the citizens. Increasing the atelier rank increases the number of painting worlds available to explore.
The first painting world is a fantastic place covered in colorful flowers. By approaching specific areas of the field, it’s possible to collect ingredients like in previous games of the series. There is a date displayed on the top left of the screen, but whether the number of days is limited is unknown for now.
Alchemy is performed by using the familiar puzzle-like system. The materials dropped in the cauldron will be displayed on a grid as usual. This game introduces a new element named “activation item” that is used during alchemy. It has various effects by changing the color of the tiles.
The battle system involves a front row and a rear guard, with characters assembled in pairs. A maximum of three teams can be used, for a total of six characters. The player selects the action of the front row, and there are variations depending on the combination of characters in each team.
You can check out the screenshots below, but keep in mind that we’re looking at magazine scans, so the quality is far from perfect.
