Koei Tecmo America has revealed on their Twitter account that Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key has been delayed.
Its release date slated for February 24, 2023 has now been pushed to March 24, 2023. In Japan, the release date is at least a day earlier, on March 23, 2023.
Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key’s producer, Junzo Hosoi, has shared this message alongside the announcement:
“A message from the Producer
We apologize for this delay to everyone who has been looking forward to the release of “Atelier Ryza 3”.
In order to make this game a fitting finale for Ryza and her friends, we have taken on challenged such as adventuring in a vast open field and graphics that express the charm of these characters to the fullest extent.
Our team will take this additional time to fine-tune the final touches so that we can deliver to all of you who have been following the series for the best possible experience in this culmination of Ryza and her friend’s adventures,
We are making the game even better to make it worth your wait, so we appreciate your patience for a just little bit more until the game’s release.
Junzo Hosoi, Producer”
While the Atelier series of RPGs can’t match the fame and success of Pokemon, in some ways it matches Nintendo’s collecting RPG in terms of prestige. It is only one year younger than Pokemon, with its first game, Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg releasing on May 23, 1997, on the original PlayStation. In fact, it has the distinction of having had a new game releasing in the series for nearly every year since the franchise started. Most of the games have told stories in the span of three games each, revolving around a single character and their master of alchemy.
The main conceit of the Atelier games is alchemy. Characters collect items around the game world to form recipes and make new items. They can make health recovery items, weapons, armor, more cooking incredients, and so on. The actual combat is turn based, and the stories lean more towards lighthearted fantasy.
The latest game trilogy, Atelier Ryza, kept these key gameplay design components, but streamlined the mechanics to better fit with the likes and needs of modern gamers. Ryza’s story is a bit more serious than those of previous games, as she has been facing down an inhuman threat to humanity called the Philuscha.
While not quite as big in scale as the Final Fantasy games, Atelier Ryza’s story is bigger (narrative wise) than those found in the Fire Emblem games. It does make sense for studio Gust to need some extra time to polish up Ryza’s final story as they prepare to start a new trilogy. Hopefully this extra time means they can satisfy the expectations of decades old Atelier video games fans.
Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key will be released on March 24, 2023 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC exclusively on Steam.
Source: Twitter