Welcome to our review of the Dusk Trilogy of Atelier games, a trilogy from the PlayStation 3 era that got ported to modern-day consoles and we played it on PlayStation 4.
The trilogy comprises of three games, Atelier Ayesha started the trilogy, followed by Atelier Escha & Logy and finished with Atelier Shallie. Koei Tecmo and Gust did some of their best work on these titles and while they do not follow the Atelier timeline, they are a standalone trilogy, they do follow the lore of the series.
As a long term fan of the series, I got exactly what I expected. A lot of exploring, crafting, traveling, and a great and deep storyline. These games were no different. The battle system throughout the games is mostly the same and I regret to say that it is a little of “why change a winning team”-principle.
Nothing wrong with that, games like Atelier win their fanbase over by providing us with glorious graphics after all and great storylines and these 3 did just that. Let us start with the first game, Atelier Ayesha. Ayesha Altugle, our main character runs an herbalist workshop together with her sister Nio, who suddenly disappears. She meets Keithgriff, a fellow alchemist, who tells her she needs to learn alchemy and use it to save her sister.
Within a few years, it is up to her to fully master things or lose her sister forever. The overall growth of Ayesha and how she improves her skills are the main part of the story and before you know it, you are on your way to save Nio. Gathering allies is a given as this is a staple of the Atelier games.
Next is Atelier Escha & Logy, with our main characters Escha and Logy who are both alchemists being hired in a small place that is slowly recovering from an event named the “Dusk”, an event that will slowly but surely unveil itself during their quest to uncover everything. Once again gaining allies and forming a full entourage. This game is set a few years after the first game and follows the lore nearly perfectly.
Last but not least is Atelier Shallie, which is my personal favorite. Taking place 10 years after the original, Shallie is our main hero as you would come to expect and the game does throw us a curveball this time. There are actually two heroes again, Shallistera and Shallotte. Each in their own right an alchemist and each with her own approach on life and the “Dusk” event.
The small oasis town in the region slowly runs out of water and while Shallistera aims to find a way to save the oasis from perishing, daily life is the main focus in the Shallotte storyline. That is until they meet. They will slowly but surely grow a great friendship and they seem to have a joint mission…
Much like any Atelier game, these games have incredibly cute graphics and despite their age, these ports still look very relevant till today and while I would personally change the “running” mechanic, I would understand if you’d consider it part of the charm of these games.
Atelier games are big role-playing games and are easily good for 25+ hours a game. While there is also a very easy mode present, they are mostly story-driven and seldom really difficult. I did play the Shallie game on very easy just to get through the overload of cuteness I had been getting from the previous two games.
The usual elephant in the room, I played one, I played em all? That in a way does hold up. Most Atelier games use a very similar build-up for how the story unfolds and I see many similarities between the Dusk games and previous games I played and reviewed. Do I think this is bad? No. Plain and simple, no.
In conclusion, the Atelier Dusk Trilogy – Deluxe Pack is another port in a long line of recently ported games. This generation seems to be getting a ton of them with the next-gen consoles coming by the end of this year. I do applaud this, it gives these great games a new lease on life and if you are in the market for a great RPG with tons of crafting and a lot of friendship-making, the Atelier games are for you!
