Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout

Atelier Ryza is a Japanese role-playing video game with a significant crafting component, called alchemy. In the combat portions of the game, battles utilize a modified turn-based combat system incorporating real-time elements. Time moves continuously while the player gives commands to the characters in the party. Attacks build Action Points which can be used to perform skills or special attacks, or to raise the party's Tactics Level which gives access to more powerful abilities.[6][7]

Outside of combat, the game revolves around alchemy. This involves gathering resources while out in the field, and placing them onto a field of elemental nodes to discover new recipes and create a wide variety of usable items.[6][7] New to the series in Atelier Ryza is the ability to automate gathering and item synthesis for players that are more interested in the other aspects of the game.[6]

Reisalin "Ryza" Stout is a girl living on Kurken Island who is eager to have her own adventures. One day she sneaks to the mainland by boat with her friends Lent Marslink and Tao Mongarten, where they meet and befriend Klaudia Valentz, a merchant's daughter. The four are ambushed by a monster and rescued by the alchemist Empel Vollmer and his bodyguard Lila Decyrus. Impressed with Empel and Lila's skills, Ryza, Tao and Lent convince the duo to accept them as apprentices. Empel starts teaching Ryza the basics of alchemy and helping with Tao's studies while Lent begins combat training with Lila. As the trio improves, they restore an abandoned cottage in the forest which becomes Ryza's atelier and their base of operations in the mainland. Klaudia later joins the party in their adventures after earning her father's approval.

Distraught with Ryza and her friends' achievements, their estranged childhood friend Bos Brunnen conspires to falsily accuse Empel and Lila of causing trouble in the island, with help from his father Moritz, who is wary of their investigations on the local ruins and wants them banished. Their scheme fails once Empel executes a plan to prove their innocence and Bos flees from home. The party chases after Bos all the way to a gate which leads to an alternate realm called the "Underworld", where they find him under care of Kilo, who like Lila, is a member of the local Oren race who is fighting a powerful horde of insectoid monsters known as the "Philuscha". In the occasion, it is revealed that the Underworld's main water supply was stolen centuries ago by the ancient Klint Kingdom, allowing the Philuscha to ravage the land unchallenged, and both Empel and Lila have traveled together to seal all gates to stop them from attacking the mainland. Bos realizes that the water is stored in a magic orb in possession of his father, and ashamed of his and his family's errors, he reforms and reconciles with Ryza and the others, agreeing to help the party.

Back to their world, Ryza and her friends discover that the Klint Kingdom was destroyed by a Philuscha invasion and the survivors took refuge in Kurchen Island, which is actually a man-made structure, making them their descendants. They also learn that the island's systems are failing due to lack of maintenance and is about to sink. After making some emergency repairs on the island, the party returns to the Underworld to stop another invasion from the Philuscha, succeeding after defeating their leader, the Ravaging Queen. Ryza uses the magic stone taken from the Ravaging Queen's body to finish the island's repairs and Bos destroys the orb to return the stolen water to the Underworld and drive away the rest of the Philuscha swarm. The party celebrates their victory at Ryza's atelier before taking their separate ways. Lent becomes a knight-errant, Tao and Bos leave to study in the capital, Klaudia continues traveling with her father, Empel and Lila resume their quest to seal the gates to the Underworld and Ryza stays in the island, making preparations to start her own journey alone.

The game released in Japan on September 26, 2019, in North America on October 29, 2019 and November 1, 2019 for other regions.[8][9] The PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo Switch versions had physical releases while the Microsoft Windows version was exclusively released on Steam.[10] The console versions are also distributed via Nintendo eShop[11] and PlayStation Store.[12]

Upon release, Atelier Ryza received "generally favorable" reviews on all platforms, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[13][14][15] PJ O'Reilly of Nintendo Life wrote that the game "lifts the series to new heights" with its combat overhaul. Regarding the redesigned alchemy system, he thought the traditional depth of crafting in the Atelier series was balanced by a streamlined experience. He also recognized the game for its emotional narrative and strong main characters, though found fault with slow pacing in the early parts of the game and tedious side missions.[6]

As of August 26, 2020 the game sold 500,000 copies, making it the best-selling title in the series.[19]

The game was nominated for "Best Character" with Reisalin Stout at the Famitsu Dengeki Game Awards 2019.[20]