Atelier Series 25th Anniversary Site Opens Teasing Six Projects For 2022

Koei Tecmo has opened a special page celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Atelier series which is coming in 2022. Besides being a nice page to represent the series’ long-running history, it also teases that six projects are being prepared, though there’s no info on them as of yet.

The Atelier series first started in 1997 with Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg on the first PlayStation system. The game was later ported for Saturn, PC, Dreamcast, and PS2 along with its sequel Atelier Elie: The Alchemist of Salburg 2. Unfortunately, Atelier Marie was never released in the west, though Marie herself has featured in crossover games available in English such as Cross Edge and Nelke and the Legendary Alchemists.

The series’ first foray into western territories wasn’t until 2005 with Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana on the PS2. This was the sixth main title in the series and the Iris trilogy was surprisingly different from the series’ focus on alchemy and simulation aspects, falling in line with what would be expected of a traditional JRPG experience.

The Mana Khemia duology repurposed the alchemy and made it once again a centerpiece of the experience. But it wasn’t until the DS spin-off Atelier Annie and the PS3 title Atelier Rorona that the usual style of the series would be available in the west. Thankfully, ever since Atelier Iris, every single main title in the series was brought over to the west, but none of the older ones (Marie, Elie, Lilie, Judie, Viorate/Violet) were.

Koei Tecmo hasn’t announced what these six anniversary projects will be, but the company has re-released the Arland, Dusk, and Mysterious trilogies in DX editions for PC -via Steam-, PS4 and Switch. The first project will be revealed on October 2, 2021, and other announcements will come afterward in a sequential fashion.

Whatever titles these announcements bring, 2022 is already looking like a great year for Atelier fans and we’ll keep you updated on the announcements as usual.