PlayStation 4 Critic Reviews

Atelier remains the comfort food of video games, and Atelier Sophie 2 is one of the more comforting snacks. With so many dense and complex games releasing around one another at the moment, having something that is light, warm, and good-natured is a nice release. I don't know if launching immediately after Elden Ring and Horizon, and immediately before Triangle Strategy works in Sophie's favour, but if you can resist making those comparisons, what you'll see here is one of the most refined and beautiful entries in this long-running and utterly wonderful JRPG mainstay. The game deserves better than to be compared like-for-like with these other titles, as it no doubt will be.

Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream is a masterpiece by Gust and the best game in the franchise so far. All elements work to perfection to deliver a rewarding experience. There's an amazing cast of characters, great story and the best combat, alchemy and exploration systems ever seen in the series.

Even as a huge fan of the series, I'm still in disbelief how incredible of a game Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream is. It's so jam-packed with outstanding gameplay and irresistible charm that it has single-handedly become the new gold standard for JRPGs.

Atelier Sophie 2 is a high point in a fantastic series. Gathering and alchemising materials has simply never been so compelling.

For a series that has been hiding in the shadows and deemed a cult classic franchise for quite some time, Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist Of The Mysterious Dream proves that even though it may be the underdog in a genre saturated with many, many entries, it can come out from the shadows and prove that it's a one of a kind experience.

Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream is an absolute gift. Sophie is just as charming and inspiring as ever, and even though the story tacks on more dimensional time-travel drama than I would've cared for, it's just as touching and cozy of an experience as the first Atelier Sophie. Gathering, crafting, and battling are all plenty of fun too, and flooded with enough layers of mechanics that it's easy to pick an area you want to focus on and purely master that one element of the game. By looking to the past, this surprise sequel has delivered a promising vision of the future of the Atelier series.

Year in, year out, the Atelier series never fails to top itself. Atelier Sophie isn’t just a check-in with beloved character — it manages to meaningfully increase our understanding of that character by giving her the chance to interact with her closest companions in an entirely new context. For fans of the franchise, this is one of the most satisfying experiences that Gust could have offered, and for anyone looking for a chill, accessible JRPG, it doesn’t get any better than this.

Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream presents an immediately engaging gameplay hook. The story is interesting and can get new players caught up fairly quickly, though the character designs can leave a lot to be desired. Battles and alchemy are a ton of fun, but the game does have trouble explaining all of its systems effectively.

ATELIER SOPHIE 2 is a hidden gem that didn’t get enough attention during the crazy first quarter of this year, and it’s not a game that pleases everybody, but it offers so much when you dig deep into it.

The new entry on Atelier Series brings not only one of the most charming main characters in the franchise on a new adventure but also the classic turn system and alchemy mechanics with new features that results in a remarkable title.