Atelier Meruru Gets USA/EU release

Today Nippon Ichi Software America has announced a USA release of GUST's Atelier Meruru (Press Release). The game will be out for the PS3 for North America and Europe in spring 2012, around the same time period as Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2. Atelier Meruru, features Mel Kishida's gorgeous artwork, an incredible cell-shaded game engine, and the incredible musical quality that GUST is known for.It is the last game in the Arland saga for the PS3, following Atelier Rorona and Atelier Totori.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Atelier franchise, it is a unique game that focuses on alchemy. The cast of characters go around the world searching for ingredients in dungeons. They use these ingredients with alchemy to create new items. The exploration and strong focus on alchemy provides the franchise with a unique experience that most other games cannot really compare to. I gave a glowing review of Atelier Rorona and Atelier Totori earlier this year. With its charming cast, great cast of characters, incredible musical score, wonderful characters, and amazing character design, the franchise has endeared itself to me and has become a favorite franchise to me. It is a great franchise that has a positive atmosphere that seems to be missing from many modern games.

Atelier Meruru takes place a couple of years after Atelier Totori, starring Princess Meruru, a young princess from the northern border of Arland. Following the tradition of the Atelier franchise, Meruru is the apprentice achemist of the female lead of Atelier Totori, Tootoria Helmod. The game features a new feature where Meruru is using alchemy to build her kindgom, and the decisions you make will have an effect on the storyline and the eventual ending.

The game is releasing at around the same time period as Compile Heart's Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2. Hopefully the release of both games means that we will start seeing more cosplay from the Neptunia and Atelier franchise in future anime cons.