Atelier Sophie offers a fantastic experience, with a refreshing motivation behind the story and the ultimate goal of the main character. Good character depth and development pairs well with a playful yet intricate alchemy crafting system to guarantee hours upon hours of great gameplay for Atelier fans and newcomers alike.

Overall, Atelier Sophie is a mixed bag. This game serves as a good point of entry for newcomers due to the removal of the series’ notorious time limit, but fans may find the experience middling. While item alchemy is surprisingly fun, the elements surrounding it are not as engaging. The tedious gameplay loop may turn players off before the plot finally gets going. Much like the items synthesized in Sophie’s cauldron, the game excels most when everything comes together – rallying the townspeople to jointly make a gift for Plachta, forming a party of townsfolk equipped with handcrafted weapons and armor, and painstakingly creating amazing items to destroy the toughest foes. At its best, Atelier Sophie devotes itself to its alchemic theme, synthesizing a pleasant experience.

A solid, yet not perfect, beginning of the new saga, sporting enjoyable characters, that sadly don't get the development they deserved, outside Sophie and Plachta, and interesting mechanics, such as the new alchemy system. Some of the new mechanics, such as the removal of the time limit, do create some pacing issues, but the development of the main characters' relationship is so good that it's easy to look past this issue. Just don't expect to play the best Atelier game ever released.

Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book isn’t anything groundbreaking, but any fan of the series can attest the Atelier games never set out to be – and it doesn’t matter.