Koei Tecmo Releases Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists US Release Details, Announces Art Contest

It’s the 20th anniversary of Gust’s Atelier series, and it’s being celebrated with Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of the New World. This is an all new PlayStation 4 game that is being published by Koei Tecmo in North America in early 2019.

Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists: Atelier of the New World is a departure of sorts from the regular entries in the series, with a town-building element guided by a protagonist who cannot perform alchemy. Instead, Nelke enlists the help of alchemists from throughout the Atelier series. A press release from Koei Tecmo introduced the game’s mechanics, announced some re-releases of an earlier Atelier trilogy, and even introduced an art contest as part of the anniversary festivities.

As mentioned before, the hook of Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists is the inclusion of characters from the series’ past. They help Nelke gather resources and create items to sell in shops, which Nelke in turn uses to expand and maintain the town. Koei Tecmo has confirmed a list of characters appearing ahead of the game’s release, all of which are from the Dusk series: Ayesha Altugle, Escha Malier, Logix Ficsario, Shallistera Argo, and Shallotte Elminus. The press release also mentions characters from the Salburg, Mysterious and Arland trilogies will appear as well.

Koei Tecmo also announced the Atelier Arland series Deluxe Pack, which comes out for the PS4, the Switch, and the PC on December 4, 2018. This set includes Atelier Rorona: The Alchemists of Arland DX, Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland DX, and Atelier Meruru:; The Apprentice of Arland DX.

Finally, Koei Tecmo is also holding an art contest. The contest closes on October 31, 2018, and there are four different awards with associated prizes. Details can be found here.