For more on Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky, check out our full Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky review. Or, for more of the best Playstation 3 games for a 10 year old, why not try our Family Game Finder
Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky tells the tale of two young alchemists on a mission to master the long lost art of alchemy, using it's power to help out the local villagers, save their R&D department from closure and eventually explore some unexplored ruins in the sky. Essentially a role-playing game with a focus on making new items through alchemy, players spend their time exploring the surrounding ruins, forests and deserts, battling monsters and collecting ingredients to fuel their alchemical creations. Alchemy itself involves picking and choosing the correct ingredients to make an object from a recipe, although many offer you a choice of constituent parts, each bringing a different property to the table - mixing and matching these to make the best items possible is key.
As such, it's a game that's probably best suited for older children, requiring a pretty solid reading ability (as not all of it is voiced), with much of the more complex alchemy requiring a fair bit of trial and error - although they're sure to be chuffed when they manage to create a handful of souped up raw materials by chance, which they can then combine into a seriously awesome sword for use in battle. You can also craft bombs, poisons and other such items to chuck into battle and help turn the tide of battle - as well as whipping up all manner of cakes, pies and food to help cure your team's ills.
The battles themselves are pretty straightforward, with your team of researchers taking it in turns with the enemy to attack, requiring very little in the way of fast reactions and giving you plenty of time to figure out the best strategies. During scuffles, each hit you manage to land adds a chunk to the 'Support Meter', which can then be used either offensively, having everyone team up and attack the same enemy one after the other with increasing strength, or defensively, giving you the option to have one of your team-mates leap in and take a hit for you, drastically decreasing the damage done.
One thing that may worry some players is Atelier's constantly ticking down time limit - everything from alchemy to exploring to gathering consumes days, with a limit of 120 days set aside for each key quest in the story. By and large you'll have oceans of time to complete the main missions and most of the extra side ones, but some younger players may not appreciate the potential pressure.
Generally speaking, Atelier Escha & Logy is a pretty safe game for kids - there's no bad language, guts or gore to mention, and when enemies are defeated in the game's turn-based battles, they simply flash and disappear. There's the occasional reference to alcohol and being drunk, as well as a brief reference to groping someone, but such scenes are few and far between.
Age Ratings
Format Reviewed: Playstation 3
