With the release of Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg fast approaching, we got the chance to speak with Producer Junzo Hosoi about the upcoming title in an interview.

Junzo Hosoi is most known for his role as a Producer for several Atelier titles such as Atelier Ryza, Atelier Lydie & Suelle, and Atelier Escha & Logy, as well as the Blue Reflection series.

Can players trigger all the characters for Social Events within the 5 years in the game?

Junzo Hosoi: Depending on your play style, it is possible. Please make full use of the Event List function, which can be opened in the main menu “Story”, to confirm the trigger conditions of events.

We see that the game has normal scale Live2D drawings, but Marie had been shown a full scale model in “Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of the New World”, why did you choose to use a Chibi character instead of a full scale model?

Junzo Hosoi: The design philosophy/direction of the Remake, is to remake the game in modern style, without affecting the kind of feeling that the original version has created. In the original version, Marie and the others have this chibi style character in the field, so the remake followed the chibi style design. Actually, we have talked about using a lifesize ratio model like those in Atelier Ryza, but we’re worried about whether the game had this strong feeling of “Atelier” series RPG at the time.

Comparing it with recent games, Atelier Marie’s colour simulation is stronger, so if we were to use lifesize ratio model, the contrast between the visual and content would be stronger. So we think that the chibi models that is closer to the original game is the best solution.

I really like the overlay map feature added in the remake, what gave you the inspiration behind this idea?

Junzo Hosoi: This is a feature actually from “Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream”. We came up with the idea of using overlapping maps to achieve this, based on the need to be able to operate the characters while opening larger maps.

Have the team considered adding a new story plot to the game?

Junzo Hosoi: In this remake, we added 30-40% more of the new plot to the game. The content includes the ability to learn about the new side of the companion or the teachers’ comments on Mari’s performance. The purpose is to let players know more about the character and increase the immersion of the game.

The original game was ported to mobile platforms, will there be a plan on this remake?

Junzo Hosoi: There are no plans for this at the moment. But if the players are very vocal, it may be possible.

Did you guys consider remaking other works? If so, which generation of remakes are you most looking forward to?

Junzo Hosoi:  It is possible. One of our goals is to see the “Atelier Series” works start from Marie lined up in the store. Be sure to keep supporting us! Personally, I’m looking forward to the Mana Khemia series!

Would you like to share anything with fans of the series?

Junzo Hosoi: Thank you for your continued support and love of the Atelier series and the GUST brand!It is because of your support that this series has been able to continue. We will continue to provide you with quality game in the future, Thank you!

We would like to thank Junzo Hosoi for taking the time to answer our questions. Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg is set to release on 12th July 2023 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC.

We previously tried a preview version of the game, and if you’re interesting in checking out our thoughts on the game, do check it out here.