| Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy DX | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Release Date | Gameplay & Story | Pre-Order & DLC | Review |
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout DX Review Overview
What is Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout DX?
The Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy DX tells the complete, interconnected coming-of-age story of Reisalin Ryza
Stout, a cheerful and ordinary girl from Kurken Island whose life changes when she discovers alchemy, marking the first time an Atelier protagonist has led a full trilogy.
The journey begins in Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout as Ryza and her friends escape their mundane lives for a summer of adventure, encountering alchemy and facing their first major threats concerning a spreading ever darkness.
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout DX features:
⚫︎ Two new stories
⚫︎ Three new playable characters
⚫︎ Custom combat mode
⚫︎ Combat and text speed-up
⚫︎ All Atelier Ryza DLCs and additional content
⚫︎ Increased basket and container capacity
⚫︎ Additional graphic options
⚫︎ Improved UI/UX
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy DX's gameplay and story.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||||
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 PlayStation |
 Steam |
 Switch |
 Switch 2 |
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| $39.99 | |||||||
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout DX Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Dirt Cheap… If It’s Your First Time The New Playables Add Good Depth Its New Side Stories are Short but Sweet |
You Can Link Saves, but Not Upgrade Versions Controls, Among Others, are Still Clunky |
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout DX Story - 6/10
The first entry in the Ryza trilogy already had a simple, enjoyable story that was easy for anyone to follow. Though, it was admittedly short and struggled a lot with pacing issues and lack of character development because of that. The DX edition doesn’t really address those problems either. Instead, it adds more content to bridge two major narrative gaps: one in the middle of the story and another between the original game and its sequel.
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout DX Gameplay - 8/10
Atelier Ryza sits comfortably between the mechanically dense older Atelier titles and the more streamlined, newcomer-friendly approach of the Resleriana series. The DX edition deepens the combat by introducing a handful of strong new playable characters and several welcome quality-of-life improvements that make the experience less tedious. That said, some of the series’ long-standing issues remain, like the strict and easily whiffable hitboxes for gathering spots and the inflexible filtering options when sorting through synthesis items.
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout DX Visuals - 9/10
Despite the minor graphical upgrades in the DX edition, Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout still looks largely the same as before. Not that that’s a bad thing; it remains a visually striking game, with excellent character designs and a cohesive color palette that continue to set it apart from many of its peers, both past and present. The enhancements are simply too subtle to make a noticeable difference unless you’re deliberately nitpicking between versions.
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout DX Audio - 9/10
As one of the flagship titles of the Atelier franchise, Atelier Ryza delivers some of the strongest voice acting work in the series. The combat sound design is equally impressive, so sharp and distinct that you could almost use it as an audio cue system despite the game’s turn-based (technically) nature. However, navigating the overworld and menus still feels somewhat lifeless, as the bland ambient effects outside of battles and cutscenes remain unchanged. Even with the DX edition’s improvements and excellent soundtrack, that particular issue persists.
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout DX Value for Money - 9/10
The value of Atelier Ryza’s DX edition really depends on how invested you are in the series. If you’ve never played any of the Ryza trilogy, this is easily the best and most complete way to experience it, no questions asked. However, if you’ve already played (or finished) the first game, the DX edition is only worth picking up if you’re eager to see the new story additions and characters firsthand. Otherwise, you’re better off waiting for a sale.
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout DX Overall Score - 82/100
Ryza and her friends getting a much-deserved definitive edition release barely five years after the original game’s launch was definitely not on my 2025 bingo card, but here we are. The DX edition having every DLC and a handful of unique content, regardless of how lean they are, makes it an absolute steal for newcomers, though. Unfortunately, for those who’ve already played the base game and its expansions, the value proposition drops off rather sharply.
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout DX Review: The Definitive Way to Start
A Blast from the Nearby Past
The Ryza series, or rather the “Secret” series, is without a doubt one of the most popular entries in the Atelier franchise. After all, thick thighs save lives and all that. But beyond its excellent (and very enjoyable) character design, the Secret trilogy’s gameplay struck a perfect balance: accessible enough for newcomers while still offering enough mechanical depth to keep long-time fans engaged (which is more than can be said for Resleriana, to some extent).
That said, the Secret series is already getting up there in years. Passing the five-year mark might as well qualify as senior citizenship on the internet, after all. Still, it doesn’t quite feel old enough to warrant a DX version, at least a mere 5-odd years since the release of the original game. Heck, as far as I know, Mana Khemia doesn’t even have a PC release yet.
Maybe that’s what made the announcement of Atelier Ryza: Secret Trilogy DX so surprising. With Atelier Marie already having received a full remake and global release, I honestly expected Atelier Judie to be next. Oh well, maybe someday.
Releasing a DX version of the Secret trilogy this early still adds meaningful value to the series, though. In fact, I’d argue that it’s a great move. The Atelier Ryza DX release bundles the trilogy, alongside all of its DLCs and an appreciable number of new content, into a much more affordable and convenient package for anyone looking to jump in.
Regardless, considering that Ryza Deluxe (not talking about her thighs) isn’t an expansion or a remake, we won’t be talking about the base game for the most part even though we scored the entire game. But it would be prudent to at least open with a short spiel about my thoughts regarding it:
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout is an excellent RPG that was merely overshadowed by its better sequels. It features a painfully short story that felt very intimate, considering how their adventures to prevent a world-ending crisis were essentially a secret shared only between Ryza and her friends.
It suffered from a number of problems, ranging from issues that varied between ports to ones that every platform shared, such as story pacing issues and lack of character development. However, because the gameplay was simple enough for even newcomers to find appealing while still being complex enough that series old-timers wouldn’t complain too much, it grew to such a point that it became arguably the most popular game in the franchise.
Well, of course, the more modern graphics and iconic character designs were also to thank for its success, but I imagine it wouldn’t have had the same success if its systems were even slightly more complex, like those in the later Atelier Yumia. That said, Atelier Ryza being Gust’s most popular series is a testament to the quality of work and considerations put into the game, and it really shows in its numbers.
The Intimate Game of Adventure
Since the DX release of Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout is essentially the base game bundled with all its DLCs plus a few bits of exclusive content and minor enhancements, the overall experience hasn’t really changed much.
To get into specifics, the story still follows Ryza’s journey beyond her quiet, isolationist island village alongside her friends Lent and Tao. And in one of their early adventures, they meet Klaudia, the daughter of a wealthy merchant who would go on to become Ryza’s lifelong best friend; Empel, the catalyst behind her newfound passion for alchemy; and Lila, the seasoned warrior from another world who trains Lent in combat.
These chance meetings cascade into a series of events that lead to Ryza and her companions saving the world—without anybody other than them knowing. By the end, the group part ways, each member pursuing new goals shaped by the experiences and growth they gained from that unforgettable adventure and leaving Ryza, who committed herself to helping the village through her alchemy, behind.
New Stories for Old Plots
The first entry in the Atelier Ryza series ends on a bittersweet note, grounded in intimate and relatable themes rather than grand spectacle. Its DX Edition, while adding two short new stories, doesn’t change anything. Rather, it deepens it.
One of these additions, which can be accessed at the latter quarter of the game, focuses on Ryza’s childhood friend and deuteragonist of the entry, Bos Brunnen, alongside the solitary warrior from another world, Kilo Shiness. It adds meaningful context to Bos’ change of heart and his growth into a self-aware and dependable individual, while also hinting at his future relationships.
It’s very, very short, though. Like, you’re essentially limited to a single area in terms of exploration, and it only has a handful of scenes unique to the DX edition. On the other hand, what few scenes we do get are effective enough to give better context to Bos’ development, especially when combined with the later scenes with Ryza and the party.
Meanwhile, the second new story doesn’t really serve much purpose other than adding more weight to Ryza’s loneliness during the three years of separation from the party until her trip to the big city. In a way, it’s also meant as a scenario that would force you to play with two of the three new playable characters introduced in the DX version: the island’s strongest guardian, Agatha, and the wandering merchant, Romy.
The story revolves around Ryza taking on a “temporary” teaching gig (which becomes full time later on) in her village’s only classroom while the actual teacher travels to the capital to pick up new teaching materials.
There, during her interactions with the students, she realizes that she herself has grown up and become similar to the adults that she once found so annoying to follow before her adventures in the base game. This leads to a troublesome incident where some students run away from the island while Ryza fights with her own thoughts, and it becomes her job to get them back with Agatha and Romy in tow.
Unlike Kilo and Bos’ side story, though, Ryza’s post-game mini-adventure isn’t as short, comparatively speaking. It even allows you limited freedom to roam multiple large areas (though uninvolved areas are sealed off). However, its contents pale in comparison to the former in significance, as Bos and Kilo’s story is one that continues to develop through the second entry of the series before culminating in the third game.
The New Playables Add New Party Options
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout adds three new playable characters to your roster, unlocked at two different points in the story.
The first two are Agatha Harmon, the island’s strongest guardian (and Ryza and company’s biggest roadblock to a life of adventure), and Romy Vogel, a traveling merchant who’s not above dropping some truly eyebrow-raising sales pitches. They become available within the first quarter of the story and can easily replace Lent and Tao, especially if you don’t like having dudes in your lineup.
Agatha is a frontliner who can function as both an attacker and defender, or as a dedicated tank when paired with Ryza. While she overlaps with Lent as the team’s vanguard, she trades his raw damage potential for utility such as debuffing enemies by lowering their speed or increasing the physical and magical damage they take.
Because of that, she actually pairs better with Lila, whose mixed-damage skills benefit more from Agatha’s debuffs than from Lent’s flat ATK bonus. Against single targets like bosses, Agatha can more effectively increase Lila’s total damage due to Agatha’s reliance on active skills.
Romy, on the other hand, is a lightning-fast, multi-element physical attacker who, despite what that sounds like, competes more directly with Empel than Lila. That’s because her high speed, stun potential, and multifaceted skills make her an excellent utility character.
Unlike Empel, though, her speed takes time to ramp up, meaning she’s more effective in drawn-out fights than the usual ones you take when farming for materials. On the other hand, this also makes her very good against bosses, as she doesn’t rely on items as much as Empel, and she can stun hard and often even before her speed peaks later on.
Lastly we have Kilo Shiness, the Oren spellcaster initially introduced as a supporting character in the original games and Bos Brunnen’s subject of admiration. She debuts as a playable in the DX edition after your first romp in the other world, alongside her array of extremely powerful spells from every element that she can comfortably throw from the backline. This makes her an excellent attacker who can easily exploit elemental weaknesses effortlessly.
Unfortunately, that also means she heavily overlaps with Lila, who also has skills that exploit every elemental weakness. It’s just that Kilo is a backliner who can easily deal with several enemies at once with high raw damage, while Lila is an extremely fast, crit- and evasion-based mixed-damage attacker who’s excellent at fighting against bosses.
Regardless, with two characters that specialize in damage output, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone decent enough to act as a glue if you plan on using both of them unless you pump Lila with enough speed to make her a viable evasion tank.
As for her viability, simply being the only backliner in the game entirely focused on dealing damage should already give you more than enough reason to use her, particularly in less gimmicky lineups that don’t rely on stuns or status ailments. In fact, she’s strong enough that she can practically solo the final boss as long as you don’t get one-shotted by their attacks.
It’s a Separate Game, Not an Upgrade
The two short stories and three new playable characters are the headline additions in Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout DX. It also includes all previously released DLCs at a price noticeably lower than the original base game, along with a set of small but meaningful quality-of-life improvements. These don’t exactly turn it into a AAA experience, but they do make the overall gameplay experience significantly smoother and more enjoyable.
All told, Atelier Ryza DX is hands down the best version of the game, whether you’re new to the Secret trilogy or the Atelier franchise as a whole.
That said, returning players might not find the same value here. Unfortunately, there’s no cheaper upgrade path for existing owners, meaning you’ll have to repurchase the entire game even if you’re only interested in the new characters or stories.
And honestly, while I adore the original Ryza, I can’t wholeheartedly recommend double-dipping without some caveats. Even with a lower asking price, the new content is quite lean; the side stories can be finished in just a couple of hours, and the additional characters, while fun to use, don’t have unique interactions with the main cast despite being fully playable.
On the other hand, if you never bought the original DLCs, the DX version becomes a much stronger deal. Having everything bundled at once saves you a fair bit of money and effort compared to buying each expansion separately.
But if you’ve never played Atelier Ryza at all? Then it’s simple: buy Ryza DX. It’s the definitive way to experience the beginning of the Secret trilogy, and absolutely worth your time and money.
Is Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout DX Worth It?
Worth the Purchase for the Newcomers and Casual Players
The question of whether it’s worth buying a game all over again at a far cheaper cost if it contains all DLCs and even a handful of unique content or not is entirely dependent on how much you’ve already invested into the game prior to this point.
Regardless of that, however, I do think having Ryza DX in your library is still a great investment, even if you have to wait for a sale to get it. Getting to experience Kilo and Bos’ side story for yourself will still be a different experience compared to just watching someone else play through the section, and getting to experiment with Agatha, Romy, and Kilo’s kits through the essentially-paywalled endgame in the Secret Solitary Island is very fun and worthwhile.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PlayStation |
Steam |
Switch |
Switch 2 |
||||
| $39.99 | |||||||
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout DX FAQ
Can you upgrade your 2019 Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout to the DX version?
No, the DX versions of Atelier Ryza are standalone games.
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Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & The Secret Hideout DX Product Information
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| Title | ATELIER RYZA: EVER DARKNESS & THE SECRET HIDEOUT DX |
|---|---|
| Release Date | November 13, 2025 |
| Developer | Gust |
| Publisher | Koei Tecmo |
| Supported Platforms | PS4, PS5, Switch, Switch 2, PC |
| Genre | RPG, Adventure, Action |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | T |
| Official Website | Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy DX Website |
