Looking forward to Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland? The game isn’t out here until May, but in the meantime, Gust Corporation are keeping busy. They’ve just announced the next game in their long running Atelier series via Dengeki Playstation, officially titled Atelier Ayesha: Alchemist of Twilight Ground. Like the previous three games, Ayesha will be a PlayStation 3 exclusive. The protagonist is a 17 year old girl named Ayesha Artool, who works alone after her grandfather died, and her younger sister Nio disappeared while out picking herbs. On one fateful day, she sees Nio in some ancient ruins, but she vanishes before she can reach her. Having faith that her sister is still alive, Ayesha sets out on a journey to find her. Dengeki mention that “a key theme in Atelier Ayesha is getting back on your feet after a sad event”.

The game will feature a new gameplay system, called the ‘Memory Collection’, where Ayesha keeps a diary about her quest to find Nio. Players can read through the diary as they progress through the game. All the various events she sees will be recorded in her diary, and as she reviews these diary entries, she will grow. Apparently, there will be some familiar faces from the Atelier series in the game. Details about the battle system are still sketchy, but we do know that the game will use a turn based system, where each attack has a certain cost that increases depending on how far away an enemy is. The first character art was also revelaed on the front cover of Dengeki, Ayesha is the blonde girl.

The game is scheduled for release on the 28th of June in Japan. Rocket Chainsaw will keep you up to date on any new developments.