In this week's Famitsu magazine, in an interview for the Japanese release of Atelier Ryza, series producer Junzo Hosoi chatted about what Gust have in store for the future. Hosoi mentioned that he doesn't know yet how, but Ryza will "definitely" appear in the next Atelier game following Atelier Ryza.

Hosoi also stated he wishes to further change the battle system (Atelier Ryza has a different battle system than previous games) and give more importance to the actions possible on fields during exploration. However, he's currently not sure if these changes will happen in the next game or even later in the series.

Ryza appearing in the next game is nothing surprising as for over a decade now, Atelier games have been working with trilogies. In a time frame of three years, each game releasing each year always takes place in the same universe, and always features returning characters. We had the Arland trilogy, with Atelier Rorona, Atelier Totori, and Atelier Meruru, which recently had a new sequel with Atelier Lulua. Then we had the Dusk trilogy, with Atelier Ayesha, Atelier Escha & Logy, and Atelier Shallie. (The Dusk trilogy is coming back as a single pack). And then we got the Mysterious series, with Atelier Sophie, Atelier Firis, and Atelier Lydie & Suelle.

The Atelier series more or less follows a yearly release schedule, so the currently unannounced follow-up to Atelier Ryza should release in late 2020.

Gust and Koei Tecmo recently revealed multiple gameplay video and trailers for Atelier Ryza. Cosplaer Moe Iori was also hired to cosplay Ryza at Tokyo Game Show 2019. You can read all about that here. You can also check the early drafts for Atelier Ryza's characters and comments from charadesigner Toridamono.

Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout is launching in Japan later today when the clocks will hit midnight on the archipel. Atelier Ryza is coming west on October 29. The game is coming to PS4, Switch, and PC. You can preorder it on Amazon.