Last month, Koei Tecmo’s studio Gust launched a rather peculiar user survey regarding Atelier Karia: The Night Kingdom & the Guide of Memories, the latest entry in the long-running alchemy JRPG series. Ahead of the game’s early 2027 release, the developers wanted to know whether players were on board with heroine Karia being able to transform into a somewhat “plumper” version of her original design after she’s had a lot to eat (given that eating is a core gameplay mechanic).
The “mid-term” results of the poll are out now, and by the looks of it, chubbi(er) Karia is here to stay. Out of 34,392 responses from players worldwide, 78.6% said yes to the proposed feature, while only 9.9% were opposed (the remaining 11.6% had no clear preference). This seems pretty consistent with reactions we saw on social media right after Gust announced the survey, given that the majority of Atelier fans were out there yelling “please do it” and “make her bigger.”
Also of note, the majority of respondents (62.2%) voted in favor of having an option that would allow them to lock a preferred body shape for Karia. On the other hand, 32.1% said they would prefer for it to change solely based on how much Karia eats.
Another burning question of the survey was what kind of fashion would suit Karia best, offering players eight alternative costume concepts to choose from. The winners so far are the Dark Girly style, the Gothic Lolita-style and the Visual kei-style, though the votes are quite close in numbers at this point.
While it’s not known exactly how the results of the survey will be utilized, Gust has mentioned that players’ picks will be reflected both in the game itself and surrounding promotional activities.
In the meantime, the survey remains open until August 23. If you still haven’t cast your vote, you can do so here.
Atelier Karia: The Night Kingdom & the Guide of Memories is set to release in Early 2027 for PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2.
