Summary

  • The Last Alchemist offers a cozy intellectual challenge featuring adorable mushroomfolk known as the Agari.
  • Experiment with resource management and environmental harmony to find a cure for your illness.
  • No prior alchemy experience required.

I’ve never been on good terms with math and science. The only reason I passed my chemistry tests in high school was because of the countless hours I spent in Skyrim crafting steel ingots and experimenting with alchemy (I don’t get it either, but it worked). The cozy appeal of gathering fungal resources and crafting innovative machines in pursuit of the cure for a magical illness in The Last Alchemist drew me in, but the heavy reliance on formulas nearly lost me altogether.

When I embraced the role of an older, terminally-ill alchemist in this top-down My Time At Sandrock-esque cozy adventure, I expected to be greeted with auto-complete recipes and instructions that handled most of the work so players could focus on the feeling of being an alchemist. Little did I know that the game would trick me into thinking critically and researching ingredients and extracts to help the mushroom folk, known as Agari, that inhabit the game’s central observatory. Having been prepared by the mysteries hidden deep in cozy games like Fae Farm and Stardew Valley, I felt prepared to tackle The Last Alchemist and the scientific secrets it held.

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My hubris came crumbling down after the tutorial. It turned out age doesn’t always equal wisdom, and after blowing up my late master’s machinations and workshop, my titular Last Alchemist had to start from scratch. This sent me all over the map, traipsing along with my prosthetic leg and staff. While most games have a stamina bar, The Last Alchemist makes the familiar mechanic feel more vital than ever. Age riddles your alchemist’s bones, and taking a break after running around for hours is necessary to restore your energy. These moments of reprieve offer time to reflect.

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There’s a lot to do as the last alchemist, and finishing the late-master’s work will take time. He left detailed notes on the bulletin board for you, but it’s up to you to find and craft everything on your own. Insight is the currency of choice, which is used to build more machinations, so you can sell excess materials or messed up concoctions to the Agari for them to study. In exchange, they’ll help you craft new tools and give you tips about the area surrounding the observatory since the alchemist has been away from home for quite some time.

It’s a peaceful existence in the Alps with the Agari since the game doesn’t include combat. Instead, your problems are intellectual and alchemical. Finding the right resources and creating solutions that can destroy barriers will take up most of your day, but you’ll learn more about the world and remind yourself of your younger days while exploring the ruins around the observatory. There are secrets to uncover, but only if you can prove yourself worthy of the alchemist title.

As if blowing the observatory to smithereens wasn’t enough, the Agari accuse you of wanting to eat them all after ruining their carefully constructed home inside the observatory. However, by working together and helping them rebuild their fungal community, even the most skittish of mushrooms came around to help me work towards finding a cure.

Some of the Agari were just as creative and innovative as the alchemist, making us fast friends in a world that’s alarmingly overrun by fungi.

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In my haste to find a cure, I passed out in the workshop and woke up with only a quarter of my usual stamina the next day. This meant most of my morning was spent meditating to help recover stamina so I could actually go about my work. So much time was wasted all because I was too stubborn to go to sleep. It’s a great idea that makes time a more risk/reward resource, but it clashes with a staple of the cozy genre long overdue an overhaul.

In traditional cozy fashion, saving your game happens at the end of each day. It’s an outdated feature within the genre that I’ve long found frustrating. It encourages progression and planning, but having to decide whether you start your day over the next time you play or end it early just to save your progress feels unfair. However, as an aging alchemist, it reflects how his illness has affected him and how you must plan your breaks accordingly in-game to recover stamina.

Another issue is the workshop storage, or lack thereof for a secluded and experienced alchemist. With how many accidental concoctions I’ve made, I’ve started to hoard materials to make sure there’s enough in my workshop, and even began to throw them on the floor when I ran out of space. It’s not ideal, but it works. However, it does highlight the idea that you’re not meant to take more than you can handle. It feels more like a small nod to living in harmony with the environment as opposed to an oversight - but for a player, it makes the game worse, and that’s never what you want.

After littering the environment with sticks and mushrooms, I learned that the items dropped don’t despawn overnight, so that’s something to keep in mind.

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Without a minimap or compass, I got turned around more often than I care to admit. You’re free to explore as you please, but finding specific resources means locating areas on the map and getting there and back before nightfall. Without these navigational tools, you’re forced to actually look at the environments and study them like a true alchemist. Even if I spend all day trying to get one thing done, I never return feeling unfulfilled, which is testament to how much the game makes you care about your concoctions rather than seeing them as a checklist to clear.

At the end of each day, I kick back in the observatory and think about all I’ve done. Sure, the Agari are still afraid I’m going to eat them, but I’m working on that. My lack of experience with STEM subjects was less of a barrier than I feared, allowing me to succeed with trial and error (or if I bothered to read through the notes provided). When I managed to finish making the microscope, researching every possible outcome became a priority and made my job so much easier.

Despite my frustrations with math and science, the game is carefully designed to encourage experimentation and exploration. A wealth of resources and notes in the encyclopedia help guide you to finding the cure for your illness all while working alongside the most adorable mushrooms you’ve ever seen.

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The Last Alchemist

Reviewed on PC

Simulation Crafting Systems 3.5/5 OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 66/100 Critics Rec: 20% Released July 12, 2024 Developer(s) Vile Monarch Publisher(s) Marvelous Engine Unity
Where to play Close

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
Platform(s) PC Expand Collapse Pros & Cons
  • Gameplay is smooth and easy to grasp
  • Promotes exploration and experimentation
  • Adorable mushroom folk populate the world
  • Navigating the world and finding NPCs can be tricky without quest markers or a minimap
  • Not enough storage space in your inventory

A review code was provided by the publisher.

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