Developer:Vile Monarch
Publisher: Marvelous Europe
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
The Last Alchemist – Review
Indie developer Vile Monarch may not be a common household name, but we’re quite fond of some of their previous titles, like the excellent Growing Up or the hilarious Oh… Sir!! and its sequel. Our expectations for The Last Alchemist were pretty high then, not in the least because of the game’s excellent trailer. When we were given a chance to actually play the game, we eagerly took the plunge. Now that the dust has settled, did Vile Monarch work their magic again, or is this a concoction that they should not have brewed? Let’s find out.
Story
Despite the colorful and cheerful atmosphere that The Last Alchemist exudes, the game’s backstory is actually surprisingly bleak and dystopian. You see, the village that the titular last alchemist (that’s you) used to reside in, was hit by a plague. Our protagonist has fallen ill himself too, and returns to his old mentor’s dwelling, intent on finding a cure. Unfortunately for the alchemist, his mentor has also kicked the bucket, leaving him as not just the last alchemist, but the last human as well. Sure, there are mushroom people, known as Agari, but they don’t exactly know how to cure our hero. So it’s up to him to figure out a cure for himself, with the aid of the final notes of his deceased mentor.
Graphics
If we’re looking at The Last Alchemist purely from an aesthetics perspective, we’d say the game absolutely nails its visuals. The world is filled with details and the art direction is top notch, especially for the character designs. The game’s pastel tones are gorgeous. The screen can be difficult to read sometimes, especially while crafting, because there is an abundance of information visible at any given time. We’d probably have preferred a dedicated full-screen overlay for the crafting puzzles rather than how the game presents itself as is. Performance is more than adequate, with a steady frame rate and no noticeable hiccups.
Sound
Accompanying the cutesy visuals is a surprisingly calm yet cheerful soundtrack. This emphasizes the game’s worry-free nature, which -just like the visuals- feels like an odd choice to juxtapose against the idea that the protagonist is dying of illness. The game also boasts great sound effects, especially when it comes to the ambiance of natural environments. Voice acting is unfortunately absent here, despite the excellent narration in the trailer.
Gameplay
Given the game’s plot, you’d expect there to be some kind of pressure behind the alchemist’s task of finding a cure, but when you actually get to the gameplay, things take on a very different approach. The Last Alchemist sits in the same corner as games like Garden Life or even Terra Memoria, offering a very cozy take on their respective genre. In the case of The Last Alchemist, that genre is a life sim, with a heavy focus on crafting. Your end goal is still to find a cure for the plague, but there is no time limit to worry about, and you can go about your alchemy business as you please. There are some limitations: a day and night cycle is in place, and just like in almost every other life sim, your daily activities are limited by your energy bar, but apart from that, there is very little pressure on you here. Now, the alchemist isn’t your typical video game protagonist: he’s a middle-aged man who relies on prosthetic limbs to get around and he is also suffering from a strange illness. This was translated into actual gameplay limitations, such as not being able to jump as you explore your surroundings.
As you’d expect, there are two main elements here: exploration and crafting. While you’re out and about exploring your surroundings, you’ll be gathering ingredients, which you can then use to conjure up all sorts of potions. The world map isn’t all that big, but there is no fast travel option, meaning there is quite a lot of backtracking. There are also spots that you may want to return to later, since you might not have the right tools early on: rocks may be blocking a mine entrance, for example. Overcoming obstacles like this requires you to brew specific potions, and since your early game options are limited, it would have been a nice touch if you could mark points of interest on your map, for future reference. Aside from that, exploring your surroundings is a joy, because there are tons of secrets to discover, puzzles to solve, and new areas to unlock. It can be a bit overwhelming, especially early on. Our first instinct was to simply gather everything in sight, but with a limited inventory and especially limited energy, this turned out not to be the best plan. You’ll need to figure out the right balance between gathering useful ingredients and managing your own limitations. Eventually, you’ll discover ways that make exploring easier, such as a craftable resting mat that restores some energy. Still, The Last Alchemist is one of those games where the gameplay forces you not to rush through it, but instead have the game decide the pace for you instead.
Which brings us to the alchemy part of the game. Every object in The Last Alchemist is essentially a mix of Essences, which you can extract. The Essences you’ve extracted can then be recombined, making new Essences, and eventually, all sorts of concoctions and potions. In essence, you’re solving grid-based block puzzles here, which is a rather original take on potion crafting that certainly is a hell of a lot more interesting than just combining things from your inventory. Ingredient management is something that requires some thinking and bookkeeping at first, but once you actually get to grips with it, you’ll find that it’s quite intuitive. Successful recipes you’ve discovered are remembered by the game, so you won’t have to memorize everything. That being said, you’ll probably want to make note of which ingredients you need to track down next time you’re out and about.
It’s easy to get sucked in by The Last Alchemist’s gameplay loop and the lack of pressure makes for a fun and relaxing experience. That said, we do feel like the game is still missing something to keep it interesting in the long run. The framework gets a lot right, but the game inevitably turns into a repetitive grindfest as you’re always short of some of the rarer ingredients. There isn’t a whole lot of depth to the gameplay, especially since “craft this” or “craft that” is typically the solution to overcoming the obstacles that the game throws at you. It’s fun for a few hours, especially when you’re just starting out, but we’re afraid that the game’s longevity doesn’t quite line up with how long it takes before you’re stuck with the “is this it?” feeling.
Granted, The Last Alchemist isn’t all that long in the first place. Clocking in at around six hours, the game certainly doesn’t overstay its welcome, but there wasn’t enough substance here that made us feel like returning to it. That’s a bit of a shame given the high overall production value. The game’s €19.99 RRP certainly is justified by just how great The Last Alchemist looks and sounds, but if you look beyond the shiny audiovisual layer, there’s a bland end product. It’s not a bad game, but the gameplay loop wears out a bit too fast for our liking.
Conclusion
We’re on the fence about The Last Alchemist. On one hand, the audio and visuals are really nice, and the core gameplay loop is very accessible once you figure out the design philosophy behind the game’s pacing. On the other hand, the gameplay lacks substance beyond the core loop, and the story doesn’t fit with the relaxing atmosphere. The price tag might seem a bit high at first glance too for how short the game is, but ultimately, the high production value makes up for this. Still, this game belongs in the ‘maybe’ pile instead of the ‘must buy’ pile or the ‘avoid at all costs’ pile.
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