The Last Alchemist Review

The Last Alchemist is a third-person alchemy simulator developed by Vile Monarch and published by Marvelous Europe. In a fantastical world full of wonder and mushroom people, you play as an alchemist, bent on pursuing scientific discoveries and forging long-lasting friendships. Things are a little more complicated than that, though, as you and your village have been inflicted with a plague, and the only other alchemist, your mentor, passed away some time ago. As the last person alive still able to practise alchemy, you have to find the cure to the illness before it's too late. Oh, but don’t feel the need to rush. Other than a day and night cycle and an energy bar, you can take as much time as you need.

Wasn't real-life alchemy trying to turn crap into gold or something?

Now, I always have issues with these sorts of stories where the protagonist is dying, but you have all the time in the world. I mean, it does explain away some of your limitations (such as no jumping), creates a driving force to push through the story, and forcing a time limit would be detrimental to the experience; I’m left with a slight feeling of… dissonance? The story wants to make you hurry, but the gameplay encourages taking your time. That being said, the story presented is completely fine, as I liked the characters and dialogue. I have no problems with it overall, just pointing out an issue with this type of encouragement.

The world itself, though, is actually really pretty, and the character models are well-detailed, with beautiful sights to see, various resources to collect, and obstacles to overcome. The world isn’t too big, but that’s okay, as there is plenty to discover just from the design of the land and the thoughts of the Alchemist. Also, for a guy with a prosthetic leg and a walking stick he is surprisingly fast when he doesn’t have a tool in his hands. That being said, you will need to go out on a regular basis to find ingredients and materials, with no fast travel or map marking to help you cut down on that time. It can feel like a chore at times, but unlocking new areas and finding new things to harvest is exciting. It’s more than new crafting recipes and furniture, it’s unlocking new answers to puzzles and questions you might have when practising your craft.

Nothing but a little spritz to take care of this obstacle.

There is no problem that can’t be solved with alchemy, from mining rocks or clearing roadblocks via a Sprayer or just another step in a crafting recipe. Using Essence extracted from various items harvested from the world outside, you can create new Essences with certain properties that are needed for crafting and progression. However, getting what you want won’t be easy; you will need to figure out the right combination of Essences in order to get what you want. You’ll also need to research these combinations so that you get the right shapes. It’s a puzzle you’ll need to solve on a daily basis. I would’ve liked a way to visualise and work out what I need, like a grid to match the Essences and such, but once you do figure out what you need, it does feel rewarding. It’s like making a new discovery. You will need to stop and think or else you might end up creating the wrong thing and waste ingredients, but getting that eureka moment as you realise you have exactly what you need just makes all that time worth it.

So many shapes and colours you need to take into account.

I do think the menus could be better though. Because of all the experiments and types of Essences, you’re gonna have a ton of things to scroll through. With so many different shapes and colours, my eyes began to glaze over as I tried to find the one I wanted. However, once a discovery is made on how to create an Essence property, the game will at least list the working combination so you don’t have to remember it yourself or scroll through a menu. You can even pin formulas onto a board so that the process of making it goes by a little faster. The same goes for crafting furniture, which can make your laboratory more homey or provide more storage space for your items and such. While it can be tedious and even a little awkward, especially when dragging the formulas from the menus to the various crafting stations, it’s a fun system to play around with.

Another day, another formula, another potential explosion.

That’s pretty much all the gameplay covered, but how does it hold up in terms of performance? Playing on High graphic settings, there were a few hiccups but it was otherwise fine, with a consistent frame rate of 60 throughout most of my time playing. The load times weren’t much of a big deal either, only taking a minute when loading a save file. As for any glitches… well, I encountered a very strange bug where one of the Agari had been stretched out tall. It didn’t happen again after I reloaded my save, but that was a thing.

As for my general gripes, I didn’t quite like the camera. I can’t really tell you why, maybe it was the distance or the height, but I felt it could've been done a little better. It made exploration a little less enjoyable, but what made it more so was just how much you need to prepare and carry when going out. There are so many different resources that need specific Essence properties in order to harvest or grow, and with the Sprayer only able to hold one Essence at a time, you need to constantly make more, which means more running around collecting stuff so you can get other stuff. Plus, once the Essence is in it, you can’t take it out. You either have to replace the Essence or use it all up. You could accidentally lose some of your progress if you put an important Essence into it with no chance of correcting it other than mixing up a new one. Finally, a few quests given by NPCs are given too early before you have the means or the materials needed to complete them. I was driving myself up the wall trying to figure out how to alchemise lubricant until I stopped to check the achievements and realised I needed a machine I hadn’t unlocked yet to make it.

Why am I including this image? It's one of the few games I know that shows a character going under a blanket. So many player characters just wipe out on top of it.

As much as I complained, I liked my time with The Last Alchemist, but man, you’ll be busy collecting so much stuff every single day. You’ll constantly need Essences with the right properties to progress in the game, and the gameplay loop can feel a little mind-numbing. However, as you work your brain and figure out the solution to craft, um, solutions, it can make all that effort and the time spent worth it.