This is alchemy, and this is the office of Vulcan; he is the apothecary and chemist of the medicine.
– Paracelsus
Once more into the breach of life sim games for Maggie Maxwell! Today we’re diving into a game where the focus is less farming, more creating. I’ll be honest, when it comes to farming and crafting sims, I definitely prefer crafting. My farms tend to be sad little untended patches save for the bare minimum required to complete the game. I actually like the look of the natural tree and rock-covered farmland. With crafting games like My Time at Portia, I get to indulge my collectathon habit by harvesting materials needed to make the next project. The Last Alchemist grabs me by the back of my shirt and goes, “Slow down there, kiddo.”
Our Friend Al
In The Last Alchemist, you play the titular last alchemist, called… Alchemist. We’ll call him Al for short. Al is rather unlike most video game protagonists. For one, he’s middle-aged, with streaks of gray peppering his red hair. For another, he’s got a prosthetic leg to replace one lost to illness some time ago. Al is sick, you see. His childhood village was wiped out by a disease, and only he survived, though he remained infected. He worked with his mentor alchemist to try and cure the illness, but they never got there. After one too many failures, Al went off on his own. Maybe the world outside would prove more fruitful. Unfortunately, it didn’t.
Now, his time is running out, and he has returned to his old master for one last attempt at a cure. A good plan, except his master preceded him to the afterlife. Now Al’s left alone with only the old observatory, his master’s final notes, and a tribe of human-shy mushroom people to help him develop his cure.
Hold Up, Hoarder
The land around the observatory is abundant with non-sentient mushrooms, vines, and other plants and stones useful for alchemy. I spent the first day running around cutting every nearby bush for useless sticks because I could. And then I couldn’t. Al was out of energy and out of space. You see, Al’s illness is causing him physical weakness. He only has so much he can carry, and so much stamina to spend. All those sticks don’t stack. Luckily, the mushroom people will gladly buy anything in your pockets, and I learned a valuable lesson about energy and space conservation.
For someone who loves to run around and collect everything, the limitations implemented on Al are a struggle. At the same time, I understand them. It’s part of his character and story. I just have to come to terms with the fact that I can’t be a hoarder.
Like other life sims, you have an energy bar that, due to Al’s weakness, isn’t very big, but you can refill it by meditating on an easily-built zen mat. Drop on one while something’s cooking in your alchemy machines, and you get some energy back. As a bonus, your project will also finish faster, as meditating makes time pass at a quicker pace. The biggest hurdle for self-management is your inventory space. Luckily, you can build furniture to store your things, and the game gives you a few pieces right up front.
The Magic of Alchemy
Now, when it comes to games with alchemy, usually it’s a matter of “put a stick and a stone in a pot, poof, an axe.” You combine objects to create new ones, Dragon Quest 8 style. The Last Alchemist goes in a somewhat different direction. Al’s style of alchemy is more scientific. Every object is made of essences that can be extracted into vials. Then, those essences can be combined into new ones with properties that can break down things in your way or are used to transform raw materials into parts.
As you can see from the pictures here, there’s a bunch of elements to keep track of. How do you remember what you need to make a solvent to craft paper? Well, that’s what your handy encyclopedia is for. Along with recording everything you need to know about alchemy, you can pin up to six different notes. That solvent needs two materials broken down. Below, I’ve pinned the solvent, the essences required, and the essence’s raw materials. Now I just need to run into the wilds and find them. There’s a decent amount of backtracking as you roam around collecting raw materials, but the world isn’t so big that you’re running around all day just to find one specific mushroom.
Final Thoughts
All told, The Last Alchemist is a fairly simple crafting game structure with complex mechanics made manageable by the encyclopedia and other tools you eventually craft. It feels overwhelming at first, but as you pick up what the devs designed to make it easier, you develop a flow that feels good to play. The days don’t feel too short or too long, and the ability to regain stamina with a quick meditation keeps things moving.
However, while I’m only partially through the story, I can see potential for grinding getting tiresome. I’m going to need to harvest or grow a lot of mushrooms for the wood to make planks to make furniture. Lots of essences to break down stone for granite. Perhaps, if I’m clever and take my time, get a lot of machines running and plant seeds right, maybe it won’t be so bad. A little foresight goes a long way when it comes to crafting games.
Special thanks to Vile Monarch and Marvelous Europe for providing us with a copy of The Last Alchemist.
PIXEL PERFECT
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Maggie Maxwell spends most of her days buried in her fiction writing, only coming up for air to dive into the escapism of video games, cartoons, or movies. She can usually be found on Twitter as @wanderingquille and @MaxNChachi or streaming on Twitch with her husband, also as MaxNChachi.
