The Last Alchemist is a 3D-isometric farming and alchemy simulator with story-driven and complex gameplay.
Going in, I was not expecting such a heavy game, and I am not just talking about the constant drop in frames. For better or worse, The Last Alchemist truly has a lot to say.
The Last Farmer
The farming side of The Alchemist is fairly basic as most games go. You go out and scavenge resources, then come back to grow them in your mansion. As it sounds, the goal here is to find seeds for required resources and ultimately create a semi-automated factory for yourself.
You have a few tools at your disposal, like the axe and the looking glass. You need to look through the looking glass to search for items and break down the ones you need with the axe.
The Last Alchemist
And now here’s where things get interesting. When you get a resource or a collection of resources, you can put them in a machine that will extract their essence and leave them as nothing more than chemical formulas in the form of liquid in a bottle. Now that I think about it, we were just juicing those things.
This juice is then used either by itself or by another machine, combining with other juices to create concoctions that are then either used to add to other machines or make tools, basically just creating anything to make your life more efficient. It is quite insane to look at.
The Last Alchemy Story
The plot of 3D-isometric The Last Alchemy is where it really shines. You play as an old man titled The Last Alchemist. If his name was ever mentioned, I must have missed it.
After a plague killed everyone in his village, he left to find a cure for them and himself. Ultimately, he failed and decided that he would never go back.
But when he lost his own leg due to illness and was dying, he decided to return to his old master, Sindivogius, to find a cure.
To his dismay, the master had died of the disease himself.
Our MC decided to use his master’s machines to try and create a cure but ended up causing an explosion that blew the entire castle to the ground.
When he woke up, he found himself in the care of creatures called the Enoki and their leader Agari… or they are the Agari, and their leader is called Enoki.
Whatever the case, we must now use the help of these creatures to fix the castle and find a cure for our disease before it kills us. It is all thrilling stuff and worth going through the complex story.
Of course, The Last Alchemist isn’t all perfection.
Alchemy is Not all rainbows and Sunshine.
There is a system where, when you want to create something or get a machine to do something, you have to wait for the process with a timer overhead. Sometimes, this takes a few minutes and is very annoying, especially when you don’t have any other tasks to do and just wait.
The camera is really bad at behaving, and it gets annoying when you have to walk long distances just to look at something, when a camera tilt could have been really helpful over the 3D-isometric feeling.
Finally, putting items into your inventory is very annoying. You either carry them automatically or do it manually. The automatic feature always ends up making you pick things you don’t want, while the other method has you use your cursor to slowly pick things up and drag them to the inventory box.
Putting things out or managing them in the inventory is even worse. You have to drag them from side to side, and if you go too fast, they will lock back into place.
Worth the curve
Despite its flaws, The Last Alchemist offers a unique blend of farming, alchemy, and storytelling that keeps you engaged.
The complex 3D-isometric gameplay and intriguing plot make it worth the effort, even with the occasional frustration with the alchemy and Farming. If you can handle the quirks, you’ll find a rewarding experience that stands out in the genre.
