Alchemist simulator – review of the game “Alchemy Emporium”

Master’s pupil

At the very beginning of the game, we get to know the story of our character, a young woman whose name we can name ourselves. Her story begins in an unusual orphanage, because there are children of various origins there … and I do not mean nationality, because our heroine shares the shelter with such creatures as young imps or “skeleton children” (do not ask) . One day an elderly alchemist arrives at the orphanage with the intention of adopting a young raven to train him to become his assistant. Unfortunately, there are no ravens, but the man’s eyes fall on our young heroine, and although she does not have a strong beak and cannot fly, he decides to take her with him. Thanks to his specific “treatment”, the girl grows at an alarmingly fast pace – one week becomes for her like one year of life. Interestingly, despite the frightening pace of growing up, her mental development corresponds to the physical – so after a few months she becomes a bright young woman. One day, the girl’s mentor locks up in his alchemical laboratory, letting him know that he does not want his peace of mind to be disturbed. However, a few days pass, so the worried student decides to check if everything is okay. The laboratory turns out to be empty, the alchemist is gone … From now on, the heroine will have to act on her own. so a worried schoolgirl decides to check if everything is alright. The laboratory turns out to be empty, the alchemist is gone … From now on, the heroine will have to act on her own. so a worried schoolgirl decides to check if everything is alright. The laboratory turns out to be empty, the alchemist is gone … From now on, the heroine will have to act on her own.

Hard first steps and more …

I must honestly admit that Alchemy Emporiumis a title that can definitely scare you off, especially at the beginning. This will probably apply mainly to players looking for a not too complicated and pleasant gameplay that will keep you entertained during boring evenings. The first minutes are embarrassing when we have a choice of a place where we start our adventure. We must also choose one of the many orders to which we will belong (but it is not explained why we should do it at all) and a helper, and there are a whole lot of them. All these choices additionally have certain amenities, but their operation is also quite unclear. It is true that we have tutorials available for every activity that we have to do while deepening our knowledge of alchemy, but I found practically all of them not very helpful, and we have a lot of tasks to do (shopping at merchants, mixing potions, packing, etc. ) and we need to plan the entire week of our store’s operation well. Many non-intuitive mechanics are not included in the tutorial at all, which makes it easy to get lost in everything, and unfortunately not everyone wants to explore everything on their own by guesswork, trial and error. AdditionallyAlchemy Emporium only has one difficulty level, so there’s no pity for the fresh stuff, none of that! Fortunately, the better you get used to the game, but you can get very frustrated before that happens.

Where’s the logic here?

The first, which, unfortunately, is incredibly noticeable, is the not very convincing story of our character, who was said to have been an alchemist’s journeyman for a few years, and yet it seems that he has practically no knowledge that he should acquire during this time. I understand that, according to the plot initially presented to us, the old master suddenly disappeared, but this does not explain such gaps – either our character suddenly lost his memory, or he did not pay much attention to learning the craft. She lacks the ability to create various potions, potions or decoctions, not to mention the management of the place where we sell our products.

There is potential?

The game definitely has a chance to spread its wings. There is still a lot of work ahead of the devs, but Alchemy Emporium today is a great material for continuous improvement. The strong point of the title is a very good atmosphere, which consists of a nice graphic design and interesting, although at the moment quite limited, sound. However, the whole thing is still more of a “sketch” than a ready and fully playable title.