Created by Vile Monarch and published by Marvelous Europe, The Last Alchemist will be coming to Steam Early Access in early 2023. During the presentation, this game was presented to us as a resource exploration and management game, much like Factorio. Except that alchemy is closer to chemistry, so a science that either works or doesn't... A little trailer that will help you better understand what I mean by that:
In this solo game, you embody... an alchemist! You suspected that, didn't you? In this world, alchemy is seen as a dangerous science, practiced only by heretics. Our character is not afraid of this bad reputation. Gifted in science, he intends to take advantage of the legacy of his late mentor: a magnificent laboratory waiting for him. Our holiday resort has a laboratory, common rooms (bedroom, living room...) and a garden. Each place has its own use and the whole house can be decorated to your liking.
Beyond the visual aspect, the game can be summarized to do experiments in the laboratory, or to collect plants/ingredients in our garden. In the latter there is a people of mushrooms, the Agaris. Gaining their trust is essential because they help with experiments and the use of laboratory machines. To do this, it goes through quests. The Agari people also have a dark secret that we will discover over the course of the adventure... I'm not going to tell you too much!
Exploration is an important part of adventure. This is an opportunity to recover the resources necessary for the experiments. But also to meet characters, as strange as they are mysterious, obstacles to overcome in order to unlock new places or passages.
Now that we have resources and an entire people to help us in our experiments, we must know that alchemy is not a long calm river. The creation of potions is complex, based on the extraction of essences from harvested resources, which can then be reassembled, to give various and varied results. On the program: run faster, jump higher, or blow up your machines. Yes, well, needless to say, this last point should be avoided as much as possible. I was also able to see the principle of the recipes with the dosage of fire, an expansion vessel, and the choice of ingredients.
There was not much more revealed about the game, with a very short presentation (about fifteen minutes). But from what I understand, the developers rely heavily on early access on Steam, to get feedback from players. So if the concept tempts you, you know what you have to do! Follow the Steam page, the game should arrive early next year:
