Alchemists Review (PC)

I’m barreling through these dimly lit corridors with a flashlight in one hand and a pulsating heart in the other, completely oblivious of what the incantation has brought to the underbelly of this demonic world. In my mind, the motive is to banish the evil spirit that looms beneath the surface—to work collectively to bring about the downfall of the entity that stalks us. This isn’t a tall order; it’s a collaborative effort that shouldn’t be all that difficult. But it is. On one side of this haunted school, there are two other alchemists—one of them is cowering behind a locker, and the other is struggling to figure out how to operate their tools. Oh, we don’t stand a chance; we’re as incompetent as they come, and if there’s any team that can eliminate this threat, it isn’t us. We are not the Alchemists you want.

Jokes aside, I was never that bad at drawing out evil spirits and putting their otherworldly gifts to the test. I can’t say the same for my like-minded compadres, mind you. In fact, I often found that the more I relied on their companionship and niche skill sets, the more I was beginning to realize that four players were three too many. But then I also came to the conclusion that Alchemists, despite being advertised as a single-player endeavor as well as a co-op one, was more or less designed for ragtag incompetence and multiplayer shenanigans. More often than not, I was fine with that. It meant that I could purposely neglect my lack of expertise and instead focus on the comical aspects of my work. It wasn’t as if our lives depended solely upon the capture of these despicable monsters. Right?

Alchemist hiding behind the locker: “Who’s going to tell him?”

Suited & Booted

The idea is simple: complete the four Element ritual and expel the evil spirits from one of several cursed locations. There’s a high school (the go-to spot for paranormal wrongdoings, apparently), a demonic village, a peculiar biome called Trasmoz, and a desolate farm house, with the latter being available as an additional map for the full release of Alchemists. Of course, I can’t comment on the fourth area, so I’ll need to pluck the core memories from the remaining three for the sake of this review. Having said all that, and remembering that this is an Early Access version that we’re talking about, let’s break into the details.

If you’ve ever romped through the likes of Midnight Ghost Hunt, Ghost Hunters Corp, or Phasmophobia, then you’re probably going to recognize just about everything that goes into this supernatural elixir. Like the aforementioned trio, Alchemists centers its entire world around two things: paranormal activity, and a squadron of ne’er-do-well investigator’s attempts to thwart the threat in a timely and professional way. In a similar format as the three, each hunt begins with a simple objective—to collect the necessary items and, with a little bit of cooperative planning, complete a ritual to banish whatever spirit is lurking in the nearby shadows. But there’s a problem: the spirit isn’t quite nearly as cooperative as the ragtag bunch that you have in your back pocket, and therefore the only way to eliminate them is to use a combination of wittiness, proficient communication, and dumb luck. Well, sort of.

Tools of the Trade

Thankfully, Alchemists doesn’t restrict you to a poxy flashlight and a spare pair of slacks. Oh no, it gives you the chance to take full advantage of a series of tools, including a selection of cameras, two-way radios, night vision systems, and even an anti-ghost scanner. That isn’t to say that you will need all of these devices, mind you; in fact, I personally found that, by simply running amok in the dark and playing touchy-feel with the shadows, I was often able to achieve whatever goals I was given. But that’s sort of the beauty behind these sorts of co-op ghost hunting games: they’re designed to withstand a variety of strategies. For instance, if you would soon rather head straight for the ritual ingredients and bypass the odds of touching gloves with the ghostly, then you can — but at the expense of missing out on some genuinely hilarious moments.

I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Alchemists is a scary game. It’s atmospheric, don’t get me wrong, but with a band of entities that rely more on toying with your emotions than scaring the living daylights out of you, I wouldn’t say that it’s unadulterated nightmare fuel. Also, it depends on who you choose to bring with you. Granted, Alchemists is a lot scarier when you’re on your own, but it’s also oddly dull and not nearly as enjoyable or as effective. But Alchemists sort of makes it more appealing for groups; it builds its objectives around the idea of having multiple players tackle different jobs simultaneously. And that adds another layer of suspense to the mix, too. After all, it’s hard not to feel the weight of the world on your shoulders when it’s you who has to locate the final ingredient for the ritual.

The Bells and Whistles of Alchemy

There’s a good amount of replay value in Alchemists—a sufficient amount, perhaps, for players to return to its three maps for extended periods of play. The maps are also littered with a lot of intriguing set pieces and randomly generated scares — so it’s almost like unraveling a new layer with each passing turn. Sadly, the objectives aren’t quite as diverse or as compelling, as they’re more or less comprised of collecting the same ritual items and completing the same task thrice over. And yet, as with most PvE titles, the concept of branching out to incorporate more quests, items, and maps aren’t exactly out of the realm of possibility here. The fact that the devs are gearing up to launch a fourth map says it all, really.

Graphically, Alchemists brings a surprisingly complex world to the table. Well, I can’t say that it touts the “realistic” visuals that it states in its description, but I’ve certainly seen a lot worse. The game also flows incredibly well, too, and isn’t marred with a ton of technical problems or bugs. Perhaps I got lucky with the handful of rounds that I subjected myself to, or maybe I was just too busy trying to complete my duties that I mistakenly overlooked the errors. Even still, I can’t say that I strictly recall bumping into an endless slew of game-breaking faults — so that was a triumph, in ways.

Verdict

Alchemists is as comical as it is intense—two things that contribute towards a clean, nonsensical co-op romp through the underworld of alchemical horror. It’s early days yet, so while I can’t chalk up a complete review of the game, I can touch upon some of its finalized features—the graphics, mechanics, and initial batch of playable maps, for instance. And I can say this: Alchemists has a tremendous amount of potential. Sure, it falls into the “dime a dozen” sphere, what with Phasmophobia and Midnight Ghost Hunt being the impenetrable benchmark warmers, but as the saying goes — if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

While there’s still plenty more to come out of this one, it’s still worth picking up the Early Access version if you get the chance, if only to see just how much effort WASD Game Studio has poured into the fulfillment of its core. More to the point, if you’re an avid fan of PvE ghost hunting games with some great co-op material, then you’ll probably enjoy just about everything that fleshes out Alchemists and its collection of unique maps.