Ways of Alchemy News

Hi everyone! We’re back with our second devlog where we’ll talk about one of Ways of Alchemy’s core mechanics — potion-brewing!

But first, a quick heads up: we just released a new free demo for Steam Next Fest running from February 24 to March 3. We’d love to hear your feedback, even if it’s just a few words, to help us refine the game for release this spring.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3519740/Ways_of_Alchemy_Demo/?utm_source=steam&utm_medium=hub&utm_campaign=alchemist&utm_content=woa-devlog-2-demo-link
[h2]Problem: Balancing Alchemy and Gameplay[/h2]
We wanted to create a game about alchemy that showcases the many aspects of an alchemist's life. It’s an incredibly interesting topic, but a lot of games tend to fall into one of two extremes – either they focus entirely on puzzle-solving to brew potions, or they simply tell a story about alchemy without any gameplay mechanics that represent what alchemy is.


There's a common issue with alchemy games: once a potion-brewing mechanic is introduced, it tends to consume everything. The entire game starts to be based around this single mechanic and players who don’t enjoy it will simply drop out. While this approach can work wonderfully (Potion Craft comes to mind as a fantastic example), it wasn’t what we were aiming for. We wanted to create a more diverse experience: if you don’t like complicated puzzles, keep playing, there are some other things for you!


However, it’s pretty clear that alchemy is all about potion brewing. How can we make an alchemic game that allows players not to focus too much on potion-making?

[h2]Solution: Two Brewing Approaches — Experiments and Recipes[/h2]
We found a solution by adding two options: recipes and free-form experiments. Following recipes is totally fine! But if you’re the kind of player that likes efficiency and enjoys creating recipes all by yourself to feel like a real-life alchemist, being creative and discovering something brand new – you’re going to love the experiments.


[h3]Experiments[/h3]
In free-form brewing, each potion has a formula that depends on the ingredients’ properties. The foundation is critical — the very first ingredient you put in a cauldron and which magical pillar dominates its properties will define the type of potion you’re going to get. After that, you need to add ingredients whose properties will complete the formula.

The free-form brewing system considers additional factors:

1. You as an alchemist must be skilled enough to handle the ingredients you're working with. Your mastery of reality's pillars must exceed the concentration of those pillars in your ingredients.
   
2. Secondary properties of ingredients matter — things like concentration or volume can affect the result. Using an overpowered ingredient for a simple potion will influence the outcome.
   
3. Your alchemist’s skill comes into play — if it exceeds the requirements of the ingredients, it can impact how powerful your potion becomes, or even result in brewing multiple potions instead of just one. Knowledge is power!
   

[h3]Recipes[/h3]
If a free-form brewing system sounds too complex for you, or you want to learn more gradually without facing a challenging puzzle right away, we have recipes. To follow them, simply place the recipe in your cauldron along with the specified ingredients, and get a potion at the end! It’s not quite as effective and unpredictable as experiments, but it doesn’t require complex management of your alchemist's power and formula tinkering.

Come to think of it, this not only solves the gameplay challenge but also nicely reflects how professional knowledge works in the real world: having trusty instructions and following them is great, but with experience, you can make the process more effective and even write your own instructions. Do you agree?

Hello Alchemists!

We're excited to bring you a small but important update to the Ways of Alchemy demo. This patch addresses a few key issues and makes some quality-of-life improvements based on your valuable feedback.

Here's what's changed:

• Critical Bug Fix: We've resolved an issue that could cause the game to freeze when exiting to the main menu, which sometimes resulted in the loss of save files. Your progress is now safer than ever!
  
• Improved Card Attachment: We've refined the way cards attach to one another, making it easier and more intuitive to connect them without missing. This should make your alchemical experiments smoother and more enjoyable.
  
• Minor Text Corrections: A few typos and text inconsistencies have been fixed to improve clarity and immersion.
  
• Minor UX Fixes: We've made small adjustments to the user interface to enhance the overall experience, ensuring that navigating the game feels more seamless.
  

[h3]Known Issue[/h3]
We're currently investigating an issue where some cards may appear face down on the field and fail to flip over. If you encounter this, you can temporarily resolve it by saving your game, exiting to the main menu, and then reloading your save—this should flip the cards correctly. Rest assured, our team is working diligently to concoct a permanent solution for this in an upcoming update.

Thank you for your continued support and feedback as we work to make Ways of Alchemy the best it can be. We hope you enjoy these improvements and look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Happy brewing!

Ways of Alchemy demo is finally here as a part of Steam Next Fest! Download it now and step into the shoes of a medieval alchemist:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3519740/Ways_of_Alchemy_Demo/?utm_source=steam&utm_medium=hub&utm_campaign=alchemist&utm_content=demo-live

Key features:

• Explore a vast ingredient arsenal: Grow, purchase, or loot nearly 100 unique alchemical ingredients to fuel your experiments.
  
• Brew over 35 different potions: Use comprehensive recipes from the grimoire or invent your own formulas to create powerful potions.
  
• Recruit and equip adventurers: Send them on 24 dangerous adventures across 5 regions, arming them with potions and artifacts.
  
• Loot rare and powerful items: Discover over 70 unique rewards including powerful artifacts, long-lost books and ancient recipes.
  

The demo is available from February 24 to March 3.

We'd love to hear your thoughts! Please share your impressions in a Steam review and this quick survey after trying the demo to help us shape the game.

Hi everyone! Welcome to the first devlog, in which we’ll tell you more about the experience we’re building. But before we dive in, here's a quick reminder: Ways of Alchemy playtest is live until February 9th. Don’t miss your chance to join and share your thoughts!

Now, back to the main topic. In "Ways of Alchemy" you, as a player, will live the life of a medieval alchemist, with its dangers, challenges and goals you have to achieve. The key to all this is the Alchemy — the main tool that a protagonist uses to solve all problems.

In this game, we wanted to go beyond potion-brewing and capture the daily life of an alchemist. You’ll collect ingredients, search for lost wisdom and even deal with authorities who are always there to spoil the day — whether they’re unhappy with your potions or envious of your wealth. Let's take a closer look at what you'll do.

[h2]Collect Ingredients[/h2]
We made 97 ingredients for the game, 12 of which are plants you can grow to use as basic ingredients in potion brewing. The rest of the materials you will have to seek out in adventures or get them by using magic.


Some ingredients even have multiple uses and can work not only for brewing. Let’s talk for a bit about these things.

[h2]Brew Potions[/h2]
Two types of potions exist in the game:

• The first type is common — you can craft and sell these to merchants.
  
• The second type is ascension potions, allowing you to progress in your alchemic ascension.
  

Also, there are two ways to brew potions. The first one is straightforward — you follow a known recipe, which tells you exactly what ingredients to use. The second way is a creative approach, where you experiment by combining ingredients based on their magical properties, discovering new effects and possibilities. This method requires deeper alchemical knowledge, which you can gain through certain pillars of knowledge — we’ll talk more about them and ascension potions in future devlogs.

[h2]Deal with Authorities[/h2]
On your way to ascension, you will have to come to terms with the authorities. We added two relentless figures to make things spicier for you:

• The Tax Inspector will pay you a visit when you reach certain heights. He wants your money, and it’s up to you to choose: whether to pay taxes or not. Your choice will shape the consequences you’ll face later.
  
• The Inquisitor is here to keep an eye on your actions. The Inquisitor is here to keep an eye on your actions. He watches for your crimes — from unpaid taxes to possessing illegal potions and other suspicious items you might have — and can even throw you in jail.
  

[h2]Explore the Adventures[/h2]
We added five regions into the game for you to explore, with adventures and even some secret places to discover. Going on an adventure will require a map and enough knowledge cards. Of course, you don’t have to go on dangerous adventures by yourself — the Alchemist has a lot to do and only one pair of precious hands. For dangerous expeditions, it’s much wiser to use a hired hand.

These adventures will present some challenges for you and your mercenaries to overcome. How you’ll handle them is up to you: magic potions and artifacts are here at your service.



[h2]Get to Ascension![/h2]
To sum it up, the Alchemist’s story will cover many adventures by the end:

• from exile to respect,
  
• from an empty land plot to a gorgeous estate,
  
• from being on your own to being surrounded by loyal companions,
  
• from ingredients in your bag to a shiny stone with a bloody sheen in your hands,
  
• and, finally, from being clueless to the question no one can answer: what is alchemy? Is it this stone you now possess or this thing that you have become in the process of the stone’s creation?
  

The philosopher’s stone is a reflection of the way you will make. It will allow some players to possess human souls, and to others — to control time and space. Only completing your way will let you see your true intentions in the stone’s reflection.

Welcome to the first playtest, fellow Alchemist!

You’re about to experience a small slice of Ways of Alchemy. Depending on your pace and how thoroughly you explore, this demo offers between 30 minutes to 2 hours of content.

Ways of Alchemy is a card game about the life of an alchemist. Naturally, potion-brewing is at its core — it’s what alchemists do, after all! But we’ve worked to make the experience far more immersive. Alongside brewing, you’ll grow ingredients, search for lost knowledge and even face off against local authorities who can be unhappy with the (overly profitable!) poisons you brew.

This is quite experimental for us, and now we are testing for the basic feel of the game. We want to see if the game feels engaging, if the progression is smooth and enjoyable rather than grindy, if we managed to capture the feeling of being medieval alchemist, and, of course, if there are any technical issues.

We’d love your feedback. After playing, please take a moment to fill out the survey — even if you didn’t play for long. Every comment will help us improve the game!

The playtest runs from January 21 to February 5. Invitations to join the playtest will be sent out over the next three days. If you don’t receive yours immediately, don’t worry — it’s on its way! Haven’t signed up yet? There’s still time to apply and join the playtest.

Don’t miss your chance to try it out and help us shape the game!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2915380