Ways of Alchemy News

[p]Hey alchemists! Our first content update is here. It adds Cooking — a new way to support your characters with hearty meals — and Pathkeys, which make exploration feel more narrative and better tied to your overall progress.[/p][p]Whether you’re just starting or coming back after finishing the current content, this update gives you new reasons to revisit early locations, experiment with ingredients and push further into the unknown.[/p][p]If you have a moment, please consider leaving a Steam review — it’s one of the most important things for the future of the project and for how visible the game is to other players.[/p][p][/p][h2]How to unlock Cooking[/h2][p][/p][p]Cooking is tied to early exploration and can be unlocked in any run:[/p]

• [p]Find Blueprints as you progress: you’ll now find the first Cooking Station Blueprint (Campfire) in Forest Edge, and three further upgrades in Forest near the City, Hills behind the River and the Singing Valleys. Step by step, they turn a simple campfire into a full kitchen.[/p]
• [p]Works with existing saves: if you already have a deep save, you don’t need to start over — just clear each of these locations one more time to claim the new Blueprints.[/p]
• [p]Start cooking right away: once you build your first Cooking Station, you can immediately roast Meat or Roots into simple Homefood — your first step towards proper meals.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Cooking, Homefood & buffs[/h2][p] [/p][p]Cooking adds a new layer to your everyday life and is designed to be more approachable than alchemy.[/p][p]What you can do with Cooking:[/p]

• [p]Turn ingredients into proper meals: at any Cooking Station, Roots and Meat can be turned into Homefood. It has higher satiety than the same ingredients separately and helps your characters stay fed.[/p]
• [p]Create stews and soups from the second upgrade: starting from Cooking Station II (Field Kitchen), you can mix two ingredients or add a liquid as a secondary component to create combined dishes — for example, Roots + Meat for a stew, or Meat + Water (or another liquid) for a soup.[/p]
• [p]Experiment with spices at the third upgrade: at Cooking Station III (Cozy Kitchen), you can add extra ingredients as spices to chase higher-tier dishes. If you load a meal with enough of the properties it “cares about”, it turns into a stronger, upgraded version of that dish.[/p]
• [p]Get buffs, not just satiety: Homefood can be fed to characters; besides restoring hunger, it grants a Homefood buff that boosts some of their parameters for a limited time. When the timer runs out, the bonuses cleanly disappear.[/p]
• [p]Keep buff behavior predictable: eating another Homefood replaces the previous buff instead of stacking in strange ways.[/p]
• [p]Avoid harsh starvation penalties when you prepare well: starving characters will now first try to find Homefood. If they succeed, they eat it without penalties and get the buff’s effect in full.[/p]

[p]Compared to alchemical experiments, Cooking does not require mastering specific Pillars and does not have non-working combinations: within the Cooking rules, your ingredient choices always produce a dish, and higher-tier kitchens give you room to optimize and experiment.[/p][p][/p][h3]How ingredients support Cooking:[/h3]

• [p]Turnip, Ginseng and Mandrake now count as Roots, making them natural candidates for cooked meals.[/p]
• [p]Animal Corpse, Carrion of Cold-Blooded Creature and Remains of the Curse now count as Meat, so they can also go into your recipes.[/p]
• [p]Combined dishes calculate their food value from the ingredients you put in, multiplying their base food values so that more complex recipes feel properly rewarding.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Pathkeys & exploration[/h2][p]Exploration is now driven by Pathkeys — magical objects tied to specific places — and is better connected to your overall progress.[/p]

• [p]Pathkeys instead of maps in locations: where you previously found maps of new locations, you’ll now discover Pathkeys — magical objects linked to the essence of the location where you picked them up.[/p]
• [p]Decode them in the Library: Pathkeys can be researched in the Library, requiring a specific potion and a certain Library level.[/p]
• [p]Get both access and power: finishing Pathkey research grants you the map of a new location and several cards of influence, making exploration feel more story-driven and useful for your progress.[/p]
• [p]High-tier influence without relying on luck: the Pathkey that leads to the Shores of the World Ending now reliably gives a high-tier influence card, so you no longer have to depend on luck to bring your ritual circle to its maximum level.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Please help us test Cooking & hunger[/h2][p]This is a new gameplay layer, and your experience matters a lot. If you’d like to help us test things more thoroughly, in one of your runs please try to:[/p]

• [p]Acquire the Blueprints for the new Cooking Station, craft all its levels and build your full kitchen chain.[/p]
• [p]Cook different kinds of Homefood (simple roasted Meat/Roots, stews, soups, spiced high-tier dishes).[/p]
• [p]Feed these dishes to your characters and see how they behave in longer runs.[/p]

[p]While doing this, please pay special attention to:[/p]

• [p]Hunger behavior: characters should get hungry and be fed in a predictable way, without strange edge cases.[/p]
• [p]Buffs from Homefood: buffs should apply correctly, expire when their timer runs out and disappear completely afterward.[/p]
• [p]Buff overwriting: eating new Homefood should replace the old buff, not stack or leave remnants.[/p]
• [p]Starvation logic: starving characters should try to find Homefood first, eat it without penalties if it’s available and receive the full buff.[/p]

[p]If something feels off, we’ll be very grateful for bug reports. You can use our report form (where you can also attach your save) or share your findings on Steam Discussions and in our Discord.[/p][p][/p][h2]See you by the campfire![/h2][p]Thank you again for playing and for coming back to try the Cooking update. We hope this makes your alchemists’ lives warmer, safer and tastier — and that Pathkeys make exploration feel more meaningful.[/p][p]If you’re having a good time with the game and this update, we’d really appreciate a short Steam review — it helps us grow and plan future development. Thank you, alchemists![/p][p]
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[p]Hey alchemists! Before we move into December, we wanted to look back at how the game has evolved since launch, share what’s coming in the December update and further — and, let’s be honest, also ask for your support in the Steam Awards.[/p][p][/p][h2]A quick look back at launch[/h2][p]Many of you remember that the game wasn’t where it needed to be at launch. Because of Steam backend scheduling limitations, we weren’t able to delay the release for more polishing, and the game went live with issues we needed more time to address.[/p][p]Right after release, we entered a hotfix marathon — shipping 18 rapid updates to fix bugs, stabilize saves and respond to your feedback as fast as possible.[/p][p]Since then, we’ve put a huge amount of effort into bringing the game to its current state. It may not be perfect yet, but we’ve been working hard to improve it. We’ve read every suggestion, and many of them have already made their way into the game. Thank you for helping us move forward![/p][p][/p][h2]December update — and what’s coming in 2026[/h2][p]Now that the game is more stable, we can finally focus on new content. This December, we’re introducing the Cooking update — a new gameplay layer that expands the daily life of an alchemist. Your workshop won’t just brew potions anymore. It’ll also be able to prepare fresh, warm dishes.[/p][p][/p][p]We’ll share more details soon, but we warmly invite you to return in December and try out the new features. Whether you stepped away or finished all current content, this is a great moment to reignite the furnace. And this is just the beginning: the December update sets the foundation for new additions we plan to deliver throughout 2026! [/p][p][/p][h2]🏆 Steam Awards: how to support us with your votes and reviews[/h2][p][/p][p]The Steam Awards nominations are now open and will run until December 1st. We’d love your support for Ways of Alchemy and our team — all it takes is to nominate the game for the “Outstanding Visual Style” Award.[/p][p]Here’s how you can help:[/p]

1. [p]Nominate Ways of Alchemy for the Outstanding Visual Style Award.[/p]
2. [p]Play the game.[/p]
3. [p]Leave a new review or update your old one. This step matters the most to us. If you’re new, simply leave a fresh review. If you’ve been with us for a while, please update your existing review:[/p]
   • [p]If your previous review was positive, you can update it and tell other players why you think the game deserves the award now.[/p]
   • [p]If your old review was negative but you feel the game has improved since launch, updating it would greatly help our team. The game has changed a lot since release, and many of the improvements we’ve made came directly from your feedback.[/p]

[p]The more of these actions you complete, the higher Steam Community Badge level you’ll get — and the more you’ll support the game. Your reviews and nominations help new players see Ways of Alchemy in its current state and support us as we keep working on it. Thank you, alchemists! [/p]

[p]Hey alchemists! The November update we mentioned recently is here. We’ve been working on it for over a month and we’re excited to ship QoL and UI improvements, along with bug fixes and a bit of new content. This patch also lays the groundwork for the new content arriving next month. Now, let’s see what’s in today’s update![/p][p][/p][h2]Quality of Life & UI Improvements:[/h2]

• [p]Added frame locking via the bottom-right button, letting you organize the board any time without accidental moves.[/p]
• [p]Added hotkeys for overlays — toggle "O" for Crimes and "P" for Ingredients check. Quick and easy access right from the field![/p]
• [p]Added wardrobe slot to all dwellings — you can now remove an artifact without equipping another, making it easier to adjust your setup when you need to.[/p]
• [p]Redesigned the left-side bookmarks (Grimoire, Frames and Ascension), so they take less screen space and keep the field clearer.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]New Card: River Algae[/h2][p]We’ve added the River Algae card — a new ingredient for high-tier fertilisers. Here’s how to get it:[/p]

• [p]Workers can now collect algae from the river.[/p]
• [p]Spirits working on the river have a chance to bring up algae instead of water. The chance scales with spirits’ Void, keeping their work relevant as you progress in the game.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Fixes & Stability:[/h2]

• [p]Improved Marina (neighbor) questline:[/p]
  • [p]Quests are now given in the proper sequence — "Schematic: Simple River Stash" quest comes before the "River Stash" one.[/p]
  • [p]Marina no longer asks for the Sickle if you’ve already lent it to her.[/p]
  • [p]Items handed to Marina during quests are now removed from the board as intended.[/p]
  • [p]Overall quest logic improved.[/p]
• [p]Fixed load errors triggered by interactions with Spirits.[/p]
• [p]Fixed errors triggered when closing the Inspector — closing the Inspector no longer causes errors even if your cursor is over a card being replaced (for example, when a Hut upgrades into a House).[/p]
• [p]Fixed card title bleeding through the back — titles no longer show through card backs.[/p]
• [p]Fixed cursor state sticking — the cursor no longer remains in an incorrect state (e.g., “card grab”) while moving around.[/p]
• [p]Fixed decomposition timer resetting on load — processing certain resources is now smoother and predictable.[/p]
• [p]Fixed incorrect card shadow layers — shadows now render on the proper layer for clearer visuals.[/p]
• [p]Polished in-game text — minor corrections and clarity tweaks.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Keep it up, alchemists![/h2][p]Thanks for playing and for all your feedback — many of the changes in this patch came directly from your reports and suggestions, and we truly appreciate it! If you run into issues, spot bugs, or want to share ideas, please drop them in Steam Discussions, our Discord, or send them directly through the player ticket form. Your feedback helps us make the game better![/p]

[p]Hey alchemists, thanks for staying with us and playing! We’ve been a bit quiet for about a month, and that was on purpose. After launch, we shipped a bunch of patches and finally brought the game to a stable state. Over the past month we’ve been working behind the scenes, holding back changes that could risk that stability. Now that we’re getting close to the next update, we’re happy to share what to expect in the coming months![/p][p][/p][h2]What’s next:[/h2]

• [p]November: we’ll ship a stability-focused update with a mix of bug fixes — UI, gameplay and technical tweaks — and a handful of QoL upgrades. This update also sets the stage for upcoming content.[/p]
• [p]December: then we’ll follow up with our first content update centered on Cooking, introducing new gameplay elements and ways to expand your alchemist’s daily routine.[/p]
• [p]And beyond: we plan to keep expanding the game throughout 2026, and that’s possible thanks to your support and feedback. Stay tuned for December details![/p]

[p]Thanks again for your patience and support — it helps us ship updates that make the game better. Full patch notes will go live with the November update.[/p]

[p]This update makes the game fairer and smoother to play.[/p][p][/p][h2]Balance:[/h2]

• [p]No more “double penalty” at low energy: characters will no longer both work slower and suffer exhaustion. Only exhaustion remains.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Fixes:[/h2]

• [p]The Poisoner specialization now works as intended: the Malefactor property correctly reduces prison time and speeds up the disappearance of forgettable crimes.[/p]
• [p]Cards will no longer be mislabeled as potions — the extra “Strong” tag is gone where it doesn’t belong.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Localization:[/h2]

• [p]Updated translations in Simplified & Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean to make them more accurate and natural.[/p]