Escape First Alchemist ⚗️

I was trying to find a game I was in the mood to play for a few days before I got a trade come through for this game. A shorter escape room game with a cosy, candle-lit, fantasy themed castle felt perfect. Vaguely knowing it was an indie game, I went into it fairly blind with low expectations. Immediately on boot up I was genuinely surprised by how pretty it looked. It's such an aesthetic game. I was having a little gawk at the room you're dumped into, and then [b]bam[/b], a rogue voice. I had a headset on, connected to my Steam Deck, and I don’t know how audio works in games, but I do know you probably avoid having the dialogue say “over here!” and the voice feel like it has no discernible source at all. It felt like a narrator, not a directional voice. The audio is a little janky in that way, but it’s not a big thing really. It just took me a second to find our narrator: the talking book. Now, I have a low tolerance for cringe and cheesiness, but this was almost so overly cheesy that my meter was overpowered and I was okay with it? I honestly struggle to understand it myself. I can only assume that it was just so bad, that I figured it had to be intentional, rather than just b…

A cozy little adventure, especially if taken with friends. The lighting, overall mood and narration make it quite immersive and fun to play. The puzzles have a good variety and the potion brewing system works very well, especially as in multiplayer the potions, like the inventory, are shared. A fast and somewhat experienced group of three can beat the game in 2 to 3 hours and without it ever getting boring.

fun short puzzle game

Frustrating, easy to get stuck. Save system is terrible, doesn't remember your location or items. I saved near the end, loaded back in and had lost the tetrahedron, so no way to finish the game. Otherwise some nice puzzles.

Fun game! Great way to spend an afternoon. The graphics were really nice, the puzzles were engaging and intuitive and the story was humorous. The only thing that was a bit of a negative was that it felt a bit too linear. Not enough opportunity to branch out and explore more using your newly learned spells. Once you learned a spell you should have to use it more throughout the game. There are spells you only use once or twice and that's all. Overall though, I definitely recommend this game to anyone!

Escape First Alchemist is a fun puzzle game with a great atmosphere and some very well-designed puzzles. While I think the developers improved on almost every aspect in their latest game, Alchemist: Journey of the Soul, this is still a solid experience that's definitely worth playing if you enjoy escape room and puzzle games.