Castle Of Alchemists

Early Access Initial Impression: Cool! Plays like a Diablo-perspective Orcs Must Die. Gritty aesthetic, not jokey. Mechanics set forth give Castle Of Alchemists a lot to sink our gameplay teeth into. Castle Of Alchemists won an indie show award, and it is clear why it did.

Most tower defence games are becoming really boring. This game keeps you really active when playing. And you have to think actually to be able to kill all the enemy, its not like you are only clicking some button, its like you have to be in it all the time. Forget all other tower defence game if you didnt play this !!! must play 10/10

If you like any game from Orcs Must Die series you are going to love this game.

This is a must played game for anyone like these kind action-tower defence.

Here a tip, If you think it is too hard, don't forget to use your skills and upgrades.

It's an awesome action tower defence game. I loved the immersive gameplay, amazing pixel art design and epic soundtracks that keeps you pump while playing.

The game combines rpg elements with tower defence mechanics and offers a different gaming experience. Each stage presents a progressively difficult test of your tactical prowess.While challenging you with difficult waves of enemies, it also gives you satisfaction of crashing them :D.
If you love the tower defence games and looking for something different i really recommend you to play Castle of Alchemists.

To whom who likes Orcs Must Die meeting pixel-art.
This game is so rich with features and contents, i first totally forgot it is currently an Early Access Game.

Also great respect to that two indie developers.

Orc must die influenced game but in 2D and guess what its great,
also have some nice crafting and rpg element in the mix.
Very nice pixel art definitly worth it and cheap price what not to love wholeheartedly recommend it to all who love tower defense games.
Lets not forget direct combat and its very nice you can fell each hit and weight in combat which is suprisingly good.
Devs make really good job and deserve praise and money thumbs up.

It is said to be similar to orc must die in the comments, I have never played omd, but I will try it because I like the game very much, you have to think while defending the castle, you need to know where to put what. is a game with a strong compelling aspect.

Castle Of Alchemists is an impressive indie game that seamlessly combines tower defense and action genres. As a fan of both genres, I was immediately drawn to the game's stunning pixel art graphics and captivating gameplay.

The premise of the game revolves around playing as Bellator, an alchemically enhanced warrior, defending your castle from invaders. The game offers a unique twist by blending tower defense elements with top-down action, creating an engaging and challenging gameplay experience.

One aspect that stands out is the strategic element of setting traps and building defensive towers. It requires careful planning and resource management to effectively fend off the invaders. Additionally, the ability to craft powerful weapons and gear adds another layer of depth to the gameplay, allowing players to customize their playstyle.

The progression system is well-designed, offering a sense of accomplishment as you unlock new abilities, traps, and weapons. This provides a feeling of growth and keeps the gameplay fresh and exciting.

I must commend the developers for their attention to detail in the pixel art graphics. The visuals are aesthetically pleasing and evoke a nostalgic charm. The animations are smooth, and the overall art style creates a visually immersive experience.

The sound design complements the gameplay, enhancing the atmosphere and immersing players in the world of Castle Of Alchemists. The soundtrack is well-crafted, adding to the intensity and excitement of battles.

While playing Castle Of Alchemists, I found myself fully engaged and immersed in the challenging battles, striving to reclaim the castle and save the survivors. The game offers a satisfying level of difficulty that keeps you on your toes, requiring both strategic thinking and quick reflexes.

Overall, Castle Of Alchemists is a standout indie game that delivers an enjoyable and addictive experience. The seamless blend of tower defense and action elements, coupled with the captivating pixel art graphics, makes it a must-play for fans of the genres. I highly recommend diving into the world of Castle Of Alchemists and experiencing the thrill of defending your castle against relentless invaders.

The game is fantastic. It's not a just simple tower defence game. You need come up with powerful strategies. It shakes the foundation of TD games.

I strongly suggest to everybody that likes not only action but also strategical fight.

Have fun. I sure did :)

Having sunk six glorious hours into the game so far, I feel compelled to share my thoughts on this absolute gem.

The developers at Team Machiavelli have managed to weave together a magical tapestry of storytelling, strategy, action, and exploration into a masterful gaming experience that holds your attention captive from start to end.

They adopt a unique pixel art style that's not only beautiful to look at but also adds to the overall nostalgic charm of the game. Each area within the castle is meticulously designed, with every room offering a fresh burst of visual splendor and intricate details. It's clear that the artists have put a great deal of thought and care into creating these levels.

Gameplay is both satisfying and challenging, with a great balance between hack-slash and strategic planning. It's a system that's easy to pick up but hard to master, allowing for a sense of meaningful progression as you delve deeper into the castle's depths.

Castle Of Alchemists is a must-play. Whether you're an experienced gamer looking for a deep strategic experience or a casual player seeking a visually stunning narrative journey, Castle Of Alchemists has something to offer you.

Highly recommended. Let them come!

I rage refunded this game after not passing the second wave of Stage 1...

Then i bought the game again , Finished the first stage now i'm stuck on the second stage wave 1 !!!
Its a fun game & somewhat of a challenge for me.
I hope to some day finish the 2nd stage and to get stuck on the 3rd stage ..

It would be nice to be able to farm XP in the first stage in order to gain XP and level up BUT i can see why this is not possible ..

Tl;dr: This is not an easy game, but it will reward you handsomely.

Castle of Alchemists is a tower defense game with hack-and-slash elements that keeps you on your feet at all times. Although it is a bit hard to get used to, when you invest some time, it turns into a satisfying game.

The core gameplay loop of the game consists of two sections, the first being the strategic tower placement section, and the second being the action section.

The tower defense part of the game consists of laying traps in strategic locations and combining their damage types to create deadlier combos. Although that Castle of Alchemists is a tower defense game, don't forget that tower placement takes around 10-15% of the time you spend in a level, at least that was the case in my experience.

Apart from the tower placement part, the action part, I think, is where the game shines. After you place your towers in the planning section, you have the chance to actively defend your base with various widgets, weapons, and movement abilities. There are many strategies to try out in the game, and each of them feels particularly great.

Both the melee and ranged combat feel great, and there is a great variety of weapons in the game. There also are widgets that you can think of as items with cooldowns. You can use these items pretty frequently during levels to fend off attackers, and there also is a great variety of them in the game. Certain widgets even have different styles although they share the same stats. You can even craft weapons and widgets with different tiers of bonuses, which is cool.

On top of these amazing features, there also is a character progression system in the game. After completing each level, you get experience points to level up. Each level you gain gives you skill points that you can utilize to enhance your character's passive abilities. Most of these abilities consist of stat upgrades, but some of them also pave the way for different playstyles. One thing I'm disappointed about this system is, you can't respec your skill points, which is frustrating.

All these elements take place at various levels with different enemy types and layouts. I believe levels are not the strongest part of this game, since I found them a bit lacking in creativity at times. Levels also have a strange feedback loop of rewarding you with fewer resources as you do worse, which may frustrate many players that are particularly not skilled in these types of games but still want to enjoy them. Regarding the enemy types, I must say that enemies with ranged attacks feel unfair. Their attacks are not telegraphed well, and you constantly lose your health when you can't detect them in a crowd of tens of enemies.

Considering the art style of the game, although at certain times the screen gets too messy due to traps, enemies, and widgets' effects overlapping, it truly is amazing. Attention to visual detail is top-notch, and I especially adore the character art of the NPCs.

Finally, I must say that I was a bit disappointed with the audio in the game. Certain sections of the game lack background music, and when there is one, it simply doesn't amaze me. I found sound effects a bit ineffective when it comes to feedback, and I hope the developers work on that matter.

Overall, Castle of Alchemists is a game that I am sure you will enjoy if you like fast-paced action games with a pinch of strategic elements. The first couple of hours of the game is a bit slow, so give it some time to shine.

As someone who played lots of metal slug, the last spell, diablo and orcs must die, i liked this game. Since this is an Early Access title that has a lot of potential i am easily giving this one a thumbs up, i believe devs will improve the game wtih community feedbacks, so they have my support.

The game is designed very differently from the tower defense games we know. It is a tactical game that blends action and offers a lot of variety. There is usually a problem with the difficulty scale of such games. As you progress, it either gets disproportionately difficult or it makes the game monotonous because it doesn't get difficult enough, but in this game, they have adjusted the difficulty that gradually increases as you progress, and it tells you very well that you need to improve or change something when you are struggling. I can say that I liked this part. Speaking of development, let me briefly mention that even though it is an early access game, there are tactical traps and towers that you can use in a wide variety of ways. In summary, it is a great game that not only those who love this genre but also those who do not like it can spend time.

Amazing game. Castle Of Alchemists is not just a tower defense, it also has a fantastic hack and slash feeling with a good variety of weapons.
The story is good, the artwork is beautiful. There are so many things to try like the synergy of traps and your abilities, so the game always feels swinging.
Its nice that developers share their road map for the game so we know this game will be worked on and evolve.

Castle of Alchemists is an absolute marvel of a tower defense game. The pixel art is stunning, blending retro charm with modern visuals. As a hero armed with guns and skills, the game seamlessly combines tower defense mechanics with thrilling action, ensuring you're always on your toes.
What sets Castle of Alchemists apart is its strategic trap combinations. Combining different traps depth to the gameplay, and witnessing their devastating effects is incredibly satisfying.

Make your strategy, prepare to defend the castle, fight with your towers. It's impossible to get bored, action is always at the top. Improve your defense with different combinations. There are many options, the game richness is very successful and the gameplay is very good.

I want to start with the visuals. It has Pixel-Heart graphics but with a great art design. You can see and feel the attention paid to every point, every detail in the game. If I have to describe the game in one sentence, I can say "I couldn't get up for 8 hours". There are a lot of sections in the game that you need to think strategically, I think this is the main factor that makes us spend hours.

A great combination of tower defence and action game. The tactical depth is very good, the tower and trap variety is sufficient, as well as you can set up different skill sets with improvements.

In addition, after setting up with your own tactics at the beginning of each wave, when the enemies start to arrive, it is a very nice feeling to go down to the field and fight next to the traps you set up, creating different elemental combos with different weapons and bombs you develop.

The balance of the game is also very good. The levels are neither too easy nor incredibly difficult. Of course, if there are parts that are difficult, it's time to go to the workshop and make a lot of new upgrades :)

The music and visual art of the game are incredibly good. It is incredible that every detail of a project that only 2 people worked on is so good.

The game industry in our country has made a good development in recent years. But this game is one click ahead of the others in my eyes. I have endless respect for the developers who set out with an original idea and do everything themselves instead of making a change/improvement of the favourite ideas.

Mom, can we have orcs must die? We have orcs must die at home. Orcs must die at home: Castle Of Alchemists

Memes aside, the core gameplay is good, just the whole package is inferior to its inspiration. I believe it will become better over time since it´s still early acess, but as of now it´s missing quality of life and maybe some extra depth to its gameplay. If you got nothing better to play right now, go for it but I would recomend waiting for a few months for some major update and then buy it.

I've been playing for a day and I've cleared the game (15 levels in total?). A few problems I encountered during the game
1, does not show the number of monsters. I felt tired in the middle of a 30-minute game, not knowing how many monsters were left, and it was exhausting to endlessly play.
2, 3-5 time is too long. 6 big waves of monsters I played 50 minutes, can consider the appropriate reduction of time
3, the skill interface lacks guidance. I didn't find a way to reset skill points
i realy enjoy waiting for the next updates

2 dimensional orc must die like game, gives the castle defense very well. strategies are comprehensive, you can build your own strategy and you have to do it carefully or you can't pass the section. a game that I can play comfortably by turning on my music and lying down, system friendly . cheap, I would say that those who love this genre should not miss.

There are a lot of tower building points given, I have never played such a rich tower defense, with the long-range talent, if you are lucky to start the game to synthesize a good purple suit with good attributes, it is quite comfortable to play.

8.6/10
(And its also cheap]

Castle of Alchemist is a little hard game for me since I have not played any games for a long time. It is a tower defense game with amazing pixel art. It is also an action game that makes you lose track of time. I suggest everybody to give it a chance and try this entertaining game.

I've completed all available content at the moment. I think it's a great game, though there's a bit of inconsistency in terms of level difficulty and enemy damage, which makes the game a bit frustrating at times. With some levels the balance feels great and you get to experiment a lot with traps, but other levels seem very sparse with trap materials and you will be doing most of the killing yourself.

Overall, the game has a lot of promise, but at the moment there isn't a ton of replayability, unless you go after individual level challenges, but it definitely deserves your attention if you find tower defense interesting, since this is a nice take on the genre.

A medieval massacre at its finest

You play as doom guy mixed with a space marine slaughtering your way through a castle gathering traps, materials, towers and new blueprints as you go as well as upgrading your character through ethically questionable genetic experimentation.

Crush a myriad of different enemies using a variety of weapons and gadgets all of which can have different modifiers and effects semi-randomly imposed upon them.

Its orcs must die if it was a top-down shooter and I have loved every second of it so far

Castle of Alchemists is an absolute dream game of mine. This game seamlessly combines tower defense and action, has an intense and addictive experience. The player is a cool pixel art witcher. Tons of mechanics with strategic depth, satisfying progression. You need to find tactics with traps, towers, weapons to overcome different enemies because they have unique strengths and weaknesses and that makes the game realllllyyyy satisfying to find tactics.

Even though I'm not very familiar with this kind of game, it didn't take me much time to understand the game and figure out how it works, and as an extra bonus, it was very enjoyable. The difficulty level increased as you progressed, and even if it was a bit too much in some places, it was just a warning to make tactical changes and improve myself. It also seems to have more detail than you would expect from a game of this level. My definitive comment on the details will only be formed after the hours I spent as I progressed in the game. But if I say for the time I have spent so far, it has been a quality production.

I've tried the game for a while. At my first impression, the game promises good things. Action tower defense in 2D pixel art graphics is an excellent idea. I think the game looks like Orcs Must Die" in 2D.

Action but strategic action... It's a game with a different theme that combines action and tactics. I can say that the gameplay elements are one click above my expectations. It has a different feel in terms of art design and graphics, yes, it is not a game with 3D polished graphics, but the attention to small details is appealing to the eye.

a type of game I didn't know, it was very enjoyable, you try to take down the enemies coming at you with tactics. the first time I played it, I couldn't figure out the game, it seemed a little challenging. but now I can play more comfortably.

Very good and strong foundation for a game however there is to little content for me to recommend at the moment. Definitely consider buying after some more content updates but for right now 6 hours of content isnt worth for 20$ cad imo

although I just learned the game, I liked it a lot, I didn't like 2d games before, I didn't like the look or anything, but I admired the concept of this one. I think there are a lot of such games on the market, but I'm experiencing it for the first time. I'm talking about castle protection games, I'm talking about games that are more based on defense and where you repel the enemies that come flooding in. it seems like it will take me more time.

This is one of the most action packed tower defense hybrids I have played. The game is relentless. I beat all current early access levels in about 6 hours. You can custom build your character and craft weapons to add variety. It's very replayable. Add awesome pixel art to enhance its charm and I'm completely sold. I belive this was made by a team of two. What an indie gem! I am looking forward to what the devs have in store for this game.

I was thoroughly impressed by this game despite my usual disinterest in 2D games. Its unique concept won me over, and although similar games may exist, this was my first time playing a castle protection game. The thrilling and fast-paced gameplay draws from tower defence elements and other genres. I completed all the early access levels in just 3 hours, and it kept me engaged throughout. The ability to customize my character and craft weapons adds variety to the game, making it highly replayable.

Furthermore, the charming pixel art style enhances its overall appeal. Remarkably, this game was developed by just two individuals, making it a true indie gem. I can hardly wait for future updates and content from the developers. 👌

It's very enjoyable to play, strategic, not mindless tower defense. The first problem is that melee weapons are useless. Some players don't like melee weapons, so they should be able to remove them, but there is no way to remove them now, they can only be carried, which is very annoying. The second is that the gap between long-range weapons is too big, and the upgrade route only increases the damage and blows these numerical changes, nothing interesting, I hope there can be skills, such as spitting fire, spitting poison, spitting water and so on. Thirdly, the enemy attack mode is single, I hope to learn from plants vs zombies, engage in something from the sky jumping down the best, and add a final boss would be a great

9/10

Very good game, like a pixel orcs must die!
Few bugs, the game ran good until the last level where it crashed multiple times for me but after restarting the game it was fixed!
I already finished the EA content but am looking forward to more!

This game is a blast! Tons of fun!

Tower Defence is not a story-driven genre, the game is currently weak in terms of scenario. Apart from the beginning cinematics, there is almost nothing about the scenario. Although I didn't have any special expectations in this regard, I was surprised that the story was so ignored.

It is a big deficiency that there is not the slightest crumb of story neither at the beginning nor at the end of the episodes. Especially the lack of a figure that can be called the "main villain" is felt from the beginning to the end of the game. Since the game is not yet completed, my criticism may be unfounded. But the full version should definitely be more organised in this regard.

An Epic Tower Defense/Action Adventure with Stunning Pixel Art Graphics! ★★★★★

Castle of Alchemist is an absolute gem for fans of tower defense and action games! The stunning pixel art graphics create a visually immersive experience that truly transports you to the world of alchemy and magic.

As the alchemically enhanced warrior Bellator, you'll find yourself engrossed in a pulse-pounding battle to defend your castle against hordes of malicious creatures from elemental realms. The blend of tower defense and top-down action gameplay keeps you on your toes, strategizing and adapting your tactics to overcome each unique enemy encounter.

The game's progression system is fantastic, allowing you to unlock new abilities, traps, and weapons as you save survivors and gather lost knowledge. Crafting powerful weapons and gear adds a layer of customization and depth to your gameplay experience, keeping you motivated to explore and discover new schematics.

The variety of environments and objectives within the castle is impressive. From fiery forges to icy halls, each area presents its own challenges and forces you to adapt your strategies. The diverse array of enemies from different elemental realms keeps the gameplay exciting and ensures that no two battles are the same.

Building defensive towers and setting deadly traps is both satisfying and strategic. The range of options, from semi-automatic ballistas to rotating-dart throwers, allows you to customize your defenses to suit your playstyle. The synergy between traps and abilities creates endless possibilities for combos and maximizes your defensive capabilities.

Castle of Alchemist has successfully combined addictive tower defense gameplay with engaging action elements, offering a rich and challenging experience. The fate of the castle truly lies in your hands, and the sense of accomplishment when you successfully defend it is unparalleled.

If you're a fan of tower defense games and appreciate stunning pixel art visuals, Castle of Alchemist is an absolute must-play.

Less real-time/skill-based version of orcs must die. Combat is more hack and slash and less headshots, build phase is paused and you can take your time as long as you want.

Game allows for many traps to be places 10-15 new traps per wave. Levels have 3-5 waves (so far). You end up with quite a labyrinth of traps.

Waves go on for a few minutes each and allow you to enjoy what you have built.

Comparable to "Orcs Must Die," this hack-and-slash and tower defense mix positively surprised me. There are already (or only, depending on your point of view) 15 playable maps and a lot of gadgets to use. There aren't that many weapons (yet), but the ones that are in there are enjoyable.

I was quite surprised when a crafted gadget turned into a "new type," which differed significantly, and I enjoyed finding all the types each recipe can have. While you can win the maps without crafting much, crafted weapons and gadgets can give you a significant power boost.

If I had to say something negative about the game, it would be the ranged enemies. They are hard to see and dodge when you are in the middle of the chaos. Melee-only gameplay was basically unplayable due to this, and even playing ranged only, I ended up in the infirmary a few times due to ranged attacks (mainly thrown spears). Spending points on life and dodge early on was quite important.

Ok, this is a great structure. Can't wait for the full release!

Things I'd like to see:

Button mapping (sausage fingers used the heal on E when I meant to walk A LOT)
Retry button from the dungeon (instead of retreat) This is a weird one, since you can retry if you lose.

Skill reset button (Had to create a new save to test different skills)
A counter of how many enemies will the wave have
A counter of how many enemies are left in a wave

Good job and good luck, devs!

I wouldn't recommend this game in the current state. There's not enough variety in enemies. The first few levels are pretty difficult. It's bad game design when you die right before the end of the wave and don't get any EXP. This is especially frustrating when the levels/waves are not short.

With that said I think this game is on the right track. Add more minion types, especially at the beginning of the game. And make it so you earn EXP even if you can't finish a level.

Pixel art is really amazing. Other than that I really liked weapon crafting system. You can craft the same weapon type again and again, every crafted weapon is slighly different from each other (bonus damages, crit chance, status effect etc.) and you feel the difference in the gameplay, it feels like a new weapon.

Strongly reminds me of Dungeon Warfare, but with better detail to go with the freedom of walking and manually handling enemies in conjunction with your traps.

Also certainly fits into a "Doom" style of combat. Big gun, big blasting hammer, grenade, traps, health potions, and a shoulder-cannon special.

It's definitely inspired, but a little too derivative of Dungeon Warfare and Doom for my tastes.

Without looking at the comments too much, I went straight into the game expecting a tower defense game. But the game did a great job combining the action game and tower defense genre. In addition, the different types of weapons and traps that open as you progress are enough to keep the game alive. Also, if I talk about the action part, the feeling of hitting has been saved wonderfully. Killing enemies is really enjoyable.

This game is an absolute blast. I really like orcs must die but my biggest issue with it is they would always attempt to build maps where it was inconvenient to build a single killbox so if you were playing single player it was three times as hard to play, in this its strictly designed for just you to fight on your own there's an expectation no one is stopping the horde but you. Other than that its some good old OMC style gameplay where you build your traps then shoot and slash through hordes of goons. Not a ton of content right now but give it a little while im sure, give them your money anyway so I can have more funny weapons sooner.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☑ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☑ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☑ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☑ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☑ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☑ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

Castle of Alchemists is an absolute gem in the world of indie games. From the moment I stepped foot into its enchanting world, I was captivated by its rich atmosphere and immersive gameplay. The developers have truly created a masterpiece that seamlessly blends exploration, puzzle-solving, and story of alchemy into a captivating experience.

One of the aspects that impressed me the most was the attention to detail in the game's visuals. The handcrafted environments are beautifully designed, each room exuding its own unique charm and mystery. The art style perfectly complements the game's theme, immersing players in a world of ancient alchemy and arcane secrets.

The gameplay mechanics are equally impressive. Solving intricate puzzles in the dungeon rooms to block incoming enemy waves kept me engaged and challenged throughout my journey. The puzzles are cleverly designed, striking a perfect balance between difficulty and satisfaction. It's incredibly rewarding to uncover hidden passages, unlock new abilities, and progress further into the castle's depths.

What truly sets Castle of Alchemists apart is its narrative depth. The game weaves a captivating tale of alchemists and their quest for ultimate knowledge. :) The storyline is intriguing, and the characters you encounter are memorable and well-developed. It's a delight to uncover the castle's secrets and piece together the puzzle of its history.

Furthermore, the soundtrack deserves special mention. The haunting melodies and atmospheric tunes create a sense of wonder and mystery that perfectly complements the gameplay. The sound design overall is top-notch, immersing players in the game's world and adding an extra layer of immersion.

While the game may not be overly long, it offers a tightly crafted experience that is worth every minute. It's clear that the developers poured their hearts and souls into creating a game that stands out in the crowded indie scene. Castle of Alchemists is a true testament to the power of indie gaming, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who appreciates atmospheric exploration, challenging puzzles, and a captivating story.

Prepare to be enchanted by Castle of Alchemists and embark on a journey that will leave you craving for more. It's an unforgettable experience that will linger in your mind long after you've put down the controller. Bravo to the developers for creating such a masterpiece!

It is a game that adds innovation to the genre, I could play a little because I didn't have time, but as far as I saw, it is a successful and gripping production. The diversification of the game with the storytelling is nice. The animations are also very nice.

I like tower defense games. But there is a problem with tower defense games. You usually play the game between incoming waves. You watch the game by being mostly inactive during the waves. But in this game, you have to try to stop the waves by using your character constantly. While playing tower defense on the one hand, you must stop the incoming wave by constantly fighting as if you are in an action game. This makes you more connected to the game. The hybrid gameplay that the game promised really made up for the lack I felt while playing other tower defense games. I like it so much.

Mutant Smashing Simulator

Castle of Alchemists starts very slow and very easy, making you think twice about refunding it. If you stick through the first two levels, the pace quickly picks up. Once ranged troops are involved you will find yourself switching weapons, climbing and dodging all the time. It will feel like this is an Orcs Must Die 3, where its more twitch shooter than Tower Defense but as soon as you finish the first 5 levels you will unlock enough traps to make devastating combos and you will be able to ace earlier levels without lifting a finger. The pace of the Game feels great, unlocking stuff is meaningful and potent.

Traps and Towers (so far) follow the philosophy of "pick what you need before because there is no upgrading during the round". You dont earn money in between rounds to upgrade your Traps but you can earn money to place more which makes the choices you make in your loadout all the more valuable. You take Poison or normal Spikes? Mud Shooters or flammable Oil shooters for a pyromaniac combo? This is further increased by the Game being less Tower and more Trap defense. While you can place wall, ceiling and ground traps to your hearts content, Towers are very strong and have limited, fixed positions on the map, making you need to consider what tower to use and when to use it. Sometimes they are so far back that taking advantage of a tower means putting yourself at risk to get overrun. Your Mutant has such a strong presence on the Map that once you fall back, the enemy is hot on your heels. Its basically a thin line between Stomping and getting stomped and it can always snowball either way which speaks of really good and fun balance.

The Crafting is essential for your loadout and not as straight forward as one might think. You have 4 different Tiers of Trinkets, Booby Traps, Weapons, Turrets and Automatons but you can only craft what you have unlocked. The more materials you use, the better the chance for a higher tier item. But even then a Tier 4 Bomb might not be necessarily better than a tier 3 as there are different modifiers. A Tier 4 Bomb might do extra shrapnel damage for a period of time but the tier 3 might have a flashbomb effect that blinds enemy archers. Besides the very basic Tier 1 items, any Tier CAN be useful in specific circumstances and I found myself quickly mixing and matching Trinkets. I know Slot 4 is to Blind Archers, I know slot 2 is for an automatic walking caltdrop and Slot 1 is a walking bomb wile slot 3 is a shrapnel bomb for Clusters. 2 different Items, 4 different uses, 1.5 hours in. That is customization.

Upgrading the Character has you pick and choose between a host of different upgrades that are more or less useful. They are mostly bland stat increases but some of the have huge impact. Increasing health and resistance makes you stronger on the field or upgrading your carry capacity allows you to carry more clockworks or other high tier Items with you, that make holding out much easier. You always have to choose between upgrading your physical abilities or get some minor percentage buff to offensive capabilities. While the upgrades themselves add no flashy primary stuff at this point, they are still important but it is clear that the focus is on the traps, the variety and usefulness of the different variants.

A couple additional thoughts:

TLDR; After testing it for approx. 1.5 Hours I have decided that this is a good game.

Edit: I am an idiot. You can rebind. Sorry.

It's WAY more of a twin-stick shooter than a tower defence game, but anyway... the music is above average and the combat gameplay is satisfying. Overall it's a borderline recommendation.

Cons: #1. The health/movement speed/armor/abilities/etc. of an enemy isn't displayed at all during a match.
#2. You can't equip two ranged weapons at a time, even if you've unequipped your melee weapon.
#3. The tutorial is very lacking.
#4. The devs don't make it clear enough whether a trap blocks movement or not.
#5. Every map should have at least one tower placement slot available.
#6. The game freezes if you alt+tab
#7. You can't change any settings while in a match
#8. A tower's range isn't appropriately shown, and neither is the cooldown of the tower shown once it has gone on cooldown
#9. Crafting is 100% RNG. There should be a way to guarantee that you get a certain item, instead of just having it be completely RNG, because I could spent ALL my resources and never get a tier4 weapon yet someone else could get a tier4 weapon on their very first attempt... and that's not fun or fair.
#10. The regional pricing could be better and the game is also for sale in russia

If you're looking for the best TD ever then look no further than Prime World Defenders 1... but Castle Of Alchemists isn't exactly a TD, now is it? So you're going to get way different gameplay from it than pretty much every other TD on the market, since these types of 'Hero TD' games are so few in number... but I can at least recommend it, and hopefully the issues mentioned above can get fixed (especially #2) and I'd really love to see the ability to use two ranged weapons at once as well.

Here's my first 2hours with the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG-nFxFbGb0
For more reviews, visit my curator page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/7851637/
For my full recommended list of games: https://steamcommunity.com/id/lfpg/recommended/

I would like to make a review of Castle Of Alchemists Early Access. I hope this helps both people interested in playing and the Devs. This is my experience and a personal review. You can disagree and have a different experience of mine and its totally fine!
The game is a mix of Tower Defense and Roguelike, where u can make different runs over and over with different strategies and skills/arsenals. The game quite some content for an Early Access(6h average) and more content will come.
The graphics are good, the music is awesome, the gameplay catches you and is very fun.
Pros:
Good variety of strategies and gameplays. Different Melee and Ranged weapons that have variations(types) and different skills
Interesting mechanics such as how u move inside the levels, elemental damage and builds
Very nice music(Love the one with vocals and i cant even understand what is being saying LMAO)
There's no difficult tiers in the game, so u can either repeat other levels if u want to be stronger or just keep trying until you complete the run(there's no consistent way to make the game harder besides respec ie disabling skills, buffing enemies etc, but its consistent to make it easier)
Cons:
The crafting RNG is quite off. You need materials(that is not hard to get) to craft weapons, and there's a chance to your weapon be a New Type AND a specific tier AND specific skills/upgrades. This seems not that reliable since you dont know if the weapon you craft will be a weapon that you like or good for some build or combo. I just found in the last-but-one level that the hammer have a Fire Variation, and i never discovered any item that could give Frozen/Chill or Blind in my run.
Artic/Viking enemies are very similar. Its quite hard seing which enemy is the non-armored footman/swordsman and Armored Footsman/Swordman. Javelin and Man Hunter is confusing to differ sometimes but easier than the previous ones. The Desert/Oriental enemies are fine and very easy to distinguish.
Some weapons or builds seems weaker than others. I felt Greastsword was underpowered compared to Hammer, and Ranged Weapons seemed more powerful than Melee weapons(i focused in a melee build but then respeced to ranged). Turrets seems VERY UNDERPOWERED; they have slow attack and a average/low average dmg(maybe they're easy to exploit if they were stronger? Dunno)
A specific ''Weakeness/Resistance/Immunity'' icon is confusing. The silver ball one. Dont know if its for physical, ranged, melee or explosion. Some effect are not that clear too about what they do(What means Death Blow Up +150? What means Double Explosion +100? What means Stamina Ignore +7s? Is explosion an elemental or a physical dmg? There were also a upgrade from Hammer that i dont remember which are that was similar to Death Blow Up +100 or something like that)
You unlock some upgrades at the start of the game when and they appear to be unlocked again in some levels. When i rescued the Tower Builder, i unlocked Eletric Tower. After i few levels, one of my rewards was ''Unlock eletric tower'' again(different of Zap Tower). I think this is just a bug tho.

I think this CONs are not ''game killing''. There's nothing unfair and that make the experience of playing bad. However, maybe they make a Roguelike being less replayable or consistent in what you want to do in your runs. I would like to share some thoughts in how to help on this:

The RNG could be more controlable. I think the best way to do this is making the Variants and Tiers selectable and just costs more materials. Than you just roll for the upgrades(making ''New Type'' not being an upgrade would be nice too).
Making the Artic enemies more different. Would be nice a easy way to differ the armored and non armored Footman/Greatsword, or even just making then armored or unarmored(ie the armored footman have a shield, the non-armored just have a sword or does'nt have a chest armor or something)
Let the skills being inspected. Having an eye/loupe to see what some skill does and how they would work with your other skills.
Pump Up/Remake some underpowered skills or items. I can biased, but maybe make Greatswords deal increased damage to enemies affected by Poison/Corrade(their specific dmg core Types), making Hammer a weapon based on the weakness/strategy you want to use(thunder/conduct/fire/physical) and Greatsword a debuff strategy you want to use(fighting armored enemies/fighting weakened enemies by poison). Making turrets attack faster/having AoE dmg in every Type and attacks.
Would be nice having the name of the soundtracks or more misceleanous things in the Library too!

Hope this review help someone. I will be playing more and i'm excited to more content, such more skills, items, enemies and even bosses!!

You're spot on if you are looking for a game that combines tower defense and fast-paced action. Amazing pixel art graphics, This is a very well-done piece of work. There's more to come for new content.