Alchemy Classic is far from new to Android, but they recently released an HD version for tablets. Alchemy Classic, developed by Niasoft, is a puzzle game in which you create elements. Imagine the way it was many moons ago when everything began with just four elements: air, fire, water, and earth. Eventually life evolved to what we know today, but the concept of Alchemy Classic is that every particle, invention, machine, or animal is in some way a product of those original four elements.
I’m a huge fan of puzzle games, but this isn’t an ordinary puzzler because there is one element (no pun intended) that makes it so special. It’s that you actually learn a little something while you’re progressing and evolving through these creations.
Upon launching the game for the very fist time, you will see a bunch of elements that need to be solved along the left side, which are designated by a question mark in their respective icons. The only elements that are completed are the original four elements mentioned above: air, fire, water, and earth. Eventually you will be able to make 462 elements starting from these basic elements. The play area is to the right and this is where you combine elements. You simply drag completed elements on top of each other and if your two chosen elements make something, it will unlock that element by removing the question mark. At the bottom you will find groups where you can see all the elements both opened and unlockable according to their category. For example, nature, chemical substances, and metals. All 462 elements won’t be visible to you at the very beginning since you need to make other elements in order to make other elements. In other words, the game will only show you elements that can be made based on what you’ve unlocked.
So what can you make with the four basic elements to get things started? Well you can combine water and fire for alcohol. You can also combine air and water for fog. You will use these newer elements to make even newer ones. For example you can combine fog and water to make clouds. It’s pretty easy at the beginning, but it will get a lot harder as you go on.
Thankfully there’s a hint option. As you solve elements your hint score goes higher and you can eventually use some of these points to “buy” hints. When you tap on the “i” icon you can see a list of elements that are solvable. For each item you will see how many other elements are needed to make it up, but you can get further information by using some of your hint points to find out what one of the elements is and/or what group the matching element comes from. You can also gain 100 hint points by tapping on any of the ads at the bottom and waiting 5 seconds.
I found Alchemy Classic HD to be very addicting and thought provoking. It’s not only a cool game to play alone, but it’s also great to play with friends and family because it generates so much discussion. As far as the gameplay, it couldn’t be easier. You simply drag items onto your play area and combine them. You can easily remove particular elements from the play area with a simple drag or clear the entire area with a simple tap. I did find that at times dragging and/or scrolling wasn’t all that smooth, but it wasn’t bad enough to ruin the enjoyment or addiction I got from playing it.
If you haven’t tried this one yet, you definitely have to. The original version has been downloaded over one million times and has an overall rating of 4.7, while the HD version has already been downloaded over 50,000 times in just two weeks, and has a 4.9 rating. Just in case my word isn’t good enough, those ratings should do the trick. I included their demo video to give you a better idea of how it works, but make sure to hit one of the download links below to get started.
Play Store Download Link – Regular