Alchemia: The Great Work

A candle-lit alchemy puzzle made for Defold Game Jam 2026 (theme: Chain Reaction), now with a seven-tower campaign.

Drop a reagent on the bench. Three or more alike fuse into the next tier, from Ash to Salt, Quicksilver, Vitriol, Solar Phial and Aetherium, and on to the Philosopher's Stone. Every new tile fires its own pulse: Salt pulls in Salt from two cells away, Quicksilver draws the nearest reagents in, Vitriol dissolves lead, the Solar Phial transmutes its row and column, and the Vortex spins its ring. One good drop can set off a cascade that clears half the bench, and every step of the chain heats the crucible and multiplies your gold.

Also available on WaveDash: https://wavedash.com/games/alchemia

Modes

• Campaign: Seven Towers. Climb an overworld of seven towers and 70 hand-built chambers. Each chamber has its own goal and up to 3 stars. Every tower adds a mechanic: rime that freezes reagents, powder kegs, turning gear rails, sigils, mirrors and aether rifts, and the last tower mixes them all. Cleanse the violet Taint as you go.
• Endless. Brew until the bench fills, on any tower the campaign has opened, each with its own leaderboard.
• The Workshop. Spend the gold you bank on Endless upgrades (insulation, a stash slot, bellows, a scrying glass and more) and on bench themes. Each tower you clear awards a theme of its own.
• Daily Crucible. Everyone gets the same bench and the same pieces today. One global leaderboard per day.

Features

• Chain reactions with a pulse for every tier, plus grand fusions: fuse 5 or more and you get a bonus tile.
• The Catalyst, a wild reagent you earn from long chains. It becomes whatever makes the biggest fusion.
• 37 achievements, each with its own badge.
• Leaderboards for the Daily Crucible, each Endless tower, every campaign chamber, total stars and longest chain (on Wavedash).
• Progress saves locally; cloud save on Wavedash.
• Plays with mouse, touch or keyboard, in landscape or portrait.

Controls

• Aim: move or drag over the bench, or arrow keys / WASD
• Drop the reagent: click / tap, or Space / Enter
• Pause: pause button (top right) or Esc

Credits

Made with the Defold engine. Workshop and tower icons are from the Alchemy Icons pack by Bitwise Gaming. 

AI disclosure

• Code and design: AI used as a coding assistant.
• Achievement badges and the cover art: made with an AI image generator, then cropped and composited by script. The title lettering is the game's own pixel font.
• In-game art, font, music and sound: procedurally generated by scripts; no AI image or audio models were used for them.

Contact

Questions or feedback: games@bitwisegaming.com