Alchemy Stars

Alchemy Stars was a free-to-play tactical role-playing and strategy game for mobile devices, created by Tourdog Studio and released by Level Infinite. It launched worldwide on June 17, 2021, for Android and iOS, with a Chinese version following on June 13, 2023. The game closed down on January 24, 2025, though an offline version with limited features was provided for players who had already installed it.

In gameplay, players assemble teams of five characters called Aurorians, each tied to one of four elements. During turn-based battles, they guide these characters along paths of connected tiles that match their element; longer paths boost attack power and range. Before moving, characters can use abilities to alter the battlefield, such as changing tile elements, teleporting, or healing. Most stages require defeating all enemies within a set number of turns, but some have different goals, like surviving a fixed number of turns against endless foes or reaching a specific tile to exit.

Outside combat, players develop their base and interact with or upgrade characters. On the Colossus, they can raise affinity with individual Aurorians or gather materials to improve stats. In Cloud Gardens, players control the Navigator on a small, fully 3D map, collecting resources through minigames like fishing, chopping wood, and mining ore to build their own base.

The story is set in Astra, a world where Aurorians fight evil beings called Eclipsites. Another group, the Caelestites, could fly giant sentient airships known as Colossus and had psychic connections. One Caelestite, Schummer, betrayed her people to the Eclipsites for power, leading to a massacre that nearly wiped out the Caelestites. Players take the role of the Navigator (named by the player), a Caelestite survivor who hid for about 17 years in a Colossus named Soroz. When an Aurorian named Vice and her comrades stumble upon it while fighting Eclipsites, the Navigator helps them, getting drawn into a war involving multiple Aurorian factions with different goals.

The game’s music was mostly composed by Asami Tachibana, and its theme song, "White Midnight" (白夜), was written and performed by Japanese singer Reol. It surpassed one million pre-registrations before launch, and was released in both Japanese and English on June 17, 2021. The global launch was promoted with giveaways for Crunchyroll access and other prizes, while Tencent Games ran an illustration contest on Pixiv, with support from Shoko Nakagawa and other artists. A Chinese release was announced in January 2023, with Chinese voice actors and a promotional video in March 2023; it launched in China on June 13, 2023.

In November 2024, the Chinese version was announced to shut down on January 24, 2025, with new registrations and in-app purchases disabled. An offline version was made available, and players who made transactions could receive gift packs for other games like Honor of Kings, Peace Elite, Naruto Mobile, Call of Duty: Mobile, and Light and Night Love. In December 2024, the global version also confirmed its shutdown on the same date, with a similar limited offline version.

Hardcore Droid praised the gameplay and story but noted both could become monotonous. 4Gamers highlighted the character designs and Live2D art, though found the gameplay weak. As of September 2021, the game had surpassed 10 million downloads.