Alchemy Factory Leaves Early Access with 1.0 Launch
The 1.0 launch completes the full early access roadmap, and the game's 200,000-plus sales and "Very Positive" rating come from a three-person studio's first title.
Key Facts
- Alchemy Factory launched version 1.0 on Steam on September 8, 2026, after about nine months in early access.
- The game has sold more than 200,000 copies and holds a "Very Positive" rating from about 2,300 Steam reviews, 89 percent positive.
- The release sale offers a 20 percent discount to 1,600 yen including tax through September 21.
- D5 Copperhead, a three-person studio in Suzhou, China, developed the game; it is the studio's first title.
- The 1.0 update adds a wagon logistics system, multi-store shop management, and teleport gates that bring customers into the shop.
Reporting from 2 sources: Automaton, Game Spark.
Alchemy Factory, the automation and shop management sim from developer D5 Copperhead and publisher Gamirror Games, left early access with its 1.0 release on Steam on September 8. The game spent about nine months in early access, during which it sold more than 200,000 copies and earned a "Very Positive" rating from roughly 2,300 Steam user reviews, 89 percent of them positive. The 1.0 update adds a wagon logistics system, an upgraded shop management system that supports multiple stores and customers moving between floors, and large teleport gates that bring customers into the shop from any area. Set in a medieval fantasy world, the game casts the player as an apprentice alchemist building automated production lines to make potions, jewelry, and holy relics. A release sale discounts the game 20 percent to 1,600 yen including tax through September 21. D5 Copperhead is a three-person studio based in Suzhou, China, and Alchemy Factory is its first title.
The game is a 3D automation sim. The player starts as an apprentice alchemist running a small shop and works toward becoming an alchemist master representing a nation. Magic devices can take over every step of shop management, from gathering and processing to manufacturing, display, and sales.
During early access, the team added a sandbox mode with unrestricted building and crafting, a miniaturization device that shrinks the player to one-tenth size to explore world details, elevators for instant movement to upper floors, and Steam Workshop blueprint sharing. More than 3,500 blueprints were shared on the Workshop during early access. The game sold 150,000 copies within its first month.
The team cited Factorio and the Japanese game 無人島物語4 as influences in a Game Spark interview. Conveyors and equipment are placed in voxel format, and a liquid and pipeline system carries materials through the lab. Portals teleport materials to automate supply. The 1.0 release also includes gameplay improvements, bug fixes, and expanded localization based on player feedback. The release sale is the game's lowest price to date. All three team members previously worked on multiple titles at game companies.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.