Alchehistory

I played through the first seven levels of Alchehistory before writing this review. Initially, I had a bit of trouble figuring out what the basic interaction to play was- I had never played a "Match 3" game before, and so I assumed that the basic interaction would be through tapping or dragging individual objects. After half a minute of poking at every element on screen, I figured out that I had to drag my finger across three individual elements on screen in order to "match" and combine them. (A little pop-up tip stating that at the start would be a big help!) The basic mechanic of "three related(?) things turn into a logical new thing" is fun-though there's a few that aren't necessarily intuitive. I often found myself brute-forcing new combinations by just trying everything until I found one that works. The music is subtle and unobtrusive, while the tapping and combining sounds communicate clearly and do not distract from the gameplay. Once I got past the first few levels, and had a more diverse puzzle board, the decisions became more strategic. Solid 4/5 stars for a simple, interesting, and free diversion.