The plot takes place in a world where an emperor leads his army towards conquest of the kingdom of Panakeia in the midst of the revival of the demon god Alcahest, who was previously defeated by a swordsman aided with the power of guardians.

Some reviewers expressed mixed opinions regarding the music, while criticism was geared towards the scenario, lack of proper interactions between characters, puzzles, repetitivity, and short length.

Alcahest is an arcade-style game played from a top-down perspective similar to titles like Gauntlet (1985), The Legend of Zelda, Dungeon Explorer, and Soul Blazer.

[5] The plot takes place in a world where an emperor leads his army towards conquest of the kingdom of Panakeia in the midst of the revival of the demon god Alcahest, who was previously defeated a thousand years ago by a swordsman aided with the power of guardians.

[3][6][7][8] The player acts as the swordsman Alen across eight stages filled with a variety of blocks that propel him forward or send him leaping to another area, exploring and searching for items and power-ups, while fighting enemies and bosses.

[1][2][3][7][12] Alen gains experience points (EXP) by defeating enemies and the player earns an additional continue after obtaining pre-determined scores to keep playing.

[1] Joypad's Jean-François Morisse lauded its audiovisual presentation, balance between action and adventure, variety of companions, and combat system reminiscent of Soul Blader but noted that while the Japanese text can be an issue, it does not prevent going through all the levels.

[25] Super Play's Tony Mott commended the game's graphics, gameplay, and level design, but criticized aspects such as the puzzles and lack of proper interactions between characters.

[26] Computer and Video Games made positive comments about its varied visuals and sprites, sound effects, and gameplay, but criticized the music and repetitiveness.

[29][31] Zashy of Jeuxvideo.com commended its diverse level design, intuitive gameplay, as well as the guardians and allies for adding diversification into enemy encounters, but felt mixed regarding the music and criticized its short length, scenario and repetitive dungeons.