Hearth and Hamlet Magic & Alchemy: Spells, Towers, Potions

Hearth and Hamlet magic and alchemy are real, confirmed systems that unlock as your settlement advances, but their full spell list, ingredient tables, and cost curves are not public yet. The Steam page promises that you can “unlock magic as your city advances” and “discover wild new possibilities, such as alchemical labs and magical academies,” which confirms the systems exist without publishing their rules.

The short answer

• Magic and alchemy are confirmed, but the full rule set is not public
• They arrive as a late, research-linked layer — not an opening resource
• Magic is its own sixth resource alongside Food, Wood, Stone, Gold, and Iron
• The Mage Tower has 5 tiers and the Alchemist has 5 tiers (build 0.80 data)
• Named spells, potion costs, and cooldowns remain to be confirmed in the released game

How magic fits the kingdom

The official description establishes a progression: you research technologies, unlock magic, accumulate magical power, and then use alchemy or magical effects to influence production, growth, or defense. That makes Magic a later research-linked layer rather than a button you can press in the first hour. A new player who is short on Food or workers will not fix those problems by rushing magic.

The confirmed chain is fairly clear. Settlement upgrades open access to advanced systems, research permanently unlocks magic-related capabilities, the kingdom produces or accumulates magical power, and alchemy converts that progress into concrete effects. The last step is deliberately broad, because the exact uses must come from the game rather than from assumptions borrowed from other city builders.

The Mage Tower

The community game database records the Mage Tower as a five-tier building, with all five tiers marked as later-game data and none enabled in build 0.80 (Steam build 23713558). The higher tiers also cost Magic directly, which is where the sixth resource enters the economy.

Level	Building	Cost	Reward
1	Ancient Excavation	3,500 wood · 63,000 gold · 3,500 iron	Uncover ancient secrets
2	Mystic Hold	10,500 wood · 57,750 stone · 5,250 gold · 10,500 iron · 21,000 magic	Unlocks magical upgrades and shop items
3	Wizard’s Tower	8,000 wood · 72,000 stone · 32,000 gold · 16,000 iron · 32,000 magic	Unlocks magical upgrades and shop items (2 advanced blueprints)
4	Sorcerer’s Keep	18,000 wood · 162,000 stone · 72,000 gold · 36,000 iron · 72,000 magic	Unlocks magical upgrades and shop items
5	Arcane Citadel	40,500 wood · 364,500 stone · 162,000 gold · 81,000 iron · 162,000 magic	Unlocks magical upgrades and shop items

Official pre-release screenshots show a Magic Academy as a specialised building in a developed town, and a separate magical swamp area with its own Magic action. That suggests magical progression extends beyond a single building and into the world map, though the action’s final cost and effect are not confirmed.

Mage Tower shop effects

The build 0.80 data lists several timed effects sold by the Mage Tower. They are later-game entries, so treat the numbers as a preview of the direction, not a launch formula.

Effect	What it does	Duration
Enchant Armour I / II	+2 soldier defence	120 seconds
Enchant Weapons I / II	+2 soldier attack	120 seconds
Mana Tap	+50% magic production	120 seconds
Unnatural Growth	+50% wood production	120 seconds
Stable Portal	Next caravan time reduced by 90%	120-second window

Two portal effects sit at the edge of the magic and trade systems: the One Way Portal cuts the next caravan time by 45% if used within the window, and the Stable Portal cuts it by 90%. This is where magic starts to feed the wider economy, which you can read about in the trade and mechanics references.

The Alchemist

Alchemy is the craft side of the same system. The Alchemist building also has five tiers, and its first tier is marked as enabled in build 0.80, which makes the alchemical shop the earliest magic-adjacent purchase in the mined data.

Level	Building	Cost	Reward
1	Alchemist’s Hovel	3,000 wood · 600 stone · 2,400 food	Unlocks the alchemical shop
2	Elixir Den	13,500 wood · 13,500 stone · 9,000 gold · 9,000 iron	Unlocks new alchemical concoctions
3	Alchemist’s Shop	31,500 wood · 26,250 stone · 15,750 gold · 21,000 iron · 10,500 magic	Unlocks new alchemical concoctions (1 advanced blueprint)
4	Alchemist’s Sanctum	72,000 wood · 60,000 stone · 36,000 gold · 48,000 iron · 24,000 magic	Unlocks new alchemical concoctions
5	Grand Alchemist Spire	162,000 wood · 135,000 stone · 81,000 gold · 108,000 iron · 54,000 magic	Unlocks new alchemical concoctions

The same data attaches ten research upgrades to the Alchemist, including Healing Potions, Fertility Elixirs, Elixir of Vitality, and several “finding potion” lines that boost a single resource. Those names are data entries, not a confirmed launch list.

Alchemy shop items

The alchemical shop sells timed boosts that target one production line at a time. All of these are later-game data from build 0.80.

Potion / item	Effect	Duration
Timber Growth Potion	+50% wood production	120 seconds
Stone Breaking Powder	+50% stone production	120 seconds
Iron Finding Potion	+50% iron production	120 seconds
Gold Finding Potion	+50% gold production	120 seconds
Healing Potions	+10 soldier defence	120 seconds
Convert Iron to Gold	Converts 10,000 iron into gold	One-time

The pattern is consistent: each potion is a temporary, single-resource multiplier rather than a permanent unlock, which keeps alchemy a tool for smoothing out a bottleneck instead of replacing the production buildings themselves.

The video above is a full demo first look that shows the research tree and progression systems where magic and alchemy will plug in later.

What is still unconfirmed

The official material does not yet provide a complete spell list, potion list, ingredient database, production formula, research path, cost table, duration, or cooldown structure. Everything above that is not straight from the Steam description comes from build 0.80 static data, which is not presented as verified current-release content. Named spells, exact alchemy recipes, and their costs remain to be confirmed in-game.

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Plan around magic as a later research-linked layer. The research tree and buildings references cover the progression that gates advanced systems, and the beginner guide covers the early loop you should stabilize first.

Sources: Steam store page · Hearth and Hamlet game database — mage tower · game database — alchemist · game database — items