If experimentation is meant to be a significant part of the theme, then in the tutorial and advertisement for the game, you could have introduction videos that might go like:
"Experiment: Alchemy is powerful yet dangerous. Discover which alchemy mixes works against an enemy ... [shows mixing acid and using it to great effect against a small laser enemy in slow motion] ... and which doesn't ... [shows mixing plasma and using it against an exploding enemy, getting killed by the counter beam in slow motion]"