Alchemist can fit fine into a medieval setting.
Artillerist still has the turret, but it has been renamed "cannon" and you have an option to make a hand-held version instead if you prefer. It's also had it's damage buffed.
Alchemist feels more Medieval (or Greco-Roman) than Dark Age, but it might be interesting to use it instead of arcane casters for a low-magic near-historical game.Sounds promising. Certainly this is the least-bad version of Artificer. A bit of reflavouring might even take it Dark Ages as I would like.
Alchemist feels more Medieval (or Greco-Roman) than Dark Age, but it might be interesting to use it instead of arcane casters for a low-magic near-historical game.
Some infusions would probably need to be barred though (I'm looking at you force crossbow).
Most notably versus your above concerns, pets are gone from all but the Battle Smith (who remains a Mega Man & Rush Archetype, especially if you go Warforged). Alchemists now instead don’t need a homunculus to heal goodly, and Artillerists are more similar to the Gunsmith from the earlier UA.
Alchemist feels more Medieval (or Greco-Roman) than Dark Age, but it might be interesting to use it instead of arcane casters for a low-magic near-historical game.