Potion Craft (PC) Review

Potion Craft introduces players to the world of running an apothecary. Up is the bedroom, middle is the craft room, right is the garden, left is the store, and down is the alchemy machine basement. This basic setup is home to what is probably one of the most addictive gameplay loops in gaming. There is no overarching narrative, but small amounts of character story can be gotten from clients and merchants who visit the store. These keep the day-to-day activities interesting and humorous.

A typical day runs as follows. Go to the garden and harvest all ingredients available. Next, go to the shop and see what clients are looking for. Craft any available potions either by mixing, grinding and stirring ingredients, or by using the recipe book. Then, once all clients are served, return to bed. This simple little loop is great and makes Potion Craft both easy to sink into for long play sessions or to play briefly between other things.

Mixing potions is a simple and fun affair. All ingredients offer a pattern on the potion map, with the goal of mixing ingredients that take you to a potion bottle. Ingredients can either be added in their full form to the potion or ground up to improve their properties and to progress more on the map. Deciding which ingredients to mix and then refining recipes to use less ingredients is a great mechanic. Any successful potions can be saved to the recipe book, allowing for instantaneous mixing, so creating great recipes is very important for quick progression.

There is a surprising amount of depth to the gameplay and mechanics that is enhanced by the presentation and atmosphere. Visuals take on an almost medieval art aesthetic with fanciful borders and stylised characters. This style is present in all aspects, including font and interactive elements, and it helps everything gel, being simple enough that no information is lost. Everything aids the feeling of running a potion shop and evokes a very homely atmosphere. This is also supported by a fun soundtrack that is never in the player's face, but has a really nice backing and appropriate instrumentation for the medieval setting.