I had 100%ed this game back in its early access, and I enjoyed it so much that I decided to 100% it again in it's full 1.0 release. (I think my hours spent was about 22 in early access and 28 in 1.0). The game is extremely fun for those who enjoy puzzle games or even exploration. There's many outlets for creativity as well and using creative solutions to solve requests in ways you might not expect. The atmosphere is iconic and comforting. I'm definitely looking forward to any and all updates and will be more than happy to jump right back in.

The only gripe I might have is that I spent about the last 7 hours (read note at bottom) of my playthrough grinding out the one final achievement of getting the max popularity stat. If I could change anything, I'd maybe lower that achievement by one level, or maybe have each transaction earn you a few extra points of popularity than it did before once you reach chapter X of the alchemist's path. Because it felt a tad bit grindy. Everything leading up to that, however, was SUPER fun and not grindy at all. And since that achievement is not mandatory, I highly recommend this game!

NOTE about the 7 hours: I realize that if you take those 7 hours aside, I ended up playing 1.0 for about the same time as I did the early access version. I think it's important to notice however is that I spent 22 hours in early access when I didn't know how to play, whereas I spent 22 hours playing 1.0 that had much more content, while being able to speed through lots of it. It was significantly more content and I, again, highly recommend!

played aprox. 8 hours? i love the concept but feel it asks for a little too much time commitment to play through completely. i only made the first crystal out of the machine, but once i saw that second recipe i knew i wasnt up for it. getting a level 3 brew requires some really precise planning as if you overshoot your movement, its done and will almost always require another ingredient. i think the haggling minigame is perfect as it takes exactly as long as it should. the cursor speed is a nice cruise and the refresh when you hit just feels so nice. but the whole game revolves around this singular mechanic of moving around the map, using these items to follow wacky paths. the problem comes in when it wants you to mortar and pestle every fucking plant to extract the most distance. i wish there was more "free" ways to move around as watering it down only gets you so far.

don't get me wrong, im harping on it alot but i do genuinely like what this game is doing. i wish there was a more relaxed version where i didnt have to economize each and decision i have to make.

Charming little game that's easy on the eyes with a sharp atmosphere thanks to some excellent art direction. Comes up a bit short for me past the first few hours though as the novelty wears off and the woefully repetitive one-trick soundtrack starts to grate on. The art direction alone could have almost carried this one for me but a game so adept at a very cozy medieval cottage atmosphere really shouldn't have me as anxious as it does about maximizing of every ingredient I use. The garden simply doesn't provide as much of the bare necessities, and the vendors and their prices are too seldom and random to be as meaningful as they probably should be. Run-of-the-mill simple potions frequently eat up basic ingredients and tumble the balancing act against exploring the map and hunting down new ones for the more demanding patrons. A solid improvement would be to include a static vendor that might sacrifice a day of patrons without a status or moral penalty, but lets you buy out a fixed amount of basic ingredients you'd like to have on hand, or better yet a methodology around upgrading the magic garden to increase the amount of those basic ones.

The unique mechanics of crafting a potion in this game are what I love the most and what leaves such a strong impression for me. Seeing the path each ingredient traces over the alchemy map, the discovery of new effects, it is something truly special and for that alone I think it is worth to check out this game. But then you add everything else and it is just not quite there.

It feels like even though they released 1.0 the game is not quite ready, and the extensive roadmap they published shortly after release kind of reinforces the sentiment. Haggling with merchants and clients becomes more annoying than fun very early and getting ingredients rely a lot on RNG.

The Alchemy Machine is an idea that has potential, but right now it just feels like a time/resource sink that isn't fun. It starts by already taking a long time until the merchant decides to sell you parts and recipes for it, and then it requires a good number of crazy potions that while adding challenge to figure out how to brew, it also introduces problems by requiring you to waste so many ingredients and time to ever use again. It feels exaggerated to the point you don't want to interact with it.

As I opened the review with, I love the act of crafting the potion, but then the game starts to demand a lot of time and it just feels like you are spinning your wheels and not making meaningful progress, there is a constant feeling that you are ready for the next thing and the game holds you into the same place for some time. I'll definitely be checking out further updates and I think it is very much worth it to put a few hours into it just because the crafting is so unique, but right now it demands too much to see everything it has to offer.