You are the new alchemist in the village. You're cleaning up the shop, building reputation, and creating new potions.
Visuals
Potion Craft is designed to look like it's drawn on aged parchment. I actually really like this simple look. There are five locations, which are just more hand-drawn single screen areas. The garden actually looks really nice and cozy. Your customers and the traveling merchants are nicely drawn as well, although there isn't too much variety among them.
Sound Effects + Music
Potion Craft has exactly one background track. It's the typical chill medieval music. It's fine, but repetitive.
Gameplay + Controls
Potion Craft is an alchemy simulation which uses simple screens for different parts of the process. The main screen is where you brew your potions. Clicking to the left is the shop where you'll sell to customers and interact with merchants. The right-most screen is the garden, where you'll harvest ingredients. The attic holds your bedroom where you sleep to save the day. Finally, the basement has more alchemy equipment that first must be repaired.
You're free to move between all of the screens at any time depending on what you need to get done. Harvesting ingredients is a daily chore, so just do that first thing when you start the day. Most of your time will be spent on the central screen brewing potions. Customers will come in with problems that require a specific potion, so you can either talk to them, then make it as there is no time limit, or you can make a bunch of potions ahead of time and sell those.
You do have to discover recipes on your own though. There's a map that shows where your ingredients will go, and each ingredient has its own direction and length. The goal is to land on an effect, as your potions do nothing if they have no effects. For instance, you'll need to use ingredients that make a path toward the heart symbol if you want a healing potion. It's a simple mechanic, but it's not always easy to get the right ingredients to line up.
There are tasks to complete in order to level up. You'll find those in your alchemists journal. It has ten chapters, and you can check off items in future chapters if you happen to complete them early. The tasks will earn you experience, as will hitting certain points on your map, which increases your alchemy level. This will also earn you points you can spend on character upgrades, like more experience points on the map or better merchant prices.
Potion Craft is surprisingly involved. You have to harvest or purchase ingredients, place ingredients in the mortal and grind them down, place them into the cauldron, stir the potion, press the billows to bring it to a boil, and then finish it off before bringing it to the customers. You can even customize the bottles and give your brew a name. It's not tedious though. I found it quite relaxing and comforting once I got into a rhythm.
I did find that making money was quite hard. It doesn't seem like anyone wants to pay much for the potions, and haggling doesn't really help much. Haggling does work quite well on merchants, but that just means I was spending more on ingredients and not getting much in return. It's a slow build, but that was probably the intention. I just wish the base prices were more in line with the cost of ingredients (even though you can get a lot for free from your garden).
Replayability
While I enjoyed my time with Potion Craft, it's not a game I'd consider replaying. The gameplay is extremely repetitive and linear, and the sense of discovery would be gone after finishing it the first time. It's definitely a game that I could continue playing in short bursts though.
Overall
While I usually prefer games with a story, I really enjoyed the meditative gameplay of Potion Craft. There was something relaxing about mixing ingredients, discovering new effects, and creating new combinations. This is a game you can definitely play frequently for small increments and still have fun.
Visuals
Potion Craft is designed to look like it's drawn on aged parchment. I actually really like this simple look. There are five locations, which are just more hand-drawn single screen areas. The garden actually looks really nice and cozy. Your customers and the traveling merchants are nicely drawn as well, although there isn't too much variety among them.
Sound Effects + Music
Potion Craft has exactly one background track. It's the typical chill medieval music. It's fine, but repetitive.
Gameplay + Controls
Potion Craft is an alchemy simulation which uses simple screens for different parts of the process. The main screen is where you brew your potions. Clicking to the left is the shop where you'll sell to customers and interact with merchants. The right-most screen is the garden, where you'll harvest ingredients. The attic holds your bedroom where you sleep to save the day. Finally, the basement has more alchemy equipment that first must be repaired.
You're free to move between all of the screens at any time depending on what you need to get done. Harvesting ingredients is a daily chore, so just do that first thing when you start the day. Most of your time will be spent on the central screen brewing potions. Customers will come in with problems that require a specific potion, so you can either talk to them, then make it as there is no time limit, or you can make a bunch of potions ahead of time and sell those.
You do have to discover recipes on your own though. There's a map that shows where your ingredients will go, and each ingredient has its own direction and length. The goal is to land on an effect, as your potions do nothing if they have no effects. For instance, you'll need to use ingredients that make a path toward the heart symbol if you want a healing potion. It's a simple mechanic, but it's not always easy to get the right ingredients to line up.
There are tasks to complete in order to level up. You'll find those in your alchemists journal. It has ten chapters, and you can check off items in future chapters if you happen to complete them early. The tasks will earn you experience, as will hitting certain points on your map, which increases your alchemy level. This will also earn you points you can spend on character upgrades, like more experience points on the map or better merchant prices.
Potion Craft is surprisingly involved. You have to harvest or purchase ingredients, place ingredients in the mortal and grind them down, place them into the cauldron, stir the potion, press the billows to bring it to a boil, and then finish it off before bringing it to the customers. You can even customize the bottles and give your brew a name. It's not tedious though. I found it quite relaxing and comforting once I got into a rhythm.
I did find that making money was quite hard. It doesn't seem like anyone wants to pay much for the potions, and haggling doesn't really help much. Haggling does work quite well on merchants, but that just means I was spending more on ingredients and not getting much in return. It's a slow build, but that was probably the intention. I just wish the base prices were more in line with the cost of ingredients (even though you can get a lot for free from your garden).
Replayability
While I enjoyed my time with Potion Craft, it's not a game I'd consider replaying. The gameplay is extremely repetitive and linear, and the sense of discovery would be gone after finishing it the first time. It's definitely a game that I could continue playing in short bursts though.
Overall
While I usually prefer games with a story, I really enjoyed the meditative gameplay of Potion Craft. There was something relaxing about mixing ingredients, discovering new effects, and creating new combinations. This is a game you can definitely play frequently for small increments and still have fun.