Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator

if you truly try to do all achievements it becomes anything but cozy i started my save before the 2.0 update and continued playing with improved quality of life it was suuuper necessary suffering game mode? yOU MEAN I HAVEN'T BEEN SUFFERING TRYING TO MAKE THE PHILOSOPHER'S SALT ALREADY ON NORMAL DIFFICULTY?! + i agree with the others repetitive gameplay that can become a real chore and the ui/chatbox design BEGS for deeper and more immersive quest lines thay never come :[ maybe playing on steam deck just increased the difficulty as the game is not controller optimised for it at all, but every time i needed to move the potion a millimeter to align it with the recipe line i just didn't breathe for a good 10 seconds as the spoon is sooo sensitive to the (to me available) touchscreen controls wish there was a big and small spoon (heh) option, because if you plan simpler paths ahead and need to stir it takes too long and when you need real small adjustments when you're done it becomes too rough and inaccurate the assisting lines should have more length and opacity as well, if you don't allow accuracy adjustments in the accessibility settings personally id like to grind multiple ingredients at once, e.g. when you know the path towards the charm potion takes four of *ingredient*— just removes some of the unnecessary repetition maybe also a rain potion or a trader that allows you some automations the expanded enchanted garden is great, but watering and fertilising everything by hand every day (especially as the potion making has many useful shortcuts which make the trading feel a lot shorter than the time spent on maintaining the garden) yeah... not the greatest or maybe an upgraded watering can that speeds up the watering time per plant/increases the area watered a little? i also feel like there should be an option to either buy multiple alchemy station upgrades immediately without reputation/shop limits or the ability to idk send levitation mail to the guy and access his shop for recipe pages and upgrades all the time if you're unlucky and are off by a couple hundred coins, because you impulsively bought new seeds... yeah have fun playing another five or something days until he visits you again also the reputation system needs to be less binary having some of the truly evil customers visit you even with good reputation (the vampire, witch etc. are too comically mellow/not as seriously threatening as other npcs) would hit a lot more and be interesting completely missed the reputation concept at first and just served everyone that landed me at 94~100 good reputation without even trying always wondered when a cool necromancer would show up and ask me for the suitable potion... especially if some moral dilemma's only distinguishing dialogue changes are "hey, i want to help my horse win a race with a speed potion :)" vs. "i want to sabotage the other horses by giving them slowness potions >:(" like bruh, you're both cheating... tldr, overall good game easy to get hooked when afflicted with autism but even with autism it can get painfully grindy and i had no fun doing the last few required potion paths... guess 3.0 is gonna go crazyyy

I opened this game and then proceded to play it for 10 hours straight before heading to bed. I then dreamed about this game, and when I woke up... I 100%ed it. It's an ok game

As someone who has 100% it I wanted to love it but just can't. The game has some great mechanics and is fun for the first 4 hours or so but after turns into a grind fest to make any progress. The beginning feels nice with learning different affects, exploring the map and learning about the NPCs who want potions. Anything taught in the tutorial about automating potions falls apart later for some of the recipes and requests asked for by the customers slowing the game down heavily. The whole automation system has flaws in itself as there are so many ingredients, it is hard to plan a recipe for batch cook unless you restrict yourself to basic ingredients The customers feel generic and have no major story with them, each potion affect has 3 or 4 basic reasons including good, evil and neutral. The customers do not develop or have any form of growth towards a goal so it feels mindless just to get gold as they generally blend into each other. Overall, decenet for a few hours, not worth to beat or 100%, DO NOT buy at full price. Its a tiny build game itll go on sale very soon regardless of how old this review is.

It's an amazing game that is fun to explore, and the art style just adds to the vibe. However, with how repetitive this game can be, I do think it is over priced. If you want it, get it on sale. That is my only real gripe though!

This is a well made "short" game that you can finish within a week with some very casual playing after work before bed. This game is also very much a game that you can 100% content & achievement wise. No grindy or painful achievements. I highly recommend this game if you only got a few hours a week and you wanna spend it in front of a relaxing game with very comfy theme, music and art style. You only really use the mouse so if you can only use one hand this game works fine for that too. I finished this game in about 20 hours over 2 weeks. 20€ Price is to be honest a bit steep for a game that doesn't really have super much re-playability so if you find it on sale for even 15€ or less I'd recommend buying this game, it is very evident the developer put much effort into this game and you can feel the love that went into it. Thank you Niceplay games, I thoroughly enjoyed this product.

Eh. It starts okay. Fun for an hour or two. It gets repetitive fast and the game feels like busy work rather than having fun. For some reason, I thought I would be mixing ingredients into potions in a more typical sense, combining herbs and whatnot to make unique potions. What I didn't know buying this, but I do now, is the "alchemy" (if you can call it that) is a glorified minimap minigame where you move around a map to collect powerups. Ingredients have different movement methods, but you can quite literally make any potion using any ingredients - the efficiency of your movement is the only thing the ingredient choice changes, and what determines if something is good or less good - but it's all super subjective. Your potions don't really matter, your ingredients don't really matter, and the alchemy is just moving around a map. Know what game actually has good alchemy? Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. The alchemy minigame is actually alchemy. Maybe that's a crazy stance to have thinking a game called "Potion Crafter" where the entire game is alchemy would actually have you do alchemy.

I *really* wanted to like this game. I like the premise and the music, and found the customer dialogue entertaining. But the actual gameplay is one-note and tedious.

Potion Craft seems interesting at first but gets boring and unfulfilling quickly. - There is no main plot- only a list of goals that boils down to getting better and unlocking the next thing. I was hoping there would be some choices to be made and puzzles involving doing research and potion crafting. Unfortunately all we get are samey clients that tell a few lines about what potion they need and why. They never return creating a longer story line. There is never a choice in what you give them resulting in different outcomes. In theory there is a morality system but that is just window dressing. It only changes the reason a client wants a potion - not much else. - There is no fail state. Management elements are very minial. There is no upkeep. No taxes to be paid, no equipment that breaks down. Just water the garden, gather herbs, brew potions. You don't have to be efficient. Wasting resources only means that certain things will take longer to accomplish. - The main part of the game is a navigational puzzle. Depending on which ingredients you use you will travel a different path on an "alchemical map." There are walls you need to avoid because they break your potion. There are whirlpools that suck you in and teleport you somewhere nearby. There are experience points scattered around that you can collect. Lastly there are potion effects that you can put into your potion by "parking" your marker as close to the center of that effect's marker. The closer you are the stronger effect you will get (which basically means more money from the customer). You can make the paths more or less efficient by using different ingriedients and tools. Sometimes, some customers pay extra if you use a particular ingriedient or avoid a partricualr ingriedient. Other times they want more than one effect in a potion. Once you create a potion you can save that recipe to quickly brew it without playing this navigation game. You can also use that recipe to continue brewing from where that particular recipe ended. This is useful when there are several paths on the map to explore. Very quickly this part of the game becomes cumbersome. I wish this whole brewing part was in form of a mathematical or logical mini-game instead of this long and tiresome travelling on a map. Some ingriedients create some crazy paths for you to travel, while other ones teleport you to the end of their path. You can use tools to manipulate your path in certain ways (like make it longer with mortar and pestle, or heat the pot to use the whirpools). Unfortunately this is not enough. - There are no difficult choices. You will always get what you chose on the alchemical map. There is no way to gain adverse effects by using risky ingredients. For example there could be ingredients that would allow you to travel through walls but that would raise toxicity of a potion. There could be special rules that raise toxicity of a potion or add a bad effect when you use a certain ingredient twice in a row. Unfortunately it doesn't matter which ingredients in what order and combination you use. What matters is what path on the map you create. I see a missed opportunity here. I wish there was more to this game. I like the graphical style and the general idea. Unfortunately there isn't much of a game here. It wouldn't be a problem if there was some interesting story but there is none either.

Not a bad game in its core, but after certain point it gets really tedious and boring, crafting some advanced stuff is more of a chore than fun. My biggest gripe is the pixel hunting on the map. Some game mechanics are not explained properly and I absolutely hate to google it, it just breaks the immersion. Can't sell stuff in batches. When buyin seeds from merchants I can't see which seeds are planted already, only by going back to the garden, which is just another chore. In mid and late game the inventory is cluttered with ingredients and other stuff. The game is fun for first few hours and that's not enough for 20€, the asking price is somewhat justified by the complexity of the game, but I simply don't enjoy it, that's it.

Good game, but not without its flaws. All achievements took me 27 hours, may be less or more for you. Good Points: -Can play one handed; accessible -References to other games of similar setting -Fun take on alchemy that other games can't begin to compare to -Gameplay rewards patience and creativity -No one solution to a problem, make you own -Thematic music that helps you get into the role you play -Recipes can be saved to make your mid-late game simpler -Lots of optimization and fine tuning to be had -Some customers have exceptions for how to make a potion, some are fun -No time limit on customer interactions, go at your own pace -Craftable ingredients with game-changing effects Bad Points: -Gameplay & music can get repetitive -Progression is on a bell curve. Lots to start and end, not a lot in the middle. -Doesn't reward players who don't want to revisit/optimize recipes -Some customer exceptions are unreasonably difficult to comply with; sorta like irl service -Late game ingredients are ridiculously involved ----- Overall it's a good, cozy, game whose audience is definitely intended to be the super casual type. Literally the perfect game for a nerdy parent, mom or dad. If you're shooting for all achievements like I did, then prepare yourself for a gnarly end game, Maybe I just suck at video games, but it literally took me over an hour just to make a single potion for the final craftable ingredient. One of those things where the challenge and reward is too little too late in the games progression to make sense.

Strangely addictive. The game must be off-gassing something from all this stuff that I'm grinding in the mortar...

A bit repititive but very calming and addicting

Basically what every other negative review says. Starts really strong, but after 4 hours get's grindy and stale veeeeery fast. To the point that I'm not inclined to play anymore at all

This feels like a mobile game on PC. It starts off interesting but very quickly gets dull and repetitive. The only reason I have so many hours is because it was my flavor of the week for time wasting while working. In no world is this worth $20. If you love grinding, wait for it to go on sale for like $5

I haven't played for too long just about 4h or so but I quite like this game and will play more in the future !! I get a little confused on how to make some potions sometimes but thats just because I'm a very forgetful person!! so if u are as well get ur notes!! I found it helped me and wiki also helps!

Pretty fun game. While the game does have a chance to become repetitive, the game introduces challenges to get you brewing potions instead of relying on the recipe book.

The game always looked fun but becomes incredibly tedious. The big progression comes when you buy stuff from merchants but they seemingly never show up. Its been 4 hour and I'm still waiting to fix my alchemy machine, I have no plants because I didn't have money for seeds the first time the guy showed up, now he never comes back. Mapping the routes for potions seems neat at first but much of the game play is jiggling a mouse to mortar then stir only to be off by half a pixel and miss your potion quality target. I assumed this was a more relaxing game not a pixel hunt. I assumed there would be upgrades for potion accuracy or nudging your potion to the right spot but everything is geared for more/less grinding. There is an amazing thin line you can see which points to the potion source which can use to adjust your route but even then you if you are off by a pixel you have to start all over. I don't think its a terrible game but found it way to frustrating to continue playing or recommend.

It gets a bit tedious but it's fun and relaxing

It's a very fun game, I like that I can take my time with it so I can tinker with recipes as much as I like. Also, I think the art style is pretty.

It’s a casual game, like Stardew Valley. Very simple, basic, and easy to understand, but there are challenges when figuring where are the potions and what ingredients to reach it. Overall, I had fun and enjoyed playing it.

I love cooking up food and potions in games , this game is great fun.

The gameplay is very addictive and while it can be a little tough sometimes to figure out what a customer wants, you'll figure it out. The only real problem for me is that there comes a point where you need some very specific ingredients to get to the next set of potion types. I'm sure if I played longer those ingredients would become more available, but I felt kinda gated.

Neat concept and executed well. I would not recommend it to me-of-the-past because while everything seems very good at first, I found the gameplay becoming increasingly tedious as time went by. Firstly, as you get farther to the edges of the map, to make a new potion, you will continually find yourself repetitively grinding ingredients and stirring the pot monotonously just to travel to where you want to go. It is interesting at the start, but as you quickly buy more seeds and plant them, there is no real challenge to it. Secondly, you cannot grind multiple things at once. Even if I know exactly what ingredients I want to use, I cannot batch process. Why can I use the fire to make stirring more efficient at the cost of starting the whirlpools (which actually can also be skillfully used to position), but I cannot do a similar such thing for grinding? In order to get anywhere on the map when I want, I am forced to create specific "saved recipes" which are not even for potions and are just for locations. (I cannot use the ones for potions, because they save the effect applied. I cannot just leave each recipe withut the effect saved, because then I cannot craft five at once, which is very important to do as you will save 50% of the ingredients.) All of this wouldn't be a problem if I could just use multiple "saved recipes" one after another to move my potion on the map, but I cannot. If I attempt to activate a second saved recipe, it tells me I must cancel my current potion and reset it to the center first. Thirdly, the progression is tedious because the sellers only come when they want, and even then, only after you meet certain milestones. It leads to annoyance where when you are missing a single achievement, the game will not let you progresss. Then when you complete it, people are asking for potions that you can't even reach reliably because the game has suddenly unlocked your ability to plant teleporting crystals on the same turn as people want you teleporting around after spending five minutes clawing your way to the edge of the known universe to make them a cool potion. If a vendor has a price hike on what you need, then you get to wait an unknown number of days until they come back. There's technically a barter system, and about two-fifths of the tech tree is dedicated to that, but you never really lack for money and there's no time pressure, so really there's no point in engaging with it. There are whole upgrade trees to make bartering faster, when really you would make more money per minute just by going next day. Annoying. I really liked the garden and the alchemy station though. Overall a lot of room for great progression, but locked behind annoying time and achievement gates and then you are overloaded when you pass certain gates. Unfortunate. I still like this more than Potionomics, since that was more boring and had unnecessary time pressure.

If you like cozy games with a nice design, this is it. 10/10. What the hell is that mysterious person

fun lil potion making game! very cozy, engaging, and has a really nice art style!

The graphics are so nice and the idea is super cool. However, this game just wasn't my vibe. I love the whole set up and rotating through rooms and the garden. The mixing ingredients part I enjoyed, but I was a little confused on the whole map link. Even, though it wasn't for me, I still recommend checking it out.

Lots of nice slow and methodical fun. The careful crafting of recipes on the map is so much fun. It's like geometry on hard mode.

I highly recommend this game to those looking for a focused and relaxing experience. The repetitive tasks of an alchemist/shopkeeper combine with the joy of new discoveries and unique potential combinations, balancing gameplay well. Interesting side characters (vendors), a small but customizable workspace, and a rewarding gardening mechanic pair wonderfully with the soft fantasy aesthetic. In Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator everything feels earned, from new recipes to knicknacks and wall decor. Fans of life sims may find the breadth of tasks and interactions available somewhat underwhelming, however its charm and cozy pace make this game a refreshing addition to the Simulation library. Advance at your own pace, earning experience from exploring the 'potion map' and/or by following the 'Alchemist's Path' - an in game guide perfect for less laid back players.

[h1][b]Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator[/b][/h1] [i]Important premise: the following review is based on my personal experience. Everytime I write a review, I try to be as objective as possible, in order to not let my personal tastes taint the objective quality of the product.[/i] [h1]Graphics[/h1] Good graphics quality, in line with expectations. [b]Score: 7 / 10 [/b] [h1]Narrative[/h1] The main story is valid and offers an adequate "pretext" to justify the gameplay. The various characters are well written, and there is also a proper amount of customers. [b]Score: 6.3 / 10[/b] [h1]Gameplay[/h1] Despite the game tries in many ways to keep the gameplay fresh (through quests, special requests, new purchases, legendary recipes, alchemical machineries to repair and so on), unfortunately it fails to compensate for the undeniable repetitiveness of the main game mechanics: potion crafting, that has almost no variety and development, regardless of the progresses and discoveries the player can achieve throughout the campaign. [b]Score: 5 / 10[/b] [h1]Sound[/h1] Good sound quality, in line with expectations. [b]Score: 7 / 10[/b] [h1]Music[/h1] There are several soundtracks that are certainly adequate to the genre and to the atmosphere the game wants to instill. [b]Score: 7.2 / 10 [/b] [h1]Overall[/h1] Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this product at the moment, due to a relevant flaw: the repetitiveness of the main game mechanics (potion crafting). If there should be any changes in the future, I'll gladly modify this review to adapt it to the current state of the software, which, beyond that flaw I mentioned, is definitely a valid product. [b]Score: 2.9 / 5[/b]

I like this game it's fun trying to get through the Alchemy map. but it can be very tedious and i wish there were save points on it as saving the recipes you make just isn't doing it. they do save your spot but then they save the potion you made at the time to which can be a whole bunch of potions in one depending how far you traverse the map. their needs to be a better save option for the alchemy map. but other then that its a nice game.

Bad economics, a little storytelling, extremely good potion making. The new update makes salts and minerals very cheap from mid game, now players can afford brute-force any recipe. The most fun part though, I think, is still making perfect potions out of simple ingredients with technique. There're recipes and videos before the major update made me think WTF and how is that possible. Very beautiful.

Not bad but it began to feel like a chore after a while. Also the haggling mini game is not fun at all.

Very cozy little puzzle game with super satisfying progression

Very chill game, but falls off by the endgame. There's not much content, and endgame recipes are very tedious and not extremely engaging, overall balance is a bit off too. Still, pretty good for the first 10 or so hours of chill relaxing gameplay.

For the first hour, I wasn't sure if this game was going to be for me. I've come to really enjoy it though. It's very cozy and I love the art style. Definitely worth getting on sale.

Fun and low effort game to past the time. Art style is really nice as well.

Very beautiful art style, and a relaxing game experience!

its a pretty good game. its calm, relaxing, entertaining.

The art style is great, it's not like any other game i've played. Very unique and addicting ended up playing for 13 hours in 2 days. Would recommend

A surprisingly deep yet peaceful experience that perfectly replicates that exact experience of what would happen if Walter White was isekai'd.

Really solid crafting game. New elements are introduced at a reasonable pace to add complexity and variety. Really well executed original game mechanics. Also doesn't endlessly increase difficulty or grind. There is a final chapter, and then you can continue to roleplay if you want, but the core "story" doesn't stretch endlessly with excessive grind to keep you playing. Just an all round solid crafting game that has me impressed.

want to chill from hard working day and play something nice and calm and fun then this is ur game

The game seems simple, just brew potions and expand your business. The more complex the potions, the more difficult it gets to reach them with various ingredients that have different properties. It feels very rewarding but also calming, there's not too much pressure that keep it motivating simply to calm down. One of the indie game gems available here!

It's fun, I like talking to characters like I'm some old shop owner and I don't have FOMO when I play, unlike gacha games where I have to stress about events and limited characters. I like going on my own pace as it doesn't stress me out. I'd recommend this game if you want to take a breather from all the chaos around you, whether it be work, school, or even from your own thoughts, to me that is, it's fun to let frustrations out once in awhile by talking at the customers and trash talking them for not taking the potions you give(⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠) it makes me laugh and forget troublesome stuff Sorry if my English isn't good since I absorbed it from YT most of the times other than my classesಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ PS: Though I don't know if others will like it so I'm on the 50/50 on recommending it since I haven't played in a while from like 1.0 or something, I can't remember, I came back and noticed some things here and there, like the ability to water plants and a builder with being able to decorate too.

Great little game. Emphasis on "Little": After you understand how the map and the herbs work (specially the system to find the right herb) it becomes a little repetitive, and it doesn't take you a long time before beating the game. It beat in 20h with a few to spare (waiting for the seeds to create my perfect cave, they didn't come). I recommend it if you're looking for 15-20h of cozy fun. No more than that.

Game is out for 3 years now and honestly, A LOT MORE can be added into the game, its addicting as fuck but the lack of updates will be the only killer to this game. Add in more content, new potions, new ways to brew potions, etc. Overall, best to buy it on sale if you're still hesitant to buy it at all. Gameplay loop and replayability is great.

Overall this game was a lot of fun, I loved the style and the mechanics were really unique! It took me about 20 hours to 100% the game and while there are some areas that could be improved it was generally relaxing, a lot of fun and I thoroughly enjoyed the vibes. I would recommend for anyone looking for something chill. :) Pros: - Relaxing - No Time limit - Unique visual style and mechanics Cons: - A little repetitive - I managed to 100% without unlocking/using all ingredients/crystals/salts which made them kinda obsolete. For any devs reading my suggestions for improvement would be: - More variation with the watering mechanics, perhaps some plants only need to be watered every other day and grow every other, some may need more or less water than others etc. - More incentive to use the other potion bases, the custom potions needed for the legendary salt/crystal recipes are often easier to make in the base map than the others. I really enjoyed how each map had a unique mechanic and layout I just wish there was more incentive to use them!

I've owned the game for 24hrs and have spent 9hrs on it. Probably the best game I've bought for this cheap in awhile(on sale for $5)

a fun cozy game to relax to and play. seems simple at first but the more you progress the more complicated it becomes. love the art and customization. it also has lots of good quality of life features in here that keep it from being a chore

absolute joy for you chemistry nerds and puzzle solvers. I love finding new ways to make a potion better/cheaper and to add variety to the larger, more complex crafts! The skill tree is an awesome component and the garden is a neat challenge in space and inventory management.