Our associate SirBaronSand played the cute title of Alchemist: The Potion Monger. In the rest of the article, we present his impressions.
Upon first looking at the game's Steam page, looking only through the images and reading the description, I expected another average "Stardew Valley, but in a new way", but I was pleasantly surprised with all the elements of the game.
The game is seemingly laid back, with a simple visual style, basic combat mechanics, but very advanced potion crafting mechanics and the systems associated with them. The world is not big, but there is enough content for a very entertaining adventure full of plot and mystery. Postoji značajan broj vještina, recepata i opreme za izradu napitaka koje možemo dobiti i svaki puta je uzbudljivo kada možemo proizvesti nešto novo, ili olakšati proizvodnju nečega što smo jedva mogli proizvesti do tada.
At the start, we choose the difficulty of the game, there is only a choice of light and normal difficulty, and then we choose the character we play. All the characters in this world are humanoid animals and we choose one species from many. Character choice affects minor passive pros and cons, but can also greatly affect how easy or hard the game is.
Although the game is mostly simple, an interesting learning curve awaits us at the very beginning. When setting up our new house, naming our pet, a shiba inu dog, we start making our first drink. The game immediately takes us to several different menus where we learn the basics of alchemy: we look at potions, elements and processes.
Mixing the drink is simple in concept, the pot should contain only the elements that are necessary for the desired drink. The elements are divided into earth, air, fire and water, and each category has 16 elements, some of which have additional conditions. Potions can require between one and four elements, and ingredients have one to three elements on them, in rare conditions more. Using various tools, we move the elements of the ingredients, but we can process them only within the rules of those tools. We only have a few elements that we know at the beginning, and we discover more by giving them to our pet to identify. The dog we start with can only identify the elements of the earth, and through the game we discover other pets that help us identify the others. Putting the wrong elements in the pot can result in an unexpected drink for which we do not yet have a recipe, but most often it results in a small explosion and the loss of all its components. When we put the ingredients that make up a potion into a pot, we play a simple minigame of "drawing" shapes that come out in bubbles to improve the quality of the potion.
Throughout the game, we perform various quests, some related to the main story and some secondary, and with them we have a list of time-limited requests that changes daily. Also important NPCs have lists of potion packages that we can bring to them for various rewards. We discover new potions through quests, packages from NPCs, or buy them in various stores, and sometimes we find them in specific places, or hidden in boxes. In addition to all of the above, we can learn various skills that we can buy, get as a reward, or find. Skills affect various aspects and game mechanics from movement speed to earning potions (and maybe some secret mechanics). All skills require us to fulfill some condition to be activated and the conditions are often related to the fact that the skill will improve.
The game has a pleasant atmosphere most of the time, but there are constantly enemies that get in the way and get in the way, on normal difficulty the combat is not a big problem and it's very simple, we can hit or block the shots, so most of the combat comes down to moving backwards and swinging weapons. All other elements are related to our use of potions and possession of skills.
Almost all problems in the game can be solved with the right potion, some things of course can only be solved with a specific potion. Although we have a weapon and have several options available with which we can solve the problem, most of the tasks, hidden rewards and other things are most easily solved with a potion. They have various effects that significantly change our abilities, but also effects that can easily put us in a position from which we cannot easily get out. The game allows for creative approaches to some locations and there are very fun potion combinations that motivate the discovery of new elements in order to produce new potions as quickly as possible.
Possibly the biggest problem with the game is the rare, but occasional bugs that sometimes require a restart of the game to be solved, where sometimes some tasks do not progress, NPCs sometimes get stuck and sometimes there are minor problems with the menu. A minor problem in the early game is if we don't have money to buy new recipes, we don't have too many tools to creatively process ingredients, and we don't have ingredients for potions that are on the list (and maybe we can't find them right now), our only option is to do something else instead of solving those tasks, or go to bed to let the day pass until the list is refreshed with new requirements. The last minor thing that can be a problem is that it can only be saved by going to bed and passing the time until the next stage (day or night) and occasionally the game automatically saves beyond that.
All in all, the game was one of the more fun experiences, the plots really surprised me, and some potions were too fun. Each play session was extended with the classic “just one more turn” type of thinking, only it was “just one more potion/quest”. Mysteries in the world encouraged research and often every research was rewarded with something interesting or useful.
I would certainly recommend the game to fans of relaxing/pleasant games, but also to anyone who is interested in the topic of alchemy. The game provides interesting challenges, and the problems are almost negligible compared to the fun that the game provided. One of the plots can significantly affect the looseness of the game where the danger level occasionally rises, but I think it only added to the experience rather than detracting from it.
A copy of the game was provided by the publisher and development studio Art Games Studio S.A. for review purposes.
