Potionomics Reviews

I loved this game so much. It was cute and fun, while having a bit of stress from deadlines and time management. All of the characters in this game are so expressive and fun to watch, their dialogues all felt uniquely them as well. Loved the little potion seller reference too. Great game!

The best cozy story game I have ever played, hands down. The deck building is interesting and strategic. Running a potion shop is fun. The characters are quirky and lovable. Visually incredible. The soundtrack is an 11/10 (shout out to the incredible composer Greg Nicolett). I couldn't recommend this game more!

I expected better. Its quite linear and can get screwed by the RNG on needing better ingredients before the game over that happens each compitition phase that you are required to win.

I'd like to give this game a positive review for reasons mentioned everywhere else, but I stopped having fun about haflway through. What I liked: The visuals are great, soundtracks works well, voice acting really brought it all together. The trading minigame is pretty addicting. What could be improved: The UI could use some work, buttons are sometimes unresponsive, and you can't go to the menu when traveling, which would be useful to adjust volume. Quinn needs a "Submit all" button when expanding shop. Ingredients are often difficult to drag and drop in the square cauldron. Being able to designate and sort potions "for sale" and "for adventures" would tremendously help with managing inventory. Voice lines sometimes cut off too soon with autoplay, sometimes it doesn't continue. What I didn't like: The game starts to feel tedious at some point as there is so much to manage, and not much room to do what I like (bartering). I think some components could be simplified to focus on the key aspects of the game, such as gift giving, which really feels like a plain chore. Most importantly, the amount of potions and ingredients leads to decision paralysis, which makes it really draining. Having to make a specific potion can be a fun challenge, but making just something to sell is too simple with too many options. I really had to push myself to finish the game.

The game is amazing. Characters, music, visuals, gameplay - everything is top-notch, both separately and combined. The only two downsides are that the game gets tedious in the last 15 days or so, when you've done and tried everything you wanted, and the existence of ingredients with 4 and 5 magimins, which I haven't used ever. Do try the game if you haven't before. It's worth it.

I can't even describe how much I love this game 🧙❤️✨ (and I played it before they even added full voice acting)! The blend of [b]deck-bulding, potion brewing, shop management and narrative elements[/b] hits the perfect spot for me. Combined with what might be [b][i]the best video game soundtrack ever[/i][/b], Potionomics easily earns a spot in my list of absolute favourite games. Despite the cozy visuals, the gameplay can actually be quite stressful with the time management aspect, but honestly, if they hadn't implemented some need to rush, we'd all just be chatting up all the different and lovable characters all day long and never get to brewing. So yeah, you can go game over, but you can also just rewind time a little and then remember to focus on preparing for the upcoming competition a little more rather than on getting to date Quinn as fast as possible 😅

I went into Potionomics completely blind, and I was genuinely surprised by its sheer quality. It’s a surprisingly rich, stylish, and addictive experience that is full of personality. [h2]Visuals & Presentation[/h2] The animation is some of the most expressive I’ve seen in any game. Every character is bursting with personality, thanks to the expertly crafted animation, cute 2D art, and great voice acting. Facial expression, gestures, movement… they all work together to make the characters shine. [h2]Characters & Story[/h2] Every character is not only likeable but meaningfully tied to the world. They each have their own backstories and motivation that you uncover by spending time with them. Almost every interaction is voice acted, and there’s even an option to romance the characters… with a lot of choices available. The story is simple, but well executed, even with a few twists and turns. The main protagonist inherits a potion shop along with a crippling debt and must enter a potion making competition to pay it off. Which brings us to gameplay. [h2]Gameplay[/h2] At its core, Potionomics is a management sim with deck-building mechanics. Your time is limited each day, so you need to juggle potion crafting, gathering ingredients, managing stress, selling potions and even socializing. Spending time with characters earns you a new card for your deck, which you use to haggle with customers and boost profits. The haggling system adds a fun layer of strategy. However, outside of competitions, it often feels shallow. You can usually throw down any set of cards and get by just fine. The real challenge and fun comes during the potion competitions, where smart planning and a strong deck matters more. [h2]Flaws[/h2] While most of the game is enjoyable, there are a few sticking points. You can get screwed over in late game due to RNG, especially if you’re missing a key ingredient from limited sources. I couldn’t upgrade my final cauldron, because I was missing one specific ingredient. This nearly cost me my final competition, and only sheer luck saved my playthrough. Additionally, features like order fulfillment, marketing, gardening and enchantment never felt essential. I never struggled enough to feel the need to engage with them. [h2]Conclusion[/h2] But these things did not take away from my experience. The art, characters, and core gameplay loop kept me hooked, and I had a fantastic time all the way. It’s not perfect, but it's full of heart, and I’d absolutely recommend it to anyone thinking about picking it up.

I had to pull out a notebook to do math to figure things out/jot down combos when it came to potion making. 10/10 love this actually I wasn't a big fan at launch, but with the updates they've done its really enjoyable now

Started off fun, but gets exponentially more tedious after the first competition.

Amazing game with very few flaws: -Buying reagents in bulk is click intensive. -Mercenary/Chest loot is too random; in some playthroughs you can go full 10 days without finding all reagents. -No option to hug/kiss your romanced NPC again, after the initial cutscene (a tiny button for it wouldn't hurt). -Some reagents are functionally useless, outclassed before you even obtain them, though one may argue that serving as a red herring is a purpose in and of itself. -Custom orders after the initial week offer a pitifully low amount of money. They should instead use a formula like 5x the value of all potions included + moderate approval if done for signature NPCs. -"Perfect ratio" bonus during potionmaking of 2 stars should be re-worked imho, to 3% and lower error margin. The bonus for 1 star should be within 10% error margin.