Potionomics

I got this game while it was on sale (I think from Humble Bundle) for about 50% off. I think at that price it was well worth playing and it made it easier to overlook some of the more annoying aspects of the game. The game really shines in terms of characters and writing. The story isn't exactly complex -- it kind of felt like it would be a good game for kids if there wasn't a dating element to it -- but it does have a good sense of humor and a wide variety of fun characters. There's some quality of life issues that I think need to be resolved, such as how annoying it is to upgrade equipment. A lot of the ingredients felt like of pointless to me, especially when potions didn't get nearly as complex as I thought they would. Some of the gameplay elements, like custom orders or specific shop keepers, felt a bit useless. If you want to play this on the steam deck, I will warn you that when I played the game launched in a really weird resolution and I had to look up a guide on how to fix it. The game controls really well but this game drained my battery insanely quickly and made the machine heat up super fast (I ended up playing it while sitting in front of my air conditioner.) Overall, pretty good game. If its on sale, I think its definitely worth snagging.

This game is super charming! The characters dialogue and dynamics are well laid out and the story is charming and cute! If you've played Recettear then it has a similar sort of game layout! It does have the rougue-like component of restarting if you fail, and there are some randomized/chance elements to resource gathering. but it's pretty easy-going! Just make sure you have your competition potions set to the side early on and it's pretty breezy! I haven't finished my play-through just yet! I will say, that coming to the end of the playthrough potion making can feel a little grindy, but the hard work sure pays off! Team Cormac ftw.