For transparency sake I received a code for this game, but was told that I can review it however I want. So lets dive into the small indie game made by Art games studios S.A simply named Alchemist: The Potion Monger.
At the start you get to select between different anthropomorphic animals to become your character. They have minor stat changes between each others, like, for example, some have more health, others have faster movement speed (highly recommended) while others have longer lasting potion effects. Ultimately, they are minor differences that do not have a huge impact on gameplay (though I wouldn't recommend the bear due to their slow movement).
After choosing and naming both your character and your dog companion, the quirky narrator explains a bit about where you are, and what you're doing. You then start by packing up your furniture for your house, one of them being your cauldron, and different tools for potion making. After a while you get a visit from a locale shop owner, named Eve, who looks like a fairly shady wolf but is actually there to have nice small talk with you. This is when she recommends that you visit the locale town.
At this point is when you do more tutorials that teach you the very basic combat, gathering and what your dog can do to help, and then you are given the task to make a potion that makes you puke acid. This acid is then used to get through the vines that are stopping you from walking to the town.
The Gameplay:
Potion making is the main gameplay loop of the game, and you're taught that the different ingredients you find can have different aspects to them, and how when you process said ingredient you can make them become a different aspect. To make a potion you need to put into the cauldron the right amount and exact aspects. Once you do so a mini game starts where you draw the different symbols that appears in the bubbles from the cauldron. The better you perform at the mini game, the better potion is made and in return is worth more money.
Honestly this is where the main fun of the entire game resides. It becomes a puzzle to figure out what ingredients are needed, and how they need to be processed to get the desired potions you want to make. The potions themselves are a lot of fun, and can cause a lot of chaos. You have the potion that makes you puke acid (surprisingly effective killing tool against both enemies and regular towns folk), a potion that makes you jump very high, a potion that makes everything much heavier, and even straight up poison (that gets used in a side quest to destroy a farmer's crops).
Outside this gameplay loop you visit the town to get quests and requests for potions. These are mainly used to get money, which you can then use to buy upgrades or recipes for yourself, or extra furniture for the house. Also a considerable amount of time is spent exploring the world for ingredients and other secrets, so if you don't make a potion of speed fairly early on, it will become a bit of a slog to walk around (hence my recommendation of choosing a character with higher movement speed).
There are also different enemies you'll encounter while exploring such as slimes and wolves which conveniently also have more materials for the potion making process. Early you only have a stick and puking potions as your main tool for fighting (puking is really effective, just wanted to reiterate that). As the game progresses however, you will find more and more tools to take down the different baddies that stand in your way to become the ultimate alchemist, or the ultimate menace of the locale town. The game has sort of a morality system where you get the choice to do something bad or something good against the townsfolks. Both paths have a different set of rewards, and consequences, but the game incentivizes the player to experiment and preferably cause any amount of chaos they want. (Gotta make a living somehow!)
Closing thoughts
Personally I found the potion making process to be the most fun part of the game, and I do hope that the developers keep on expanding on that idea for a potential sequel or other game. That being said, the game just doesn't feel fully finished.
Don't get me wrong now, there is a full game there with a start to end, and with content to justify its asking price. However, as much as I like the cell shaded look of the game, it just feels a bit "off." The more I played the more it felt like the game needed just a bit more time on the presentation side of everything (in particular the eerie animals in town). It would also not have hurt to have more music in the game, as it mainly has one song on a constant loop. After a few hours it becomes fairly grating to the ears.
It's trying to go for a Goat Simulator chaos angle with its trailers, and what you can do in the game which has mixed results of fun; however, it is not exactly Grand Theft Auto (not that anyone would expect it to be), or other open worlds, or even Goat simulator levels of chaos you can cause like it tries to seem to be. I do appreciate the effort behind the idea, especially since it is fun to make people puke acid, but it falls short.
I personally would wait for a sale before giving it a try, but if you found the game interesting looking, and you're really hungry for a potion making game, then I would say give Alchemist the Potion Monger a shot! I would love to see the potion making mechanic expanded in a future game, with better presentation and more time spent on it. There is a good core idea here and hopefully Art games Studios will keep on working on improving it!
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