Potion Craft is an alchemy and shop-management game developed by niceplay games and published by tinyBuild. You play as an alchemist running your own medieval-style shop, creating potions to fulfil the requests of customers who come through your door.
Its distinctive feature is the physical process of making potions. You grind ingredients with a mortar and pestle, stir and heat your cauldron, and navigate an alchemy map to discover different potion effects.
You then sell your creations, negotiate with merchants, develop recipes and decide how you want to run your business. The game originally entered Early Access in September 2021 and received its full release on 13 December 2022.
Key Features
Make potions by hand
Potion Craft gives the process of brewing a tactile quality. You grind herbs, flowers, berries, mushrooms and minerals, then mix ingredients and adjust the brewing process to create the effect you want. It feels more like working at an alchemist’s bench than selecting a recipe from a conventional crafting menu.
Discover new recipes
The alchemy map lets you experiment with ingredient combinations and navigate towards different effects. Discoveries can be recorded and used to refine your recipes, giving experimentation a real purpose. You can pursue effects that customers need or simply explore the possibilities of the system.
Run your own shop
Customers visit every day with requests for particular potions. You decide what to make and sell, manage your ingredients and earn money to develop your business. Your decisions can influence your relationships with customers, guilds and important figures in the town.
Grow or buy ingredients
You can obtain ingredients from travelling merchants or grow some of your own. Haggling can help you secure better prices, adding a small trading and resource-management element to the game. Planning your supplies becomes increasingly important as you develop more recipes.
Customise your potions
You can change the appearance of your potions by choosing bottle shapes, labels, colours and icons. You can also give your creations custom names and descriptions, then arrange them around your shop. This gives the game a creative side beyond the underlying brewing and business systems.
Choose your own approach
Potion Craft is a sandbox-style experience. You can concentrate on perfecting recipes, running an efficient shop, building relationships or experimenting with unusual concoctions. Its medieval manuscript-inspired artwork gives the game a distinctive look, with menus and illustrations that feel like the pages of an old alchemy book.
Who is Potion Craft for?
Potion Craft is an alchemy and shop-management game thatis likely to appeal to players who enjoy:
- Potion-making and alchemy
- Crafting and experimentation
- Shop and business management
- Resource management and trading
- Relaxed, methodical gameplay
- Medieval fantasy settings
- Hand-drawn and illustrated art styles
- Discovering recipes and completing collections
- Games where learning the mechanics is part of the enjoyment
It is especially suitable for players who enjoy the creative side of crafting and want a game built around one satisfying, detailed system rather than a large open world.
Platforms
- PC Steam
- Nintendo Switch
- PlayStation 4
- PlayStation 5
- Xbox One
- Xbox Series X|S
Full release: 13 December 2022 on Steam. The console editions launched later, including Nintendo Switch and PlayStation in December 2023.
Final Thoughts
Potion Craft is an alchemy and shop-management game that stands out because it makes the act of crafting the main attraction. Grinding ingredients, navigating the alchemy map and adjusting your brews are more involved than simply clicking a recipe, and that gives experimentation a satisfying sense of discovery.
The shop-management layer provides a reason to keep refining your skills, while custom labels and bottle designs let you add a personal touch. It is a focused game rather than a sprawling adventure, so its appeal depends on how much you enjoy mastering a particular system.
If you like crafting games where the process itself is rewarding, Potion Craft is well worth considering.
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