Potionomics: Masterwork Edition Review: Brewing Up Some Love

Love is a complicted emotion, that not everyone can easily grasp. We as a society have mythologized Love as Much as we could. Even I am not immune to this phenomenon, as romance in games is something that I look forward to.

So, when it was announced that Potionomics would be receiving a new definitive version, I was excited to finally jump into the world of potion making.

Inheriting a Dumpster

Potionomics: Masterwork Edition puts players in the role of Sylvia, who has always wanted to Run a potion shop just like her uncle Oswald. So, when an accident takes his life, he decides to leave the shop to Sylvia. Excited at first, she decides to rush to the town of Rafta to take over the shop.

However, it isn’t long before Sylvia finds out that her uncle borrowed a small fortune and never payed it back. So, after a small panic attack she finds an owl, who is…conveinently named Owl. He gives her the plan to win the local potion-making competition. Should she win this, the prize money would be enough for her to pay back her uncle’s debt. And now, it’s a race to try and save her uncle’s legacy.

Mix It Up

The setup to the story is great and gives the player a good reason to learn the system. Especially since the first boss, Roxanne, Makes a great first villain. However, after the setup and some scripted events the story falls to the wayside. Instead, most of the character interactions will come from the character hangouts.

These hangouts will consume time and a rank up will reward players with a new card, thus giving a bit of a reason to hang out with people instead of running the shop all day. The people that Sylvia befriends also unlock new services. For example, one of the first characters, Quinn, runs a small ingredient shop. Their cards will also feature a more aggressive play style forcing opponents to watch themselves.

The other important character, Mint, is a beginner hero that Sylvia can hire. This is the most important service as Mint will return with new ingredients. These can then be used for potions or given to quinn to upgrade their stock. These services are not reliant on their friendship ranks so players that don’t want to befriend or romance those characters won’t be at a disadvantage outside of maybe a new card.

That Shop Won’t Run Itself

Minding the shop is split into two separate ideas brewing potions and haggling customers up. Brawing potions is simple but difficult to master. To do this, players will throw ingredients into a cauldron. This will determine the amount of ingredients and Megamins for a potion.

These two items determine what potion and quality of said potion. Eventually, you’l cauldrons will allow more of these vital components. The quality and type of potions also take time to finish brewing. Once done, the player can sell their potions or give then to mint to help her get further in a dungeon.

If you decide to sell, you’ll be thrown into a deck building mini game, with the goal here being to raise the price before the customer walks out on Sylvia. This mini game is fun and while it can be daunting the game makes sure to start the player with a deck that is good enough. However, once the first boss starts players will want to improve that initial deck or learn the ins and outs of potion making to overpower the boss.

A New Way to See

So, one thing that is highly impressive is the visual representation of the charters. Each design is clearly recognizable and the 3D models are very expressive. These models take advantage of the visual novel presentation. The models twist and turn showing themselves off.

This level of polish is exciting to see in this style of storytelling. Furthermore, the Masterwork Edition added voice acting to most major cutscenes. So, when you combine those with the expressive 3D characters, it really helps with the immersion, and I’ll be honest, when I started to play, I simply couldn’t put the game down.

Please, Come Again!

Now, on the topic of replayability, after an initial playthrough, you might wonder if there’s any reason to replay the game. And the answer is a resounding yes. There are a few options as each character can be romanced, and players can choose to romance only one character in a play trough or all of them.

This allows players to choose their amount of replays that they would like to play for romance. Outside of this, the gameplay is intriguing for those that love deck building titles.Even I started to work shop ideas with the available cards I had. So, players will be able to-ind out what style of play they prefer and map out a deck to acher’ve that.

Closing Time for a Great Day Tomorrow

Potionomics: Masterwork Edition is a great title for those looking for a casual time. The mechanics are simple to grasp with a small learning curve, but mastering them is time well spent.

This is an easy title that you can get yourself lost in. And while a speed run might be hard to do. And with the added features of the Masterwork Edition, it really gives the game an extra life to each playthrough, so you should definitely pick this game up if you’re able, whether you’ve already played the original game, or are picking this definitive edition for the first time.