Potionomics (XSX) Review

Not quite the right mix

Potionomics: Masterwork Edition is quite a charming and engaging game developed by Voracious Games and published by XSEED Games. This expanded and enhanced version of the indie hit offers a delightful blend of potion crafting, business simulation, deck-building, and relationship-building. Whew, that is a lot of genres but somehow this game makes it work, for the most part that is.

Potionomics is set in the enchanting town of Rafta, and follows the story of Sylvia, a young witch who inherits her uncle’s debt-ridden potion shop. With the help of her wise owl friend, Owliver, and other residents, Sylvia will hone her potion-making skills, master the art of negotiation, and transform her humble shop into the most sought-after potion destination in town. This game jams packs some genres and tries to be a jack-of-all trades but if you weren’t aware, when someone does that, they become a master of none. For starters there is the potion crafting, which is how Sylvia will make her money. Players will brew a host of various types and will get ingredients by sending out heroes from the local guild.

MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $19.99

There is also a really big inference on relationship building and romance. Just like the usual cozy games that I play, players will be able to befriend the colorful residents of Rafta. Not only is this encouraged but its really a key to success in seeing the various backstories. Also, by being friends with certain characters players will get benefits for their shops as well. While romancing characters will add some additional narrative layers, it all plays much like the many other cozy type simulation games that have come out.

The other thing that’s typical in these games is the visual designs as Potionomics boosts a vibrant and enchanting graphical style that perfectly captures the whimsical nature of the story. Character designs are all charming and really expressive and each are fully voiced for the narrative portions. Truly one of the games strengths is its cast of characters. Each resident of Rafta is unique and each have their own personalities and stories. Also, I gotta say this game has a lot of clever and often hilarious dialogue which made for a good time.

But I got to say, the weakest part of the game to me was the actual card game. Fans of the podcast know that I love TCG and card games but for some reason I wasn’t able to get into the haggling game here. Players will haggle with each customer when they come in and play cards to boost the customers interests in the potion which will make them want to pay more. All the while players will have to finalize the sale before the customers patience runs out and they leave without spending any money. It’s a unique twist on the deck-building type games but I just never found it fun and instead would hurry past these segments in order to do pretty much everything else.

Potionomics: Masterwork Edition is a magical and quite charming simulation game that offers a really unique blend of deck-building, business simulation and relationship building. It has a pretty engaging story and its cast of characters is really fun, but I was never able to get into the deck-building, haggle battles that players need to play in order to sell their wares. I am certain that there are fans that will love this, but it just wasn’t for me, and by that, I mean the card game. I loved everything around it, just kind of bummed I wasn’t able to fully embrace the whole game.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.

Good
  • Great cast of characters
  • Fun relationship building and stories
Bad
  • Resource management can be difficult especially early on
  • I just wasn’t a fan of the haggling card game for sales
7.5
Good
Written by
Terrence spends his time going where no one has gone before mostly. But when not planning to take over the galaxy, he spends his time raising Chocobo and trying to figure out just how the sarlaac could pull Boba Fett’s ship with its engines firing FULL BLAST into it’s maw with relative ease; yet it struggled with Han Solo who was gripping *checks notes* SAND!