While it might not seem like Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator has a lot with Nintendo’s Cooking Mama series, they do have some surprising similarities. Potion Craft definitely has enough unique game aspects that make it stand out from Cooking Mama and put it in its own category, but as with games of all stripes, similarities remain. In Potion Craft, players take on the persona of an alchemist and craft potions to sell to the townspeople. Players will have to learn to manage supplies correctly, but can also maintain their garden to have a steady stream of potion supplies each day.

Cooking Mama typically netted decent ratings between fans and critics, but it’s worth noting how stressful the game can be, especially if it’s someone’s first time playing. Potion Craft has a certain amount of trial and error with it, but there’s no clock counting down like in Cooking Mama. This makes for a more relaxed gaming experience, which kind of makes sense when considering that Potion Craft is about understanding nature and how to make elixirs with it. While Potion Craft is incredibly fun, it’s by no means a Cooking Mama duplicate and seems unique enough that players will continue coming back to make more and more potions.

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Potion Craft’s free demo is actually available on Steam right now, so players can already get an understanding about how the game mechanics will work and get a glimpse at what’s been done so far. The demo comes with a quick tutorial about how to operate the potion shop and the most important rooms in the shop. There’s a bedroom, where players click the bed to end the day; a garden that gives players new ingredients to work with; the crafting room that’s set up like a map; the shop where players interact with customers and merchants; and a basement that’s off limits for now but will be available in the full version.

When interacting with customers, it’s important for players to remember that they don’t always have to sell to the customer in front of them. Paying close attention to what they intend to use the potion for will determine if the sale will improve or lessen the potion shop’s reputation. It’s unclear what a higher reputation means for players just yet, as this is just a demo, but surely a good reputation will help players in some way.

The actual crafting of potions is interestingly rendered as well. Players start in the middle of a map and have to pay attention to what route the ingredients create as they’re added to the cauldron. A successful route will lead players to a potion, but an unsuccessful one will lead to a waste of ingredients and no potion. Experimenting with ingredients is key to creating new, creative potions, but players also need to know how to preserve supplies, too.

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The soundtrack to Potion Craft is actually very soothing, and definitely doesn’t lead to players feeling rushed to complete potions or interact with customers, which is different from the atmosphere created in Cooking Mama. In fact, players can leave the customers for as long as they want without penalty, because the goal of the game is to create potions. Aesthetically, the game is described as “inspired by medieval manuscripts and medical books,” which it definitely delivers on.

For now, the demo of Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator is available for free on Steam, with an expected release date sometime later this year. There will also be other features and ingredients added that are unavailable in the demo. While Potion Craft may seem like “Cooking Mama for alchemy,” it’s also so much more.

Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator has a demo available on Steam.

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