Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator (NSP, XCI) ROM

Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator is a video game created by Russian independent developer niceplay games and published by tinyBuild in 2022. Described as an “atmospheric management simulator set in a medieval fantasy world”, Potion Craft is a management simulation game in which players operate a store producing and selling potions using alchemical ingredients.

Upon release, Potion Craft received praise from critics for its novel and intuitive crafting mechanics and was nominated for several awards at the 2023 Independent Games Festival. An alchemist simulator immerses you in the art of potion-making through hands-on interactions with tools and ingredients. Take charge of your entire shop: devise new recipes, attract customers, and indulge in unlimited experimentation.

Just bear in mind, that the entire town relies on your skills. Devise your potion blueprint, grind ingredients, and meticulously blend them in your cauldron. Manage coals, boil, and stir. Introduce the base—water, oil, or perhaps something unconventional. Bravo on your inaugural potion! Found it easy to learn? Now, embark on mastering the craft!

Strategically plan your path on the Alchemy Map to combine diverse effects. Exercise common sense; a market for a poisonous healing potion is unlikely… or is it? Daily, customers flock to your store seeking solutions. Your choices in selling potions yield consequences.

Attract guilds, befriend or feud with notable figures, accumulate wealth and influence, and one day, determine the fate of the entire town. Every alchemist requires ingredients. Purchase them from itinerant merchants; though pricey, adept haggling might save you some coin. Alternatively, nurture your own!

Yearning to give your finest potions a distinct appearance? Go ahead! Modify bottle shape, label type, icon, and colors. Bestow a custom name and label description. Arrange your unique potions meticulously on shop shelves and tables—or playfully toss them around. We won’t dictate; just revel in the fun!

GAMEPLAY

In Potion Craft, players manage the day-to-day operations of a potion-selling business, with the user interface of the game representing the rooms of the potion-seller’s home. In the business simulation aspect of the game, players are required to create potions that meet the needs of customers visiting the shop; for instance, a player may need to create a healing potion for a visitor with a headache.

Players can haggle upon the selling price of potions using a minigame, with funds being used to purchase ingredients from sellers and record more recipes for potions. The game also features a reputation system, which is affected if the player offers customers the wrong type of potion or sends the customer away. The game features a daily gameplay loop, with several customers visiting the shop once a day, requiring players to meet the customer’s needs or turn them away before they can progress to the next day.

Players create potions by grinding ingredients in a mortar and pestle and mixing them in a cauldron. These actions plot a course on a map, with potions acquiring certain properties when aligned with specific locations on the map. The choice of ingredients and the extent to which they are ground and mixed affects the direction of the course. The map is enshrouded, requiring players to use different ingredients to explore and identify new effects.

Closer alignment against locations of potion effects creates stronger potions, which may be requested by customers or grant players higher sales. Players can also source a limited number of ingredients from a garden for additional resources once a day. Progression in the game spans across ten chapters, each marked by milestones in which players must perform more complex actions such as creating and selling more difficult potions to customers.