I imagine knowing that your main reason for getting up in the morning and going to work so that you can pay off debt isn’t the most pleasant feeling. However, that exact situation is the force that drives the story of Potionomics. In Potionomics, you play as Sylvia, a novice potion witch who suddenly finds herself expected to pay off a huge debt her recently departed uncle owed to a bank before his untimely demise. Sylvia faces the risk of being magically tracked wherever she might try to go, losing her shop, and being forced into mind-numbing work to repay that debt unless she can figure something else out.

When Sylvia arrives at the potion shop that will now serve as both her home and her workplace, she’s dismayed to find that the place has fallen into terrible disrepair. On the bright side, shortly after Sylvia enters the building, a companion who can help her sort out the messes that are both her new shop and her unexpected huge debt literally falls right out of the sky. Or rather, from the potion shop’s aged rafters. Enter: A talking, particularly well-educated, and wonderfully sarcastic owl who has the overwhelmingly creative name of — wait for it — “Owl.”

Owl informs Sylvia that her best chance at earning enough money to pay off her uncle’s debt is a potion-making competition that will, conveniently, commence quite soon. This competition will be held in individual stages which are spaced ten in-game days apart. The prize money awarded to the event’s winner is at least enough for Sylvia to fully escape her financial obligations, and maybe even live comfortably afterward. It’s up to you to help Sylvia use her potion-making skills to wow the judges during each stage of the competition and keep the encroaching debt collectors at bay.

To do this, you’ll need to enlist the help of several friendly locals, including: A potion ingredient vendor; a blacksmith; a carpenter; and the leader and members of the Heroes’ Guild. Some of these characters can help you acquire reagents to brew new and stronger potions, others can supply you with upgrades to your shop and your equipment, and all of them can teach you new techniques for haggling with potential customers if you choose your dialog options carefully. What’s more, it might interest you to know you can also romance virtually any of these important NPCs if you’re so inclined.

I would describe Potionomics as a combination of a life sim and a deck-builder. The former of those descriptors comes into play as you balance the time you have available each in-game day between traveling to visit any of those crucial NPCs I mentioned (whether for business reasons or just for social calls) and the processes of brewing and selling potions. The majority of potions you can concoct require at least a couple of hours to brew, which means you can productively fill that downtime by running errands and visiting friends. You can often accomplish both of those goals during each outing.

The deck-builder portion of Potionomics’ core gameplay loop takes over whenever you’re selling your potions to potential customers. Both you and your possible patrons have, what I call, “decks of tricks” you can play against each other. As you might expect, your goal is to earn as much money from each transaction as efficiently as you can, while your clients want to save as much money as possible while still getting the potions they want. You’ll have to haggle effectively and carefully, all the while trying to avoid getting too stressed out or losing sales altogether because your patrons become impatient and leave.

All the aspects of Potionomics’ gameplay combine in such a way that’s kept me enthralled and presented me with quite a bit of fun. While it can feel disheartening to lose any stage of the potion-making competition, which constitutes a “game over.” I find that these setbacks inspire me to return to an earlier save determined to figure out where I went wrong and try again. Couple this enjoyable gameplay with a sense of humor and overall atmosphere that greatly appeal to me, and I think you’ll see why I strongly recommend you give Potionomics a try.

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Potionomics

$24.99

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• The core gameplay loop and your objectives are easy to learn.
• Enjoyable, lighthearted atmosphere and sense of humor.
• Recent updates added voice acting alongside new difficulty settings and game modes.
• Failing doesn’t feel unavoidable or permanent.

Cons

• Exactly how you can quickly achieve each of your objectives might not be immediately clear.