David Sanders
David SandersI’ve found myself reviewing a fair few games as of late that center around crafting potions and/or proving yourself to people who doubt your abilities. Potion Permit rather expertly combines both of these ideas into its central theme. The end result of this alchemical formula is a game that I enjoy a heck of a lot. Your character is a Chemist who’s been sent to Moonbury Island from the Medical Association located in the capital of an unspecified territory following an urgent request from Moonbury Island’s mayor.
As a Chemist, you’re basically both an alchemist and a doctor. You can examine patients to diagnose illnesses and maladies, then brew and administer potions that cure those issues. Before your arrival, Moonbury Island’s only source of health care was the local family of witch doctors, who tend to focus on homeopathic treatments instead of the more scientific methods employed by the Medical Association and its Chemists. The island’s current witch doctor hasn’t managed to cure a strange sickness the mayor’s daughter has caught. That’s why the mayor wrote a letter to the Medical Association asking them to send a Chemist.
On the surface, that might not sound so bad: The mayor of a small town has a sick child whom the local witch doctor can’t seem to treat, so the mayor contacts the territory capital and requests that a different type of health care practitioner be sent to investigate. The only problem is that the vast majority of Moonbury Island’s residents (especially the current witch doctor) dislike and distrust you from the moment you arrive on the island, through no fault of your own. Many in-game years ago, there was a catastrophic accident on Moonbury Island caused by another of the Medical Association’s Chemists.
This incident caused the extinction of most of Moonbury Island’s local plants. Those who call Moonbury Island home still haven’t forgotten that. Therefore, they assume that since you’re another Chemist from that same Medical Association, you’re going to do nothing but cause further harm. While this attitude of the townsfolk is understandable, they’ve effectively declared you guilty by association without a fair trial. This is why a significant part of Potion Permit’s story and core gameplay loop focuses on proving to the townsfolk that they can trust you, that you’re competent at your job, and that you are here to help.
With the confidence of the mayor and his wife, you set off with your old, rusty set of foraging tools to gather ingredients for your first few medicinal potions. Once you’ve collected everything needed for the time being, you’ll need to return to the cauldron inside your home to start brewing up some treatments. The potion-brewing process is the main aspect of Potion Permit’s core gameplay loop. Each different potion requires you to fill a specific grid of tetrominoes (also known as Tetris block shapes). That’s why every potion ingredient you can collect has a particular shape assigned to it.
That sounds easy enough, right? Use different ingredients to fill a grid of blocks, then brew the relevant potion. The catch is, you can’t rotate the specific tetromino shape assigned to any potion ingredient. This means you’ll have to rely on a huge array of different potion reagents to ensure you can fill any tetromino grid placed before you, no matter how complex or weirdly shaped it may be. You’ll also have to work within a certain limit of ingredients your cauldron can handle at once. You can upgrade your cauldron’s maximum capacity with the help of the local blacksmiths.
Another potential snag is that each potion ingredient represents one of four elements: Fire, Wind, Earth, and Water. Many potions will allow you to use any arrangement of ingredients of all four elements, but some of the more complex concoctions will only allow specific elements to be used. Even though I tend to struggle with filling tetromino grids quickly and efficiently, I like this aspect of Potion Permit. You’re a Chemist, so it seems fitting that your work requires creativity and more logical, scientific thinking. Thankfully, you can always remove ingredients you’ve added if you need to start a puzzle over.
Once you’ve brewed some basic potions, your first patient (the mayor’s daughter, Rue) will be moved to the clinic right next to your house. To (almost) everyone’s surprise and delight, you’re able to brew a potion that completely cures Rue’s illness pretty quickly and easily. The main person who’s unhappy about this outcome is the local witch doctor, Matheo. Matheo accuses you of having ulterior motives and maintains the belief that you can’t be trusted. I’m not sure whether he reacts this way because he’s upset by how handily you showed him up, but regardless, you won’t have to deal with him very often.
The fact that you quickly and easily cured Rue causes her parents to be more confident in your abilities. Rue’s father, Myer the mayor, then asks you to stay in town long-term so you can help all the townsfolk when they fall ill. You’ll need increasing levels of written permission to travel to more areas of Moonbury Island and expand your variety of available potion ingredients. Myer is the only person who can give you this permission and upgrade what it allows you to do. As you’ve likely guessed, this is where the “permit” bit of Potion Permit comes into play.
You’ll need money to do your best work as a Chemist, of course. As such, you’ll be paid by each patient you treat in the clinic and you’ll eventually be able to sell off any extra potions you brew. If you need a steadier source of income than that, you can sign up for part-time work at the church, the post office, and the police station in town. When you do this, you’ll be tasked with various mini-games that you’ll have to complete in a certain amount of time. Part-time work will net you a small amount of cash.
One of these mini-games brings me to one of the few things I dislike about Potion Permit, namely its lack of accessibility options in terms of controls. I haven’t tried Potion Permit’s gamepad controls, but I don’t like the potential difficulty some players might have in these mini-games when using keyboard controls. Working part-time at the church requires you to grind a certain amount of sacks of grapes, for which you’ll have to rapidly mash the “K” key. I’ve had considerable difficulty with this, and I can’t help but feel there has to be a more accessible control scheme for things like this.
Outside of that and a couple of other minor complaints, I really enjoy Potion Permit. My presence in its story makes me feel like I’m helping people and making a positive difference for Moonbury Island’s residents. I like to feel as though I’m needed and relied upon, and Potion Permit gladly fulfills that desire. If you’re interested in taking on the role of a Chemist from the Medical Association and won’t be hampered by certain missing accessibility options, Potion Permit is an easy recommendation.
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45 Potion Permit
$19.99
Pros
- The story lets you feel like you’re really helping people and making a positive difference.
- The core gameplay loop is varied enough to never really get boring.
- The story provides a pleasant sense of being needed and relied upon.
- The simplified gift-giving mechanic ensures you don’t need to remember many small details.
Cons
- The lack of more suitable accessibility options for certain mini-games is disappointing.
- Occasional awkward, unnecessary transitions in cutscenes when you need to talk to specific NPCs.
- Your pet dog is automatically assumed to be male and you have no opportunity to change that.
