In Potionomics, you will find a beautiful game designed to mesmerize your senses with gorgeous character animation, fun deck-building, a thoughtful resource/time management system and a stellar soundtrack. Voracious Games have concocted the perfect blend of a visual novel with the strategy of a card-battler and a resource gathering sim. You play as Sylvia, a young witch fresh out of potion college, who just inherited her uncle’s store (and his debt – which she has to pay off). You learn the art of potion selling by forming relationships with an array of colorful characters, in order to unlock unique cards which are used to haggle with customers. You make potions by mixing specific ingredients based on their particular color/letter designation. These ingredients are gathered by adventurers whom you hire to go out into different biomes to harvest, or which you can purchase from other merchants. This cyclical nature is both a reflection of the game’s mechanics as well as its overall structure.

Sylvia’s story takes place on the island of Rafta, a vibrant storybook fantasy world full of magic, witches and anthropomorphic citizens, but also laced with familiar modernisms like social marketing, cellphones and bass rock’n bards. Her goal is to get out of debt, not by selling potions, but by actually competing in a series of (5) potion brewing contests held every 10 days. Each day is broken into 6 time segments, during which you have to prioritize what potions to make, what potions to sell, and which characters to “level up”, because every action takes time. While this timing mechanism isn’t quite debilitating, as in a more dynamic game like Invisible Inc., it nevertheless adds a strategic layer requiring you to literally plan your day. What often dictates this are the daily events – special random effects that give a positive or negative buff to potions, customers and environments.

The other strategy layer, and one of its core highlights, is haggling – selling your potions to customers. This is done through a very creative and impressive deck building system. Every time Sylvia levels up her relationship with a character, she unlocks specific playing cards unique to their personality or mercantile strategy. Even though every card is useful, and beautifully illustrated, there are certain builds and interactions that work better than others. While this is arguably the most fun aspect of the game, Potionomics isn’t designed like a CCG. There’s no endless mode where players can haggle with customers and test out various deck builds. You simply have to play with cards as you unlock them, often saving your progress before a sale.

Where Potionomics truly outperforms is in the character designs and animation. Everyone has so much personality and expression you literally feel like you are interacting with an animated movie. They even go so far as to animate characters speaking, even if no voice acting is involved. This could have drastically altered the narrative presentation, but its absence works to enhance the visual novel style. Instead we have an incredible soundtrack by film composer Greg Nicolett, whose score punctuates every story element and character in the game with movie-quality orchestration. Adding to this is a romantic element where Sylvia eventually has to choose whom to form a deeper bond with. While this doesn’t affect the gameplay in any way, it simply enriches the story and offers shipping fans an extra layer of fun in pairing Sylvia with...whomever the player desires...(Xidriel Rulz!)

Completing the circle is of course potion-crafting. This part of the game requires a lot of mathematical balancing in matching the proper ratio of ingredients to brew the maximum number and potency of potions, depending on the quality of your cauldrons. It can be very time consuming, especially from mid-to-late game when you’ve expanded your store to include 6 cauldrons and are preparing a batch before and after every daily action. Your experience may start to slow down, but the rich economy this game has to offer fully blossoms to the point where Sylvia can make even more money than the debt she owes.

Potionomics is an odd mix of familiar game mechanics; not entirely defined by any one, but each system adding to the overall design of the game’s identity. It’s a marvelous tale filled with beautiful characters, exquisite dialogue, heartfelt romance and a mystery that will have you enraptured until the very end. An absolute treasure of a game.

In [b]Potionomics[/b], you will find a beautiful game designed to mesmerize your senses with gorgeous character animation, fun deck-building, a thoughtful resource/time management system and a stellar soundtrack. [i]Voracious Games[/i] have concocted the perfect blend of a visual novel with the strategy of a card-battler and a resource gathering sim. You play as Sylvia, a young witch fresh out of potion college, who just inherited her uncle’s store ([i]and his debt – which she has to pay off[/i]). You learn the art of potion selling by forming relationships with an array of colorful characters, in order to unlock unique cards which are used to haggle with customers. You make potions by mixing specific ingredients based on their particular color/letter designation. These ingredients are gathered by adventurers whom you hire to go out into different biomes to harvest, or which you can purchase from other merchants. This cyclical nature is both a reflection of the game’s mechanics as well as its overall structure. Sylvia’s story takes place on the island of Rafta, a vibrant storybook fantasy world full of magic, witches and anthropomorphic citizens, but also laced with familiar modernisms like social marketing, cellphones and bass rock’n bards. Her goal is to get out of debt, not by selling potions, but by actually competing in a series of (5) potion brewing contests held every 10 days. Each day is broken into 6 time segments, during which you have to prioritize what potions to make, what potions to sell, and which characters to “level up”, because every action takes time. While this timing mechanism isn’t quite debilitating, as in a more dynamic game like [b]Invisible Inc.[/b], it nevertheless adds a strategic layer requiring you to literally plan your day. What often dictates this are the daily events – special random effects that give a positive or negative buff to potions, customers and environments. The other strategy layer, and one of its core highlights, is haggling – selling your potions to customers. This is done through a very creative and impressive deck building system. Every time Sylvia levels up her relationship with a character, she unlocks specific playing cards unique to their personality or mercantile strategy. Even though every card is useful, and beautifully illustrated, there are certain builds and interactions that work better than others. While this is arguably the most fun aspect of the game, [b]Potionomics[/b] isn’t designed like a CCG. There’s no endless mode where players can haggle with customers and test out various deck builds. You simply have to play with cards as you unlock them, often saving your progress before a sale. Where [b]Potionomics[/b] truly outperforms is in the character designs and animation. Everyone has so much personality and expression you literally feel like you are interacting with an animated movie. They even go so far as to animate characters speaking, even if no voice acting is involved. This could have drastically altered the narrative presentation, but its absence works to enhance the visual novel style. Instead we have an incredible soundtrack by film composer Greg Nicolett, whose score punctuates every story element and character in the game with movie-quality orchestration. Adding to this is a romantic element where Sylvia eventually has to choose whom to form a deeper bond with. While this doesn’t affect the gameplay in any way, it simply enriches the story and offers shipping fans an extra layer of fun in pairing Sylvia with...whomever the player desires...([i]Xidriel Rulz![/i]) Completing the circle is of course potion-crafting. This part of the game requires a lot of mathematical balancing in matching the proper ratio of ingredients to brew the maximum number and potency of potions, depending on the quality of your cauldrons. It can be very time consuming, especially from mid-to-late game when you’ve expanded your store to include 6 cauldrons and are preparing a batch before and after every daily action. Your experience may start to slow down, but the rich economy this game has to offer fully blossoms to the point where Sylvia can make even more money than the debt she owes. [b]Potionomics[/b] is an odd mix of familiar game mechanics; not entirely defined by any one, but each system adding to the overall design of the game’s identity. It’s a marvelous tale filled with beautiful characters, exquisite dialogue, heartfelt romance and a mystery that will have you enraptured until the very end. An absolute treasure of a game.