Life simulation games have been springing up all over the place and for good reason as players can’t seem to get enough of them. Many of them focus on farming but if you’re looking for one that is more focused on brewing potions then let me introduce you to Potion Permit from publisher PQube and developer MassHive Media. Potion Permit will have you moving to the town of Moonbury to help cure someone in need. Here is my review of the PlayStation 5 version.
Potion Permit’s story takes place in the small town of Moonbury. The residents of this town are wary of the ways of the outside world and prefer to do things their own way, until something happens that is and their way isn’t cutting it. The Mayor’s daughter has fallen ill and their efforts to cure her have failed. Having no other choice, they request help which is where you come in. The Capital sends their Chemist which is you to help solve this matter and that’s where the game picks up. As you move into town the residents are wary of you and it’s up to you to build trust with them and maybe convince them that things outside of their community might be worth opening up to.
Potion Permit had a lot of things about it that I liked and quite a few that I didn’t but let’s start with the good. You’ll start off by naming your character and choosing to be a man or woman. You’re job is to look after the people of the town and cure them of any sickness which you’ll do in the clinic next to your house. You’ll start off each day in the morning and you’ll need to check in to see if anyone needs help. Each patient will have different medical issues that you need to diagnose and once you figure out what it is you’ll head to your home to brew up a potion to cure them. Brewing potions is fun as there are many different recipes and the mini-game you play to brew them is sort of like playing Tetris. Once you brew the potion, you’ll give it to the patient and once you make them better, your relationship with them will improve.
To brew those potions though you’ll need materials which you’ll need to go out and harvest using tools like an axe, sickle, and hammer. The axe is used to collect wood from trees, hammer is used to break stones into smaller rocks, and the sickle is used to hack plants. This is where one of the parts of the game I didn’t enjoy so much came in and that is just how much time you spend having to collect these resources. I easily spent hours having to collect materials and it got pretty repetitive after a while. You also only have so much stamina to use in a day and once it runs out that day ends. Because stamina is used when using your tools you can easily find your days passing by pretty fast.
When you’re not collecting materials or working to cure someone you can spend your time going around town and getting to know the thirty characters. You can build your relationship with each character and each one was fun to get to know. I liked how they all had their own unique look to making it easy to identify them at a glance after some time playing. You can even enter into relationships with people but you can’t marry anyone in the game which was a bummer. Even still, I enjoyed creating friendships with each character regardless. You can also spend time fishing, soaking in the water, buying furniture, opening up new areas, and more. This game can easily last you a couple dozen hours or more should you enjoy the gameplay loop. One last thing I want to mention is that I encountered a variety of bugs while playing including characters disappearing among others. I didn’t have anything game breaking but they were annoying and hopefully some patches will help smooth things out.
Potion Permit is an enjoyable life simulation game about helping people but one whose gameplay loop might get tiresome to some players. You have to spend a ton of time farming for resources and money to unlock things and that can wane on you in the long run. If you find the loop engaging however, then you’ll find a game with some great characters to get to know and a charming art style to look at.
*Potion Permit is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. PlayStation 5 version reviewed. Review copy provided by PQube for this review.
Potion Permit
$19.99
Pros
- Enjoyable story with a lot of interesting characters to build relationships with
- Charming visuals
- Brewing the different potions is fun
Cons
- Has some annoying bugs and glitches that need fixing
- Grinding for materials and money
