Potion Permit PC Review

Potion Permit is a real-time open-world crafting and gathering game designed by MassHive Media and published by PQube. Players take control of the newest chemist assigned to the Moonbury clinic. Past chemists and other staff have left the facilities in ruins, and it is up to the hero to rebuild everything into working order. As the previous employee’s botched things so badly, the town’s people are very wary of any chemist and will need to be won over.

Players fully customize their new chemist. This includes gender, skin color, hairstyle, eyes, and the color of their uniform and scarf. Players can name themselves and their trusty dog that assists in the adventure. Gender does not seem to determine NPC interactions or directly block off romances.

The left mouse button uses the current tool, while the right allows a quick roll for increased movement. Interacting with the dog uses a combination of O to call over, K to select a menu, and WASD to pick the selection itself. Players will need to keep the dog fed and show affection while maintaining their own energy by sleeping or bathing in a sauna. 

Players begin with three simple tools: an axe, a mallet, and a scythe. These are switched between with a quick flick of the mouse wheel. Each is used to gather up different types of materials around the map, such as hammering rocks or chopping down trees. As the story progresses, one can also craft new versions of these tools, which will yield a higher number of items when reaped. However, even without upgrading, an individual resource is rarely blocked from being initially gathered. 

The same tools are also used in combat against the various wild animals and monsters roaming around. It typically takes a few strikes to dispatch any foe, and it doesn’t seem like tool type or upgrades directly impact damage. Many monsters have simple attack patterns, making defeating them uninteresting or posing any challenge. Many additional materials, like honey or paws, are dropped once killing an enemy.

The main mechanic is to craft potions via the gathered materials. Each potion cures a single ailment before being expended. Each recipe uses a Tetris-like block grid, and every material has an assigned shape. For instance, a bit of slime might be a three block “L” shape, while a leaf is two vertical squares. As long as the grid is filled up, the potion can be made regardless of individual materials. Some potions are further limited by the four elements of fire, water, wind, and earth which omits entire material lists from being used, which means players will need to gather more specific materials in those cases.

Every few days, townsfolk will enter the clinic with some kind of sickness. Players will first need to diagnose the issue via various mini-games. This might include a Dance Dance Revolution style button tap, Simon Says memory game, or a Flappy Birds-like obstacle evasion. Once the diagnosis is complete, players can hand over the corresponding potion or brew a new one. Oddly, many patients will arrive daily with the exact same condition over and over. It makes it highly strange that the player character cannot simply identify the same set of bruises or lumps showing up. This winds up with the mini-games being a continual chore rather than an integrated and engaging part of Potion Permit.

As players get to know NPCs, their relationship level will improve. This includes caring for their own sickness, helping around town, or giving them specific gifts. Unlike other games where players have to try different items, most NPCs will flat out say the item that they want and remove any guesswork. The hero chemist can also begin dating many of the characters they have a high relationship with. However, this only progresses to the casual dating phase, not deeper romance like marriage or starting a family.

The world of Potion Permit is laid out a bit haphazardly. Moonbury does not have good urban planning, with key locations not being well centralized. The home base clinic is stationed in the northeastern corner of town, while important shops and venues are scattered without a sense of a cohesive neighborhood. This can easily waste a lot of time running between locations or simply getting lost looking for NPCs. Thankfully, the dog can sniff out anyone’s location and guide players to where they want to really go.

The wild itself also seems to have an arbitrary placement. Gathering nodes and monsters are spackled around various paths and nooks. Oddly rarer materials are not guarded by stronger enemies, making it a bit unpredictable if it is even worth fighting at all. Nodes are also in a fixed location and only respawn the next morning at 6:00 AM. This can lead to many days of endlessly grinding to meet the material requirements for dozens of potions, items, and side quests.

Potion Permit is at least immaculately presented. The pixel art direction is extremely lovely, giving the world and every character a charming and memorable design. The music and sound design are also great, with leisurely tunes that will quickly put players at ease. However, some sound mixing can be a bit faint, and players may need to increase their volume to the maximum to hear everything.

Potion Permit is rather buggy at times. There can be some severe stutters, especially when many NPCs are in the same location. This never led to a crash, but it can still be rather jarring and unpleasant to deal with. Quests will sometimes break, and with a single autosave, players could lose all of their progress on rare occasions. Lastly, the game waivers whether it is meant to be played with a mouse and keyboard or a full keyboard alone; often, players will need to reach over and press K or L for many menus. This is likely due to the game being fundamentally designed for consoles, and the Steam version is an afterthought.

Potion Permit throws a bunch of ideas together, but nothing really sticks as a true standout. It forces players into heavy grinding sessions for materials and other progressions at its worst. This makes it feel more akin to an MMO or GaaS than a fitting single-player experience. However, the actual aesthetics and characters are great and can be enough to tip things to some people’s liking.
 

Kurtis Seid, NoobFeed
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