It doesn’t take more than a cursory glance to say that Potion Permit is similar to Stardew Valley, but much like the “Souls-like” tagline that seems to get thrown around all the time in the industry, it’s a generalization that doesn’t often get much follow up. So, while I will admit that Potion Permit from developer MassHive Media is a Valley-like (a term I will now try to popularize), I want to try and explain what exactly it is beyond that too. And furthermore, why I’m still enjoying my time with the game after over ten hours.
The daughter of the Mayor of Moonbury is sick and, seeing that the town’s witch doctor wasn’t having any luck in making her feel better, Mayor Mier contacts the Association for their help. That’s where you come in, customize and name a chemist from the capital that arrives in the cozy town of Moonbury full of residents that cryptically and frequently call back to something dark in the town’s past that made them not so fond of your profession. With that setup and a decently long opening section, Potion Permit sets you free to cure the sick, build relationships, and better the community.
Due to the open-ended nature of Potion Permit, certain things in the game can feel weird. Pacing in the opening hours as the game is laying out all the mechanics for you can be slow, resulting in some uneventful days. Though, after the extended prologue segment, you can unlock the subsequent regions of the wilderness at your own pace. Also, as you play, you may come across oddly timed encounters. One second you will have a pleasant interaction with an NPC and leave the building to find them standing outside having a conversation with a totally different tone. It’s nothing game-breaking but it can be immersion-breaking for those who care about that sort of thing.
The core gameplay loop of Potion Permit breaks down to waking up in the morning, attending to any patients in the clinic, setting out to find the necessary resources to help that patient get better, and making sure to be back in bed before the 2am pass-out time. However, that third step of searching for resources isn’t always necessary since (especially in the early game) the lack of daily patients and abundance of free time that lets you explore the wilderness means you will likely have everything you need to brew an elixir right away. But that’s the general gameplay loop. Although, being a life sim, the game also allows you to chat with the townsfolk, engage in side activities, and more.
While it may not seem like there’s a lot of scope for varied mechanics, Potion Permit throws in some fun curveballs that accent the otherwise repetitive gameplay. For example, when you go to a patient at the clinic, you have to first assess them by doing a timed mini-game. Then, when you go to your big pot and in order to brew the potions necessary to heal them, you must play Tetris-like (another term I will re-popularize) mini-game where you have to fit gathered ingredients into a shape. Fishing, obviously, is its own mini-game and there are also part-time jobs at the church and police station. And if you get tired of those jobs, you can go to the arcade and play Wack-A-Mole. These aren’t the most complex or challenging mechanics (in fact the police station mini-game simply asks you to sort two types of items left or right) but they do give you a chance to do something other than running around and hacking trees down with an ax.
Speaking of running around, that’s mostly what you’ll do in Potion Permit, whether it be in search of the right ingredients for a potion or finding the right person to talk to complete a quest. Accompanying you on your journey is a dog companion, who you can also name. The biggest challenge you will come across in the game is the wild animals outside of town, but after a few days, you can find ways to easily cheese them down without taking any damage. Potion Permit doesn’t have survival mechanics like hunger, but it does have a stamina bar (as does your good boy), and managing that bar, along with planning out your day, is a key part of the addictive loop of the game. The best part of Potion Permit, and the reason why I kept going back to it often throughout the day, was being able to create a to-do list of activities and getting the satisfaction of checking them off one by one.
Another reason why I kept going back to the game throughout the day was that I played it on the Nintendo Switch. I don’t use my Switch much anymore as I personally feel the lack of fidelity in most games is not worth the convenience, but stylized games like Potion Permit remind me of why the system is so good. Thanks to the rather fast in-game days, it is easy to pick up the game for a quick session on your lunch break or before bed and put it down without having to wait too long for a pause point. Now, and I am not sure if this is because I played it on the Switch or if these problems appear on other platforms as well, but the game momentarily froze multiple times which acted as hiccups to my overall experience.
The biggest problem I had with Potion Permit (dramatically speaking) was the aforementioned Wack-A-Mole game in the arcade. We were lucky enough to receive a slightly early copy of the game and in that version, the arcade game was completely broken, freezing one of the animals mid-animation and leaving it there for the entire mini-game. And since I couldn’t play it or back out of it, it meant I had to just watch the game until it told me I was at the bottom of the leaderboard with 0 points. This bugged me (no pun intended) so much that I even emailed our contact talking about this issue with screenshots. However, by the time I sat down to write this review, a patch has already gone through that fixed that glitch and I am happy to say that I am on the top of the leaderboard on all the machines. The reason I share this is that as reviewers (and as gamers) we tend to focus a lot on the times a game has a bug or glitch but it’s also important to appreciate when a developer is pushing out updates that takes in feedback. If this is a sign of the type of support Potion Permit will receive going forward, I am all for it.
From a visual standpoint, Potion Permit looks great with a pixelated art style that packs a surprising amount of detail. Environments both in town and in the wild feel well-crafted with an easy-to-look-at color palette. A similar note can go for the sound too, which brings the town of Moonbury to life. I do wish the game had some sort of voice work, at least for the big story beats, but it’s not a surprise that it doesn’t and it’s also not a big drawback for most fans of this genre. Both the visuals and sound work together to make a cozy setting that is fun to explore for hours.
There are two other things from my notes that I want to mention before my conclusion. Firstly, just like in real life, in order to see all that the game has to offer, you have to put yourself out there. (I apologize to anyone who just had flashbacks to high school.) To do that in Potion Permit, you have to interact with the townsfolk daily to increase their fondness for you. Talking to them does well, but gifting Moon Cloves will get you even further. (Click here to read my guide to romancing in Potion Permit.) This brings me to my second point; dog. Your dog isn’t just around to give you company and get pets. It can also track down any NPC you want on the map. This is a really useful feature that I used a lot in my time with the game.
Potion Permit is similar to games you’ve probably seen or heard of before, but just like any new game worth its salt, it brings with it a suite of features and mechanics that combine for a good time. It’s not all too challenging but that to me is as much of a positive as it can be a negative for others. Planning a day’s activities and going to bed having completed them makes for a satisfying gameplay loop and the natural break points ending an in-game day means the game is easy to pick up and put down throughout your real-life day. If you’re a fan of life sims, then this is one to check out. There is a demo available on PC for anyone wanting to test drive the game before purchasing it. Potion Permit is available now on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. A code was provided by the publisher for review.
