I recently found myself in need of a cozy, soothing game to get me through a difficult time.  This is normally where Stardew Valley would come in, but for some reason I couldn’t bring myself to play any of my existing games, or even start a new farm.  I needed something different and new to dive into.  So I decided to try a “Stardew-Like” game that had been gifted to me months ago and languished unplayed in my steam library: PQube Studio’s Potion Permit.  

In Potion Permit you play a young ‘chemist’ working with the setting’s medical association.  You move to a small town where the locals are, quite rightly, suspicious of chemists and potions, but when one resident gets sick and the local witch doctor fails to treat her, they are willing to try anything…even hiring you.  Slowly, over time, you earn the townsfolk’s trust and unlock not only new dialogue options, but improvements to your home, tools, and gathering areas.  

While Potion Permit is not a farming sim, it is very gathering-heavy.  To me, the gathering is what sets the game apart.  I find gathering resources very soothing and satisfying; it’s a mechanic I look for in nearly every game I play, especially when I’m going through something difficult.  Gathering reagents in Potion Permit is particularly satisfying, as nodes must be chopped, slashed, or smashed repeatedly to yield the goods, which is an excellent way to process pent up aggression.  

Almost as satisfying as gathering is the potion-brewing process itself.  Each potion is a small puzzle: you are given a shape made of squares and have to fill it completely with the ingredients in your inventory.  Each ingredient is a differently shaped piece, like a tetris piece, composed of one to four squares.  The pieces can’t be rotated so the puzzles can get tricky, especially when you consider that the cauldron can only hold so many pieces at a given time, and that advanced formulas eliminate parts of the ingredient pool.  Figuring out different combinations of ingredients for each potion is a fun challenge, and later on you can save ‘recipes’ for quick crafting.  

The things I dislike about Potion Permit mostly have to do with the lack of endgame content.  There are very few romance options (the character I was most interested in was not romanceable), and friendships with non-romanceable characters max out quickly.  As far as I can tell, there are only three unlockable zones for gathering, and three levels of tools.  After about 35 hours of play time my interest waned, as it didn’t seem like there was anything more to work toward.  

Though short, Potion Permit was worth the money.  Show up for the relaxed pace and cozy, retro art, stay for fun puzzles and violent gathering.  It was there for me when I needed a fresh SDV alternative that I could experience playing for the first time.

Potion Permit is available for console and PC.  

Potion Permit