This title has certainly a peculiar approach to what makes a game, it feels like a dive in deep water. While the statistics are explained in the beginning and each section has a tutorial, the true nature of the experience is concealed, to be discovered as the player advances.
[b]Cons[/b]
✗ Incomplete translation, with some text left in Italian.
✗ Extremely mind-numbing, the progress does not grant any actual satisfaction.
✗ In-game annotations aren’t practical.
✗ The tutorial button is positioned right beside the "next activity" button.
✗ Some inconsistency in naming during different parts of the game.
[b]Pros[/b]
✓ The concept for a new genre is interesting.
✓ Fascinating setting and artwork.
[i]Disclaimer: my last game reached 43/50 weeks. The experience is tedious and I did not find it in myself to repeat it, with random generation all the data would have been useless.[/i]
The game isn’t story-rich, the player is simply presented with a scenario. An alchemist wants to pass down his craft, hoping to find a crow to make their apprentice, but has to settle on the second best thing, a human child. Under tragic circumstances the shop is soon entrusted solely to her care, leaving her to deal with every aspect of its management.
And so, he player has to create their starting profile, this means picking a location, an order and a business partner. These make up a base for the statistics, that can be further customized by assigning points to a few basic skills, It is possible to improve these in-game through books.
Let us explore all the different activities, starting with the weekly planning. In this space the player can complete different tasks, but most importantly plan the next days of work. In the beginning it is only possible to schedule work for the five week-days, without night shifts. If there is an event, its description is provided on this screen: those can impact things like the number of customers during a particular time or alter the availability of resources at the vendors. The player has to select the right amount of activities and distribute them throughout the week, in a way that won’t have too much of a toll on the fatigue gauge. It is also possible to assign helpers to gain their bonuses during some activities.
The preset week is well-balanced, it excludes only the shop cleaning, something I personally did once a few weeks, as there are no indicators about how dirty the store is.
So, let's us explore a basic week. First, the player can buy their ingredients from three different merchants. Trading with them will raise the reputation temporarily, which impacts their prices and supposedly their stock. I chose two vendors to buy from, to have a good availability and to maintain a high reputation. In addition to all the components that can be seen instantly, the merchant can sometimes carry a book or two.
Mixing is based on four categories of ingredients, two of them occupy the same slot, but are processed differently. There are three different sockets to be filled with assigned categories and each combination can result either in a success, or failure to mix.
Tasting is a decisive part of the process, it can be done with the help of different testers or directly by the young alchemist. Each mixture has two labels and a level of toxicity that depend on the ingredients used. Tasting an elixir will assign it a single tag, however, unless it’s a green label, there is no saying if it’s correct or not. There is also an intoxication gauge, which resets each week, or can be softly delayed by buying an antidote.
As green tags can be hard to come by, I recommend making do with annotations instead. After several lost playthroughs I’ve found a system that worked best for me and I figured out the mechanics behind the ingredients, however, I believe those discoveries are the core part of the game and I can’t talk about them. Unfortunately, the in-game note system is absolutely useless. A potion, when renamed, loses its designated number, which can result in confusion, for example, in case of quests. I named my elixirs with their effects, however, with how the game works, in the end it wasn't a good idea. Additionally, the notes are hidden until the player clicks on a potion to read them. There is a potion index and it's a good concept, however it’s unfathomable to not be able to search by assigned name, only tags.
Before selling a potion, it needs a designated container. Will it be a simple one, or a fancy and luxurious vial with ornaments? A bottle can raise the value of a potion and allow the player to pitch it to a customer with higher expectations, however it's also important to take into consideration its rarity value, which depends on the rarity of the ingredients.
Being now packaged and put either on the quickly accessible shelf or in the warehouse, the elixirs are finally ready for sale. The customers are all sorts of folks, from peasants to knights. The requests they make consists of a price range and a specific label. However this is much more complicated, as the quality, packaging and their previous satisfaction play a role. There are some different actions that can be performed as part of the negotiation, but an impatient customer could just walk away. In case a label is not in stock, it's possible to send away the patron or postpone the transaction.
Concluding a sale can be helpful to determine whether the tag was correct and the toxicity was acceptable. There are a few names that are very obscure and their level of toxicity was a mystery until I delivered an inadequately composed potion. I wish there was some kind of glossary of labels. It would have been a nice touch towards world building and would reduce the frustration, whether an elixir is meant to be a poison, or not.
Once the shop doors close, it’s time to read. The amount of experience gained depends on many factors, such as time of the day or the helper. After a skill levels up, however, it's possible to select a perk assigned to the category. They can be extremely helpful and open a lot of new possibilities. Here the player can raise the overall levels, and unlock gear that will permit them to use a larger variety of unrefined components.
The end of each week is concluded by the rent payment and a reset of the completed quests. These can vary, and, if accepted allow the player to exchange materials, gold, reputation, clients, books and potions. Although it might be low in some cases, there is always the risk of simply losing a resource. If the player has no more money they can sometimes accept a mortgage that will prolong their suffering.
The artwork looks very medieval and does a great job, even if it doesn’t bring anything new to the table. Additionally, from a graphical point of view, I’m a bit horrified by some type choices. The soundtrack is plain and repetitive, with a single tune in loop, adding to the mental fatigueof this game. The sound effects are alright, although limited.
Performance-wise I have nothing to complain about, to be expected given the bidimensionality of the graphics. I played in the 2560x1440px resolution, because that's the resolution I use on my screen and there are no in-game video settings.
[i]Specs of the computer used:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 4820K
16 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 1080[/i]
I can’t recommend this game. I would simply describe this experience as draining and the few discoveries the player makes along the way are in no way worth it, as after the formula is cracked, the game becomes simply charting the unknown while trying to sell enough, to always more demanding customers. I estimate a playthrough to last around 6 hours, and while the week can be reloadeded in case the game is lost, it's most probably too late to recover, especially later in the game.
[quote]Follow our Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37072886/]Devils In the Detail[/url], to see more quality reviews.[/quote]
