[h1] A love letter to shop keeper games and romantic (and sometimes platonic) pursuits, this game is a masterwork of its type. [/h1]
This is my favorite shop keeper game sim of all time, and I played quite a number of capitalism games related to shops: [i]Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale, Skybrew: Entropic Strategist, Sun Haven, Elin, Rimworld, Touhou Mystia's Izakaya, Chef's RPG, Necesse, Ale & Tale Tavern, Amber Isle[/i].
However, none of them come even CLOSE to this game's perfect game design and phenomenally attractive cast of characters and voice actors.
I am in max relationship (one love) with Potionomic's character stories, main plotline, the help, the addictive gameplay, incredibly tactful design for day-to-day activities based on strict time-tables, consequential potion brewing and mana purchasing/investing/scrounging systems, interesting and challenging boss fights, and perfect sound and music design. This game has everything I ever wanted and beyond! Consider all of my expectations surpassed. When the game ended, I wished for more. I just found a mean combo that won me the game on the first turn, EVERYTIME. [spoiler] Seems it is a wish well-earned. Endless mode!!! I will be gunning it to max out relationships I didn't have time for, finishing up all achievements remaining. [/spoiler].
I loved dedicating hours upon carefully planning my days and maximizing profits and spending, big lessons I will take into my life going forward. The satisfying conclusion to tackling each new day no matter the chaos of losing abilities to [spoiler]sell specific types of potions, explore specific regions of the map for magic ingredients, attract customers, and facing customer debuffs of all kinds of combinations. It is the most fun I ever had, even if it was frustrating at times. [/spoiler] It is a guarantee for fun if you play this game with the mindset of being as productive as possible on the hardest difficulty for this game for a first, blind playthrough (like I did)! By the final section of the game, I focused on the right objectives then literally spent my final seven days hanging out and ranking up my confidante ranks with my friends and one love (BAPTISTE x SYLVIA IS SO CUTE AND MY CANON).
Now as for my subjective, final opinion:
10/10, of five star Masterwork quality. I will be purchasing future games by these developers as well as DLC when I have the money to do so. This game helped me get out of a mental and emotional pickle that I've experienced for half a year straight, and serves as direct inspiration and motivation for my personal artistic brand endeavors I am now going to pursue without end and without worry getting to me (thank you Saffron and Xid). I especially appreciate this game's lessons and themes told through each character's relationship. I found timeless lessons everyone should incorporate into their own lives.
