Game: Potion Shop Simulator
Genre: Simulation
System: Steam (Windows)
Developers | Publishers: Pebbles Games, Bird Pals SIA | Pebbles Games
Controller Support: Full
Price: US $16.99 | UK £14.29 | EU € 16,49
Release Date: March 5, 2025
A review code was used, with many thanks to Press Engine.
Potion Shop Simulator is exactly what it sounds like: you play as an alchemist, opening up your own shop in the middle of a fantasy town. While you went to school to make potions for humans, your new town has none of those, and you’ll have to learn to make good medicine for your monster-like neighbors.
Another In A Long Line of Sims
We appear to be in the Golden Age of simulation games, with such stunning titles as TCG Shop Simulator, Powerwash Simulator, and even Tavern Manager Simulator. I’ve had a whole lot of fun with these titles and tons of others, so I’m always excited to see a new sim pass over my metaphorical desk. So I was stoked to find yet another medieval simulation game all about brewing potions and running a little shop.
You end up coming into possession of a little alchemist shop that was previously run by someone else, and you actually have to try and find this NPC through quests while playing. The store is pretty small, and you don’t have access to a greenhouse to start with, so you need to run around outside to look for plants to make into potions. As you sell your potions and make money, you can buy expansions to your workshop, your store, your potion-making equipment, a greenhouse, your own plants, and a lot more.
While making potions starts out very slow, you will unlock things that allow you to brew multiple potions at once, driers and distillers to make ingredients more condensed, and speed upgrades for your brewer. Once you start getting some money, you can really ramp up production to earn even more money. There are tons of NPCs with quests, too, and doing them gains you more reputation, which seems to have some effect on the number of customers that visit your store.
Overall, the simulation loop is pretty satisfying in Potion Shop Simulator. There is a lot to do, a lot of people to talk to, and a lot of potion’s that need to be brewed.
The Pros of Potion Shop Simulator
If you enjoy a lot of sims, you will probably like Potion Shop Simulator as well. It has a nice loop, a beautiful little town to explore, NPCs to quest for, plants to pick, and the shop you end up with is super cute. You can expand and grow your business, complete quests to get a reputation, and build a little life in your new hometown with all its very unique residents. The tutorial was one of the best I’ve seen in the genre; there is a little flying dragon friend who helps you out and gives you a tour.
The sound design in Potion Shop Simulator is so peaceful. There are a lot of distant sounds of celebrations when you’re in town, sounds of nature when you’re out picking flowers, and the gentle sound of the river that runs through town. The sound of brewing potions, grinding up powers, and packing up bottles are all great sounds, and the world feels incredibly real around you.
I have poured about 20 hours into Potion Shop Simulator, and I still haven’t gotten sick of the loop yet. I like tending to my flowers and mushrooms, drying up flowers, grinding them, putting them into potions, selling them to locals, and then heading out into town to buy new decorations and things for my store. Overall, Potion Shop Simulator is a super fun, if simple, simulation.
The Cons of Potion Shop Simulator
Unfortunately, there are some issues with Potion Shop Simulator that can’t be ignored. The biggest issue I have been having are the bugs; there are a couple of things that really upset my playtime with it. One of the big things I didn’t like is the lag; every time the game autosaves, it freezes the game for about two or three seconds. I have a brand-new gaming laptop that can run some of the biggest, beefiest, most graphics-intensive games on the market, but it hiccups because some little sim is autosaving? I just bought this laptop in December, so I know for a fact that it is NOT my hardware.
There is a huge bug that deletes some of the potions if you have any left on the shelves after you save and closeout. I was experiencing a bug where the potion shelving wouldn’t let me put any potions on it; the price tag would get stuck in place, and the only thing I could do to fix it was try to restart. When I turned my game back on, I was missing about 25 of the 30ish potions I had been arranged in my shop, even though I had saved them beforehand. The only thing that fixes this is not storing any bottles on shelves when saving; I have to put them all into storage boxes instead.
There were some other, smaller issues I had:
The music got old in about 10 minutes. I muted it so fast; I’m so glad the sound effects and music are on different channels or else this game would have been miserable to play.
When you emote, your model’s head seems to come off your body. It’s creepy. I didn’t try the multiplayer with anyone, but I’m wondering what this looks like from the outside.
The multi-step quests seem to delete your progress sometimes when you save and quit.
You can’t move the furniture in your workshop or your store, which is frustrating. I just wanted the table to be in a slightly different location.
Since you can’t move furniture, there are very limited places to put decorations, which means you really don’t get to customize your store very much.
The potion-making loop is pretty well done but could use some improvements. For example, you can use a tray to hold more than one thing at a time. You can use them for collecting flowers, moving flowers to the drying rack, picking them off of the drying rack, taking the dried flowers and putting them into the glass holding jars, but you cannot use them to put the dried flowers into the grinders or put the ingredients into the cauldron. I was so excited when I saw I could put all the ingredients for a potion into a try, but then I couldn’t put them right into the cauldron. Why not?
The greenhouse takes a bit to get, and the flowers you need are kind of far away from your house, so starting off, potion-making it really slow. It would be nice if there were a few more flowers in the wild a little closer to your house.
It feels like a lot of things were left out of the tutorial. So many times, the game uses “it’s” instead of “its.” That’s just a personal pet peeve, though.
All that being said, I can’t stop playing Potion Shop Simulator. It’s super fun, has a lot of heart and love in it, and it’s gorgeous. The loop is satisfying, and I enjoyed making potions.
Conclusion
I loved my time with Potion Shop Simulator, and I think I’ll be playing a lot more of it. I’ve put about 20 hours in, and I’m not done, though I have unlocked most of the items I can buy to expand my store and make it more efficient at this point. I don’t think that will stop me from wanting to complete all the quests and see what the story is leading to.
I’m glad I got to play this interesting, fun, and very cute little game. I think the devs could make a lot of improvements, but overall, it’s an enjoyable time. If you enjoy simulation games that are similar to this one, like Tavern Manager Simulation, I think you’ll have a good time with Potion Shop Simulator.
Final Verdict: I Like it
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