Review: Potionomics: Masterwork Edition Feels Like a Better Deal

I love it when a game heads to a new platform and it turns out that’s the best version you can get. That’s the situation with Potionomics: Masterwork Edition, and I’m so glad the Switch version is the one I ended up beating. The experience feels more stronger, and choosing the new difficulty helps eliminate stress associated with the balancing and scheduling decisions in the original game if someone felt that got in the way of anyone’s initial enjoyment.

Potionomics: Masterwork Edition begins with Sylvia inheriting her dilapidated and in-debt uncle’s potion shop in Rafta. That and a suspicious owl that happens to be living there that was allegedly Oswald’s partner. Though she doesn’t have her potion license yet, she’s quickly thrust into the responsibilities of running the shop and entering tournaments to repair the owed money so she can stay in Rafta running the business. Oh, and maybe she also gets to romance the other people living there. 

I will say that while I appreciate the concept behind Potionomics: Masterwork Edition’s story and like the character designs a lot, I’m not a big fan of the personalities. At least, initially. While there is depth to some of these characters, a lot of them involve these overly exaggerated personality traits that are very in-your-face. Considering a big part of the game is tied to the relationship building, I found the over-the-top nature of many of these folks to be a turn-off. But this is a very personal opinion, and some people might be okay with it given the general tone of the narrative.

Though tone is an important point in general for Potionomics: Masterwork Edition, because going with the standard difficulty or harder one does bring up the dissonance again. This is an entertaining deckbuilder and potion-crafting simulator. Things start off fairly manageable. You need to brew potions, with certain specific ones needed for regular competitions to repay the loan your uncle took. That means getting ingredients from individuals in town, which you can also befriend and romance. 

You place those potions in the shop, then open to engage in the haggling battles with cards to get customers interested and drive up the price. However, customers’ actions during these phases can stress you out, which can carry over and negatively affect future negotiations. So as you meet and get to know people, as well as progress the campaign, you earn cards. These can be added to your deck to shape your tactics and approach. So when you play three each turn, you can focus on buffs, debuffs, immediate assaults, or defense to ensure you maintain customer patience and maximize encounters. Since each day has multiple time period opportunities for brewing and vending, so you can have up to three packed into a single day. 

The thing is that someone’s opinion on said difficulty and pacing can vary. On the standard difficulty or higher, it very quickly gets stressful. There are so many materials you need, so little time between tournaments, and the types of demands that make the game feel downright stressful. People also might get put off by the difficulty spikes that come up when the tournaments happen, as the contents involving specific potions are quite demanding. So going as-is, with the experience Voracious Games intended it to be, might be a lot.

The good news is, Voracious Games took player feedback from the PC version of the game into account for Potionomics: Masterwork Edition. There are two notable changes for this release, and one addresses that disparity between the often bright, jovial, and optimistic tone and time-sensitive, sometimes punishing schedule. One pertains to difficulty. As I established, that can ramp up at certain points over the course of the game. When you start out, you can select a new “Cozy” option. 

“Cozy” means you can visit people without wasting your in-game time, which is really efficient for shop management. The boss fights are easier (in a good and rebalanced way) as well. To be honest, I usually didn’t mind the tournaments in the original game, but the timing is a real game-changer here. So I ended up going with that difficulty and not looking back, because it does make it easier to enjoy the relationship-building elements here. I would suggest trying normal difficulty first, then rolling back to Cozy if that doesn’t work for you.

There is also an endless mode in Potionomics: Masterwork Edition. Which, again, is appreciated. I honestly enjoyed the deck-building and haggling card game most out of all the gameplay mechanics at work here. So… that basically let me do more of that? I really appreciated getting to change up and experiment with strategies in a way I couldn’t when I was more focused on completing goals in the campaign. It really allows you to appreciate the good parts of the game in a relaxed way.

Potionomics: Masterwork Edition makes me feel like someone coming to the Switch version is immediately getting access to the best version of the game. While there are some minor balancing issues remaining and someone might be as hit-or-miss on characters as I was, the changes and additions based on player feedback result in a markedly improved experience. It really makes it easier to appreciate Sylvia’s adventures in capitalism.

Potionomics: Masterwork Edition is available on the Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X, and the original version with new updates is on the PC.