With cozy games of all sorts absolutely here to stay, at times it’s almost more of a surprise to see titles from specific genres that aren’t also cozy. The thing is, the more games I’ve seen that seem to fit into that description, the more I’ve seen the vision for what it can involve. For quite some time, I’d usually come to see cozy titles as being accommodating to newcomers, possessing generally positive messages of some kind, and almost cautiously approachable when it comes to the skills people would need to enjoy them. With Potions, and a few others like it that I’ve played more recently though, that vision for what can still likely be considered cozy has changed a little bit.

Mixing together some adventure-style exploration, copious amounts of crafting, a bit of combat (or at least generally some form of confrontation), and a near-constant sense of discovery, this curious tale at least dares to be a little different. You could also perhaps accuse it of biting off quite a bit more than it can chew, but whether that works out or not would ultimately be in the eyes of the player. On a general level your path is a well-worn one. You’ll go out to gather different resources, looking for potential hidden goodies as well along the way, and then use those elements to craft potions that can be used to help people and get through different challenges you’ll meet along the way. Where the game sets itself apart a bit is that the solution to some problems will require a little forethought and ingenuity. The fact is that you’ll have quite a repertoire of potions to work with, so sometimes straightforward traditional solutions won’t be your best bet, instead looking for alternatives that leverage less immediately obvious approaches.

For the most part this works pretty well, but there are definitely areas where the experience struggles. It’s fortunate that combat won’t always be the best solution to all problems, mainly because when you do get into confrontations it’s a bit of a pain. Working with potions as your means of attack wouldn’t have to make everything a bit awkward, but the aiming mechanics here are absolutely just that. They do work just well enough that you should be able to survive using them, but from the first time you’re trying to aim to fling an exploding potion at an enemy you’ll be wondering why it couldn’t have been implemented more cleanly. Another issue is just that in general the game lacks polish. The artwork is pleasant enough as a whole, but not all of the assets look like they belong together at times. Whether the issue is a matter of their style, proportions, or colors, the world has a patchwork look overall that can be easy to get distracted by as you play through different areas. In general, I can still see how this could be appealing to the right crowd, but while there aren’t too many games in this same specific vein, it isn’t hard to imagine there are better takes to be had out there.