Alchemist The Potion Monger has eyes bigger than its budget. A complete action rpg, with deep potion mechanics, quests and reputation system. Unfortunately, the game just didn’t have a big budget, the world is barren and just not all that interesting honestly.But we’ll get to that.

In the game, you play an Alchemist, and make potions to do various things. First they are simple, but get more complex as time goes on. You see each potion ingredient has properties, and by using various tools, you change the properties. Each potion requires set properties. Match the properties and you can make the potion. Don’t match and the ingredients go poof. While making the potion, there is a simple mini-game that determines the strength of the potion.

The world you inhabit in Alchemist The Potion Monger is an island filled with furries, and slimes, and I’m not sure what else. You have a house you can decorate. There is a stall you can buy to sell potions. There might even be a plot to this, in fact, I’m sure of it. What I’m getting at is that all the makings of a good game is here, there’s just a layer of polish missing here. Despite having the trappings of a large budget game, this game screams low budget. The game just was not compelling. It did not scream to me to continue playing, and I played it off and on for a week. It never clicked.

In end, Alchemist the Potion Monger left me with a big sense of “meh.” It could have been a contender with a while longer in the oven, but as it is, it is there, and not much more. I give this a Your Mileage May Vary verdict with six back-end score. In the end, all the ingredients are there, just they didn’t congeal into a compelling whole. Maybe a higher price point would have equaled a bigger budget and more polish. I don’t know.

Overall: Alchemist The Potion Monger should have been great, it has all the ingredients. Just it wasn’t cooked right and failed to appeal.

Verdict: YMMV

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P.S. Why not toss a few coins my way? Also, if you’re looking for another game with ambitions larger than its budget, try Earthen Dragon.

Game received for free from the publisher.