12
32-
If you, too, are wondering what is Potion Permit and what makes this particular indie stand out compared to all the other indies on Steam, then you've come to just the right place. This delightful little RPG serves up a fair few novelties alongside a tried-and-true gameplay loop that may have fallen in love with during their time with Stardew Valley. It's not, however, a 1-to-1 translation.
Today, we're going to go into a bit of detail on what Potion Permit is, what it accomplishes, and what sort of gameplay loop gamers ought to expect out of it. It's a unique game in more ways than not, and though it takes inspiration from some obvious examples (Stardew Valley, Legend of Zelda, Moonlighter, etc.), it successfully delivers something curious and new, too.
CHECK OUT: Everything You Need to Know About Doraemon: Friends of the Great Kingdom
What is Potion Permit?
The town of Moonbury has always been wary of the advances of the outside world when it comes to their citizens who fall ill, preferring to rely on traditional methods to heal their sick residents. Until one day, when the mayor's daughter falls ill and the local witch doctor is helpless to find a cure. In response to the medical emergency, the Medical Association decides to send their most accomplished chemist - you - to help cure the mayor's daughter. Could this be an opportunity to convince the residents of Moonbury of the wonders of modern alchemy?
Potion Permit is, at its core, a role-playing life simulator. The kind of stuff you're bound to already be familiar with. Whether your experience with the genre/niche was by playing the old Moon Harvest games or, perhaps, Stardew Valley itself, that's pretty much what you're getting with Potion Permit as well.
The key difference, however, lies in Permit's core gameplay. It's more similar to Graveyard Keeper than anything else, perhaps. And, in lieu of farming or burying dead bodies, you get to play alchemist and unravel a mysterious conspiracy along the way. Who wouldn't love that sort of thing, right?
While games do inevitably get compared to one another all the time, the tighter a genre the more easily are these comparisons made. It's easy enough to track the meteoric rise in popularity of role-playing life simulators/"farming" games following the release of Stardew, for one. Before it, Moon Harvest was all there really was. On top of various Facebook-tier mini-games, of course. So, where does Potion Permit draw its inspirations from?
Play Potion Permit on Steam today!
Potion Permit's Inspirations
One of the reasons why Potion Permit is such a joy to play is that it aimed really high from the very start. Its inspirations are numerous and finely chosen:
These are all fairly obvious and self-explanatory. And, really, many of the influences could simply be handwaved away by citing the various trappings of the "farming" games genre. It'd be true enough, for sure, but it'd also be a shame if fans of this game didn't recognize the wider context of its gameplay loop.
The other obvious bit, too, is that fans of any of the above are almost certain to enjoy Potion Permit, too. This is a game about gathering ingredients, brewing various healing remedies, taking care of the residents of Moonbury, and building relationships with them. Much of the game's content is fully optional, too. The goal is to enjoy rural life in a fantasy realm, after all. Permit won't force your hand into becoming buddy-buddy with someone if you don't want to, for example.
If that sounds a tad too familiar, don't worry - Permit adds a number of key novelties to the mix, too.
What Does Potion Permit Bring to the Table?
As its title most certainly implies, this game is all about potions. When the mayor's daughter falls ill and the local witch doctor is unable to help, the Medical Association sends you to the rural town of Moonbury to take on the role of the local chemist. The thing is, the residents of Moonbury vastly prefer traditional medicine and harbor resentment towards a big city alchemist from the get-go. This sets up the need to develop relationships with the NPCs, as well as setting up the main premise of the game.
Cooking potions and remedies for sick residents will be your main job here. Moonbury has around 30 unique inhabitants who will occasionally fall ill and call for your aid. Your cauldron? Your best friend, as far as Potion Permit is concerned. The thing is, not only is brewing remedies a crucial gameplay mechanic, but you also need to gather your ingredients along the way, the local flora and fauna are your main source of them.
However, you can't properly administer a potion without figuring out what your goal should even be in the first place. That's where the game's Diagnosis feature comes in: you'll need to assess an NPC's health and come up with a proper remedy on your own.
For those seeking a more chilled gaming experience, you'll be pleased to know that while the lighting will change throughout the day, with the bright sun streaking across the meadows in the morning and street lamps illuminating the town in the early evening, there are no time limits for game objectives. You are free to go at your own pace and take it easy. Phew!
Are You Ready to Save Moonbury?
In summary, if you fancy yourself a bit of a medical wunderkind, this may well be the game for you. Its main character is Moonbury itself, as it and its residents, who like us all occasionally fall ill, requiring some form of medical assistance, develop and change over a long period of time. It's not a farming game, as such, but you do "farm" ingredients and do something special with them, much as you do with corpse disposal in Graveyard Keeper, for example. On top of everything else we detailed in this article, there's a fairly compelling combat system, too, and a few other lower-tier mechanics that we didn't want to spoil.
Indie game fans have, it seems, recognized Potion Permit's worth. It's been among the top-selling indie offerings on Steam for a few days now, and it's not showing any signs of stopping just yet. And there's no reason for it to stop, either. It's a beautiful-looking game with compelling depth. You're getting a wide variety of fascinating gameplay systems interwoven with one another to deliver a sandbox that's both familiar and novel at the same time.
Now, it's worth pointing out that Potion Permit isn't necessarily genre-defining. It fits into its category rather neatly, and its additions to the niche's expectations aren't necessarily out-of-the-box stuff. Still, it's not always necessary for a game to redefine its own existence. Sometimes, just making it as good as possible is more than enough. And, for the most part, that's what you're getting here! Why not give it a shot, then?
Get in the Game ! 
