As one leaves behind more and more levels on the bumpy road called life, one realizes that the true saying from one’s childhood that “Oh, I don’t have enough pocket money for the game” is increasingly transformed into “Oh, I don’t have enough time to play” into a phrase. In today’s world, everything is more and more about service and quantity, and it can often take my more playful soul up to four months to play through each major title, and we haven’t even talked about what happens if I want to immerse myself in the given world. In such circumstances, I am more and more happy with those gems that, although they promise a substantial playing time, do not complain about the immeasurable content and the twenty, forty, eighty hours required to complete them. More and more I discover indie games for myself, where nothing happens, if I don’t look at them for weeks, they provide relaxation even for 5-10 minutes, but you can spend even 1-2 hours with them. And during one of my latest such hits, after the otherwise extremely stylish and unique Potion Craft, I became an alchemist again.
In Magical Mixture Mill, you can assume the role of an adventurer who was unfortunately forced to retire early. Of course, it’s not that we got an arrow in the knee, but because of the excessive use, our body no longer reacts to the potions taken, so it would be too dangerous to get involved in any kind of calamari. After our last adventure didn’t go too well, a witch named Griselda (of the better kind) rushes to our aid, who, knowing the facts, immediately offers us a job. His potion-dealing shop, which has seen better days, is in need of major renovation and rejuvenation, and if we are willing to learn the art of potion brewing, we may not have to fear starvation.
One part of the game will revolve around potion brewing and organizing, planning and building the shop, while in the other part of our adventures we can explore the surrounding area. The latter does not bring much novelty to the already known formula specializing in wandering and resource gathering, but the atmosphere is able to captivate you. In our arsenal, the sword, bow and other goodies have been replaced by the axe, sickle, pruning shears and their companions, and most of our time will be spent scavenging various plants and other ingredients. In addition, the character we have chosen has a special ability unique to him, which can significantly speed up the acquisition process. Of course, the wilderness is still a dangerous place, sometimes we will get into a fight during the day, but on the one hand, these are not very pronounced clashes and if we do manage to take the short cut due to some accident, we will return to our store without consequences.
However, the right ingredient is only half the battle. The other part of the game is the development of the shop and the brewing of potions. A significant part of the resources found in the game are so-called essences, which can be extracted to make potions. For this, we will have to install machines that will process the resources we bring in and put them at our disposal. Of course, the different essences can be mixed later to create even stronger potions. The resulting product can be sold in order to make a profit, or we can even take it with us to complete certain missions.
Of course, making each potion by hand, especially in such large quantities, is not very fun and can easily get boring after a while. Right at the very beginning of the game, we get the opportunity to automate part of the production process, thus saving considerable time and energy. Quite a lot of time can be invested in creating an optimal supply chain, thereby making our not-so-small store prosperous. Of course, you shouldn’t expect simulator-level depths, but the game perfectly struck the balance between satisfying and sufficiently deep. For example, I particularly liked the small, helpful solutions that saved the micromanagement found in other, similar games. In this way, it is enough to just place a crate of resources next to each machine and they are already at work, without touching anything within the process that has already been built. Our only task is to create a suitable connection and route so that the donated mushrooms, I do it, reach their final destination.
The main goal of the game is, of course, to earn as much money as possible, but there is also a completely basic mission system, which does not go beyond the “go here, collect this, do that” type structure, but it provides a sufficiently healthy reference point for those players who are used to getting lost in similar games without instructions.
Based on what has been said so far, it can be seen that Magical Mixture Mill has turned out to be a very pleasant work, where we can put ourselves in the shoes of an (ex)adventurer who figures the fantasy genre and experiences a humorous story. Unfortunately, however, we cannot ignore the shortcomings of the game. First of all, those players who are put off by grinding will not feel at home, because the game is very heavily based on the mechanics of collecting. Even at the beginning, the development is interesting, the opening of more and more opportunities, the development, but sooner or later we will inevitably reach the point where we only move forward with a wooden face in order to obtain the necessary resources. The other problem is that the map is not always helpful during exploration and if we wander long enough, far enough, apart from a few signs, it is not really possible to find our way back to our store, so it is very easy to get lost, which can also cause frustration. In my opinion, some of the developer’s decisions need to be reconsidered, but none of them are in the category of ruining the gaming experience, rather we should think that we would have a smoother experience in a different system. For example, we have to physically go to a book in our shop to review the discovered and undiscovered potions, even though a simple hotkey would not have detracted from the game experience.
All in all, the Magical Mixture Mill turned out to be a pleasant creation. It has its own humor, audience and charm, and in my opinion, it can be a pleasant recreation if we only have 15-30 minutes to relax, but it can hold the attention of fans of the genre for even longer. For me, in the rush of the day, sometimes it’s perfect to let go a little.
