There is clearly something in a newt's watery eye, perhaps. Potion Mix is the latest game to throw leaves and sinew into the cauldron, but dare I say it, it's charming without it. It's a multi-genre game, but at its heart it's a shopkeeper sim, where you run an apothecary in a cozy fantasy setting. You procure ingredients, brew inventory, and haggle with customers. Then you go to bed and do it all over again, day after day.

The goal of it all is not to make a fortune, but to pay off the ridiculous debt that was forced upon him the moment he took over his uncle's store. That's why it's so useful to have a potion competition going on, and the prizes could wipe the slate clean of your career.

The competition pits you against rivals brewing every 10 days in the game, imposing a rigid structure and ticking clock on turn-based store management. Choices are made from a menu (everything in "Portion Mix" is menu-based), and the day is divided into individual blocks of time. Do you open your store first thing in the morning and use two time units to sell your goods and earn the cash you need? Brewing potions takes time, so while you wait, you can go out to buy ingredients, flirt with the vendor NPCs, or put your heroes to work searching for rare supplies in the wilderness. Before you know it, the day is over and you've forgotten to actually open the store.

It's easy to spend time outside the store, as the other sellers are impressive characters, brought to life by expressive animated talkers and clichéd but funny dialogue. It's even possible to date them, spending time bonding and eventually unlocking cards for the deck-building mini-game, which feels like a "Persona" game. While not necessarily a criticism, it should be noted that there is no voice acting. Maybe I was just expecting this because of the high quality 3D animation, but sometimes it feels like I'm playing on mute.

But you can't stop flirting. You need to submit three high-powered potions at each stage of the contest, and it takes a lot of planning to be able to brew them. Better potions require better ingredients, which can be obtained randomly from heroes or purchased directly from a hero's guild leader, each with distinct advantages and disadvantages. Heroic quests require time, gold, and potions, and investing in a guild risks disrupting the surrounding monster-infested wilderness ecosystem.

Once the materials are obtained, they must be placed in a cauldron, and here this turns into a game of careful numbers management. The materials will almost always be seen not by name, but by their magimin composition. Magimin is a magical essence that is dissolved in every plant and living thing on the island. To make a health potion, for example, one needs roughly equal numbers of red and green magimin. The easiest and cheapest way to do this is to throw some fayberries (six packets of red magimin) and mandrake root (six packets of green magimin) into a bubbling pot.

However, these minor potions will only get you so far. To get more money from your customers and stay ahead of the competition, you need to utilize rarer materials. So, combining a fairy flower bud, two desert metals, and a golemite, we move on to the next level of health potions. We now have a common health potion.

Things get complicated quickly when you start brewing potions that require three or more different magimins. There is some leeway, but only a little. I spent a lot of time on the brewing menu, adding and subtracting ingredients, and eventually got tired.

I found solace in the mini-game of haggling. Perhaps "mini-game" is an overstatement, because bargaining can easily become another game. You "battle" with customers using cards and (hopefully) get them to buy more than your asking price.

This is a unique spin on the formula, with different objectives other than winning the battle. Instead of expending energy to play cards, it drains the patience of the customer, which is dropping by the minute with each card played and each turn completed. If good cards are dealt, it is possible to win a valuable victory in a single turn.

Unlike many deck-building games, players are free to add or remove cards from their decks before battle, using cards acquired through interactions with friendly vendors. The deck is fun to manage, as the number of cards is not overwhelming and is categorized by major NPCs.

The negotiation battles are the most enjoyable element of Potionomics, light and exhilarating, yet packed with charm and simple tactics. This latter element is further extended in the competition's Haggle Battle, which is essentially a three-way boss battle between you, your rival, and the judges. Here, you will be rewarded for your efforts in potion making, negotiation, bond building, and inventory management in a spectacular showdown.

Despite Potionomics' seemingly disparate parts, it feels like a very cohesive game in which all the elements interact and contribute to the larger goal of winning the competition. You could play a richer life-sim, dating sim, deck builder, or store management game, but no other game so skillfully blends these genres together.