The Magical Mixture Mill
- March 27, 2024
- Glowlight
- 18h median play time
Get on Steam"The Magical Mixture Mill" is a potion-brewing game where players help run Griselda's shop for adventurers and heroes. By reaching 10K wishlists on Steam, the game plans to add environmental weather effects and pets to accompany players on harvesting trips. A fishing dynamic to acquire savory ingredients and a 20% launch discount are also promised upon release.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game offers a fun and relaxing experience with enjoyable potion crafting and exploration mechanics.
- The art style and attention to detail create a beautiful and immersive world that players love to explore.
- The automation aspect of the game is engaging, allowing players to optimize their potion production and workshop setup.
- The game suffers from a steep learning curve and lacks a comprehensive tutorial, leading to confusion and frequent reliance on external guides.
- Many players find the game grindy, with repetitive tasks and limited inventory space hindering progress and enjoyment.
- There are several bugs and performance issues that detract from the overall experience, including clunky UI and unresponsive mechanics.
- story65 mentions
- 18 % positive mentions
- 77 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The game's story is generally considered weak, with a thin plot and unengaging characters, often relying on cliché tropes like memory loss. While some players find the quests enjoyable and the art charming, many express frustration over repetitive objectives and a lack of meaningful progression, leading to a grindy experience. Overall, the narrative fails to provide a compelling backdrop for the gameplay, leaving players wanting more depth and variety in the storytelling.
“The story was also fun and cute, with nothing that will blow your mind but certainly enough to keep you interested in what will happen next.”
“There's tons of crafting, tons of exploration, mining, and a really cool story with tons of missions to do.”
“Very involving, fun quests, lots of content, and great music!”
“While this game has some great graphics, models, sound effects, and concept for an automation game, it's not very rewarding in the lore department; the characters are dry, the plot is thin (you have a cheesy cliché memory loss backstory and that's it, which is just lazy writing in my books). There is no future goal to work towards or feel of progress other than more machines that feel like a chore swiftly.”
“The main story mission ended abruptly with a bridge buildable in the bog that I am unable to reach.”
“The story is okay, but that's not what I'm here for.”
- grinding52 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game features a significant amount of grinding, primarily focused on resource collection, which some players find tedious and repetitive, especially in the late game. While many appreciate the satisfaction that comes from automating these processes, others feel that the grind detracts from the overall enjoyment, leading to a mixed reception. Ultimately, the appeal of the grinding aspect largely depends on individual player preferences for resource management and automation.
“The arcane power system seemed too tedious to engage with (requires a single mixture for only a few seconds of power, i.e., it would cost about 20-30 mixtures to smelt a stack of glass).”
“This game gets really tedious, especially in the end game, that I ended up quitting from the sheer grind.”
“90%+ of the currently available gameplay consists of resource grind, which soon becomes tedious.”
- gameplay49 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 51 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a blend of workshop automation, resource gathering, and potion brewing mechanics, offering a cozy yet engaging experience reminiscent of games like Stardew Valley and Factorio. While the mechanics are simple to grasp, they provide enough depth to keep players engaged, though some find the gameplay loop can become repetitive and overly focused on resource grinding. Overall, the charming visuals and satisfying mechanics create a relaxing atmosphere, despite some bugs and a lack of diverse gameplay paths.
“It's a perfect blend of cute, fun, and relaxing gameplay that captivates.”
“The gameplay mechanics are simple to grasp but offer enough depth to keep you engaged for hours on end.”
“A satisfying game loop combined with simple automation mechanics make this a great title for when you want to decompress from a long day, but still might want to engage your brain a bit.”
“However, this game is real-life time gated; a decent amount of processes and gameplay elements are tied to waiting.”
“90%+ of the currently available gameplay consists of resource grinding, which soon becomes tedious.”
“Most of your progress feels far too one-tracked and independent from other mechanics and gameplay.”
- graphics42 mentions
- 62 % positive mentions
- 31 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beautiful, colorful, and charming art style, which enhances the overall cozy and engaging atmosphere. Players appreciate the attention to detail and the visually appealing environments that invite exploration and experimentation. While some critiques mention that certain character designs detract from the aesthetic, the overall consensus is that the graphics significantly contribute to the game's appeal and enjoyment.
“Amazing art, cozy graphics, interesting mechanics, tools, and story.”
“The art style is very cute and the fact that you can run around in the world and do stuff while your shop brews potions on its own is very fun.”
“The graphics are beautiful, the world is disgustingly pretty and will lure you in, the characters and art style are joyful and interesting, the biomes in the game will make you enjoy scavenging for resources.”
“The graphic style also reminds me of old school World of Warcraft, which isn't unwelcome either.”
“We figured each hat would have a new ability by giving a special boost, but the hats as of now are purely aesthetic, which we felt was a missed opportunity.”
- humor19 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its clever and quirky humor, featuring funny dialogues and charming characters that enhance the overall experience. Players appreciate the dry humor that playfully critiques the genre, alongside amusing animations that consistently bring smiles. Overall, the humor adds a delightful layer to the gameplay, making it a fun and engaging adventure.
“The characters are also super funny with clever little dialogues to send you on your quests.”
“Another thing I loved about the game were the funny animations - they always put a smile on my face.”
“I love the concept, I love the style and the animations, it's got great humor and quirky characters.”
- music16 mentions
- 56 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its cozy, magical feel and ability to enhance the overall ambiance, with many players enjoying the relaxing soundtrack and its fit with the game's art style. However, some users express a desire for more variety in the music tracks to prevent repetition. Overall, the soundtrack contributes significantly to the game's charm and immersive experience.
“Excellent music, controls, flow between harvesting resources and building your automation chains, and sense of discovery.”
“The world adventure with its above-average art style and gorgeous ambiance/music has kept it high on my list all year.”
“The background music is wonderful and changes depending on where you are on the map.”
“My only present 'gripe' would be that I'd like to see some more music tracks added from the composer of the present audio offering; it has a very magical feel, which I know is what they're going for... now they just need to add more music to keep it from being too repetitive.”
“They really need to work on the music; it's a bit lackluster for me at the minute.”
“The soundtrack is one you can't help humming along to.”
- optimization9 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with some players noting significant performance issues and bugs, particularly for an early access title. While there are concerns about the game's ability to run smoothly, others have praised its optimization relative to its early development stage, suggesting that it still requires further improvements to enhance gameplay experience. Overall, players find the optimization aspect to be a notable area for future updates.
“The main draw of the game for me was collecting all the reagents to fill out the 'shroompedia', discovering new areas, talking with funny characters, and slowly optimizing my mixture mill until I had enough optimization to bulk produce any potion I needed.”
“This makes the game fall in between the gap between the two genres of cozy farming sim and factory optimization.”
“Additionally, being a developer who regularly works in both the AAA and indie space, this game is remarkably well optimized for its early access state.”
“Otherwise, it seems the only magical mixture this game is all about is the mixture of terrible optimization and steamy, nutty brown horse manure.”
“As with anything in early access, it is going to need some serious optimization.”
“Optimization needs work; the game runs very hot, which it shouldn't for how it looks and plays.”
- stability4 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The game's stability is mixed, with some players praising it as engaging and bug-free, while others report significant bugs affecting gameplay. However, the developers are noted for their active support and responsiveness in addressing these issues.
“They fulfilled all the promises; the game is engaging, fun, and bug-free.”
“The game is very buggy still...”
“Honestly, it's super buggy, but the devs are very active in the Discord, and otherwise, the gameplay is very fun.”
“Buggy as hell.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game offers a moderate level of replayability, appealing to those seeking a whimsical adventure rather than endless replay value. However, the focus on discovering effective setups may limit the incentive to replay, as players might feel compelled to follow optimal strategies rather than explore creatively.
“The game does offer replayability to fix all that; however, the nature of objectively effective setups kind of defeats the main point of the game, which is figuring out the most effective setups.”
“I would definitely recommend this for someone who isn't necessarily looking for a game that has endless replayability but scratches the itch for some whimsical adventure in the magical potions market.”
“The game does offer replayability to fix all that; however, the nature of objectively effective setups kind of defeats the main point of the game, which is figuring out said most effective setups.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised for its engaging and addictive core gameplay loop centered around discovery and automation, creating an immersive experience for players.
“I love the atmosphere, and the core gameplay loop of discovery and automation is very addicting.”
