Potion Permit

The game was provided for free by PQube and MassHive Media. Thank you!

The town of Moonbury has long since depended on themselves since they were scorned by the capital. Now, when the residents of this small isolated community need the help, the medical association sends their most accomplished chemist to help and hopefully convince the town to trust them once again. Welcome to Potion Permit.

Diagnose the issues and gather the right ingredients out in the world once you have decided the right concoction for each issue, though you may have to fight in the real-time combat against foes like bears. Brew your remedies and build a relationship with the 30 unique townsfolk that inhabit Moonbury. And yes, some of them are bachelors and bachelorettes! Upgrade the town, surrounding areas, your tools, and just relax in the gorgeous vistas with your canine companion that you can pet at any time. The pixel art is gorgeous and feels wonderful to play, but we have to ask, how will it run on the Steam Deck?

Brewing Up some Optimization

The answer is it runs fantastically. I am sure most people didn't think this would be a hard one to run, but I am here to confirm it does! It plays very well with Proton and really doesn't require any changes at all. The game at default runs at 60 FPS with battery draining around 9W - 10W for around 4.5 hours of battery life and 56c-57c temps. This is really low in general, but there is a tiny catch. Potion Permit tends to have minor stuttering when running around and when loading into new areas. Luckily, we can completely solve one of these stuttering issues and give a little more battery!

Potion Permit has full dog interactions, and it is beautiful.

By setting the refresh rate/framerate limit to 50 and GPU Clock Speed Frequency to 700, you can bring down battery drain to 8W and add on an extra 30 minutes to an hour of battery life with similar temps. Doing this also eliminates the random stutters you may encounter when running around. I also didn't experience any difference in smoothness when going from 60 to 50, so I would say this is a pretty fantastic way to improve Potion Permit even further.

An example of the stutters in Potion Permit. While it doesn't happen often, especially at recommended settings, it can still happen. It isn't that noticeable though.

Otherwise, I didn't encounter any bugs in my time playing so far. It has been smooth sailing, which I expected from a game like this that isn't intensive at all. The game also does have cloud save support through Steam, which is always a wonderful plus.

Potion Permit: The Vibrant Equation

One of the few things I felt off about the game was the colors. While they do the job, they look a little washed out. Luckily, not too long ago, a plugin came out that SDHQ covered that, when enabled, makes this game look incredible!

By using the vibrantCrankshaft plugin, we can very slightly alter the saturation to really make the colors shine on a screen that could use some vibrant colors. I found the sweet spot to be around 130-140 for making this game glow without it being oversaturated. Honestly, seeing it with the vibrant plugin, it is hard to go back.

Conclusion:

Potion Permit is a game that really pleases when you are playing and if you even remotely enjoy games like Stardew Valley, I have a feeling you will enjoy this one too. The gameplay loop is enjoyable, the townsfolk are unique, and I love me some open-ended simulators. On the Steam Deck, this won't disappoint. At around 5 hours battery, cloud saves, and the ability to bring out the colors, this is one you won't want to miss. Potion Permit releases on September 22nd!

Our review is based on the PC version of this game.

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