Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator: Complete Guide

How brewing actually works on the Alchemy Map, how to hit Tier 3 effects reliably, how to run the shop and garden profitably, and how to push through the Alchemist's Path chapters to the Philosopher's Stone.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the Enchanted Garden 2.0 update and Patch 2.0.2 (June 2025). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

• The Alchemy Map is the whole game. Each ingredient draws a path; your potion bottle travels along it. Reach an effect's icon to give the potion that effect.
• Grind for longer paths. Grinding an ingredient in the mortar extends its path. Many recipes are impossible with unground ingredients.
• Stir to move, ladle to pull back. Stirring moves the bottle along the path you've queued; adding the base (water to start) moves it back toward the center of the map.
• Accuracy equals tier. Sitting close to an effect's center (and at the correct angle) gives stronger tiers. Tier 3 is where the money is.
• Avoid the bones. Danger zones on the map damage the potion; take too much and it's ruined.
• Save good recipes. Once you nail a potion, save it to your recipe book and brew it again without redoing the route.
• Pick up experience books on the map when a path passes near them; they help level you up.
• Haggle, but not every time. The haggling mini-game can boost prices, but failing it costs you. Learn the timing before relying on it.
• Follow the Alchemist's Path chapter goals. They pace the unlocks, from the Alchemy Machine to new bases and the legendary substances.
• Choose difficulty consciously. Explorer, Classic, Grandmaster and Suffering. The developers themselves say Suffering is "not recommended for anyone".

The Brewing Workflow

Step | Tool | What it does

1 | Ingredient shelf | Pick an ingredient; its path preview shows on the map

2 | Mortar and pestle | Grinding extends the path (longer paths reach farther effects)

3 | Cauldron | Adding the ingredient queues its path from the bottle's current position

4 | Spoon | Stirring moves the bottle along the queued path

5 | Ladle | Adds the base; with water, the bottle is pulled toward the map's center

6 | Bellows | Heating is used to spin through vortexes on the map

7 | Salts (later) | Rotate or move the bottle precisely

Reading the map

• Effects sit at fixed points. Reaching an effect's area adds it. Reaching the center with the right rotation gives the highest tier.
• Paths are relative. An ingredient's path always starts from where your bottle is right now.
• You don't have to use the whole path. Stop stirring when you're where you want to be. The rest of the path is discarded when you add the next ingredient.
• Water pulls you back toward the center, which is how you correct overshoots and set up the next ingredient.
• Danger zones (bone areas) drain the potion's health; route around them.

Getting Tier 3

• Approach the effect so the path ends as close to its center as possible.
• Use the ladle for small corrections toward the center.
• Later, use salts to fix rotation (Sun Salt and Moon Salt rotate the bottle in opposite directions).
• Save the recipe once you've got a clean Tier 3; the "I need only your strongest potions!" achievement is for your first Tier 3.

Bases: Water, Oil and Wine

Base | How you get it | Notes

Water | Available from the start | The core map most early potions use

Oil | Purchased during progression ("Slippery Business" achievement) | A separate map with different effect placement

Wine | Added in the Enchanted Garden 2.0 update | A separate map with its own mechanics

Each base has its own Alchemy Map. Customers may request a specific base; Patch 2.0.2 made sure customer requirements can't combine into impossible orders.

Vortexes and heat

Swirling vortexes sit on the map in some regions. Parking the bottle in one and working the bellows spins it along the vortex spiral, which is a way to travel or reposition without spending ingredients. Treat them like any other tool: overheating sends you somewhere you didn't plan, so pump the bellows in short bursts and watch where the spiral is carrying you.

A simple early-game routine

• Each morning, read the customers' requests and note which effects come up most (healing, fire, frost and similar staples show up constantly early on).
• Discover those effects on the Water map first and save a clean recipe for each.
• Brew a small batch of each staple, keeping a few in stock rather than improvising per customer.
• Harvest the garden daily and replant what you actually use.
• Buy from merchants only what your saved recipes need, and haggle when the timing bar looks forgiving.
• Put your first talent points into whichever branch is holding you back: money (trading) or ingredient supply (gardening).

This routine gets you through the first chapters with a steady cash flow, which funds the Alchemy Machine repair and the Oil base.

The Alchemy Machine and Legendary Substances

The Alchemy Machine produces legendary substances and salts. You repair it ("Breaking Bad"), buy upgrades ("We require more vessels") and eventually fully upgrade it ("Now we're cooking").

The legendary chain, as tracked by Steam achievements:

Stage | Achievement

Nigredo | "Nigredo"

Albedo | "Albedo"

Citrinitas | "Citrinitas"

Rubedo | "Rubedo"

Philosopher's Stone | "Magnum Opus"

Salts tracked by achievements: Void Salt, Moon Salt, Sun Salt, Life Salt, and Philosopher's Salt.

• Sun Salt and Moon Salt rotate your bottle in opposite directions, which is how you fix rotation for Tier 3.
• Life Salt restores potion health, handy when a route clips a danger zone.
• Void Salt is the first salt most players make; test it on a throwaway brew to see how it moves the bottle before using it on an order.
• The 2.0 update redesigned legendary recipes and salts to be "less tedious".

The Shop: Customers, Prices and Reputation

• Each day customers come in with a problem. You pick a potion from your stock to sell.
• Matching requests earns more. Wrong or weak potions earn less or annoy customers.
• Additional requirements (a specific base, no salt, a minimum tier) show up more on harder difficulties.
• Reputation goes up or down depending on what you sell. Selling harmful potions to people who will misuse them may lower it. Achievements exist for both maximum and minimum reputation ("Good-natured" and "Pure Evil").
• Popularity rises as you serve customers; "Legendary Alchemist" is popularity level 15.
• Haggling is a timing mini-game on the price bar. Success raises the price, failure lowers it or annoys the customer. Talents make haggling easier.

Stock management

• Keep a small stock of your most requested potions.
• Brew in batches using saved recipes.
• Don't over-stock rare effects that customers rarely ask for.

Ingredients: Buying and Growing

• Merchants visit with ingredients to sell (for example the Herbalist and the Mushroomer). Haggle for better prices.
• Selling potions to merchants is possible, but Patch 2.0.2 lowered the base price multiplier from 25% to 20% (before talents).
• The Enchanted Garden (2.0) lets you choose what to plant. Water plants before harvesting. The Pond, Cave and Crystal Grotto areas unlock extra ingredient types; since Patch 2.0.2 the Crystal Grotto can be bought in Chapter 4 instead of Chapter 5.
• Wild Growth potions speed up garden growth.
• On harder difficulties, garden harvests are smaller. On Suffering, garden plants give only 25% of the normal harvest.

The Talent Tree

The 2.0 update added a new talent tree with 56 talents in three branches (some with multiple levels and one that can be levelled indefinitely). Talents cover gardening/herbalism, alchemy, and trading (including haggling and merchant prices). Spend early points on:

• Trading/haggling talents for money.
• Garden talents for free ingredients.
• Alchemy talents that make routing easier.

Level up by brewing, selling, and collecting experience books on the map.

The Alchemist's Path

Chapters I to X guide progression; each has goals that unlock new tools and areas. Completing them tracks in achievements ("Alchemist's Path: Chapter I" through "Chapter X"). If you're stuck, check the current chapter's goals first.

Customization

• Change bottle shape, label type, icon, colours, name and label description.
• Arrange potions on shelves and tables.
• Build mode (2.0) lets you rearrange furniture and decorate the shop.

Difficulty Guide

Difficulty | Who it's for

Explorer | Relaxed, story-focused players

Classic | The standard experience

Grandmaster | Veterans who want mandatory customer requirements and tighter economics

Suffering | Challenge runs only; less free ingredients, slower levelling, heavily reduced garden harvests

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Adding ingredients without grinding. You lose path length.
• Stirring past your target. Stir slowly near effects.
• Forgetting the ladle for small corrections.
• Routing through danger zones.
• Not saving recipes. Rebrewing from scratch wastes ingredients and time.
• Overspending at merchants. Grow what you can.
• Ignoring reputation if you care about outcomes with certain groups and characters.

Advanced Tips

• Plan backwards. Start from the effect you want and look for ingredient paths that end near it.
• Use water as a steering tool. Combining short stirs with base additions lets you approach an effect from different angles.
• Salts are for polish. Use rotation salts to turn Tier 2 into Tier 3 once your route is close.
• Multi-effect potions require routing through several effects; order matters. Plan so later effects don't pull you away from earlier ones.
• Experience books: route through them when convenient.
• Batch brewing: once a recipe is saved, brew many potions in one sitting.

What's Coming: Monster Parts

The developers' devlogs (July and October 2025) described a new ingredient class, monster parts, still in development. Examples mentioned include mimic tongues, eyes, brains, hearts, giant fingers and toes, rat tails, Ooze, Rainbow Ooze and a Unicorn Horn, with effects like copying the previous ingredient or reflecting the path. The devlogs say these may change and they are not described as released in the latest news.

FAQ

Is Potion Craft finished? Yes, it left Early Access in December 2022, and has since received the free Enchanted Garden 2.0 update and Patch 2.0.2 (June 2025).

What difficulty should I play? Classic for a first run; Explorer if you want to relax.

How do I make Tier 3 potions? Get the bottle as close as possible to the effect's center with the right rotation, using the ladle and later salts for precision.

How do I get the Wine base? Wine was added in the 2.0 update and unlocks through progression.

What is Unknown Substance? An unusual creation tracked by its own achievement ("Oh, it's all sticky..."). It comes later in progression; follow the chapter goals and experiment rather than forcing it early.

Can I lose my shop? No; bad choices affect reputation and income, not a game over.

Sources

• Potion Craft - Steam store
• Potion Craft achievements - Steam
• Potion Craft - Wikipedia
• Steam news API: Potion Craft announcements (Enchanted Garden 2.0, Patch 2.0.2, Devlogs #30-31)