- Developed by Oduvan Games, Demo on Display at Steam Next Fest
- Based on the 2005 board game, it catches the eye with its hand-drawn magical world and intricate strategy.
A new board game-based title is coming to capture the attention of indie game fans who love retro vibes and a cozy atmosphere.
Potion-making: Path of the Alchemist, an alchemy simulation game developed by Oduvan Games and published by Beverlor, will be officially released on Steam on November 10.
‘Formation King’ is a very welcome name to board game enthusiasts. This is because it is a work that perfectly ported the classic masterpiece board game ‘Potion Making Practice,’ which was released by Sergey Machin in 2005 and received great love, into a digital environment.
The game’s rules are clear yet boast deep strategic depth. Players must collect various alchemical ingredients to craft their own potions and use ‘movement tokens’ obtained as rewards for completing potions to advance across the map. The player who is the first to set foot in one of the three key strongholds on the board, known as ‘Places of Power,’ before their competitors, will claim the final victory.
In particular, ‘Potion Making’ captivates gamers with its uniquely warm and comforting visuals. As indicated in the tags on the Steam store page, the beautiful, hand-drawn 2D graphics and relaxed, cozy sound design harmonize to showcase the qualities of a ‘healing game’ that can be enjoyed comfortably amidst a busy daily life.
The competition among alchemists to revive the primordial magical world
The game opens with a legend in which the primordial Great Alchemist used the Philosopher’s Stone to create the ‘Primordial Tree,’ transforming a void into a vibrant magical world.
However, as the genius Master Alexander Fulcanelli touches the essence of the Void and casts a forbidden spell, the balance of the world shatters, and the magical world faces the crisis of slowly perishing.
On the brink of destruction, the Primordial Tree squeezes out its remaining strength to protect the world, while sending a desperate appeal to the continent’s skilled alchemists to rectify this tragic wrong. The player takes on the role of an alchemist who answers this mysterious call, embarking on a journey to overcome a destructive curse and claim three ‘Places of Power’.
The original board game, which served as the foundation for the solid story, boasts an impressive track record. Since its release, it has not only won numerous prestigious awards but has also been recognized for its sophisticated rules, to the extent that it was included as a model example in Russia’s official game design textbook.
In particular, an undeniable advantage is that it is a proven mega-hit with cumulative global sales exceeding 300,000 copies . The digital version automates cumbersome offline setup and complex manual score calculation, and its core competitive edge lies in the ability to enjoy multiplayer gameplay anywhere in the world without being restricted by time or location.
Ordering and crafting, moving and replenishing… a turn proceeding in four stages.
A turn of the game proceeds rapidly through four stages: Sorcery, Creating, Travelling, and Replenishment.
First, during the Sorcery phase, you can activate powerful spells and magical talismans called ‘Talismans’. By utilizing these, you can create variables that instantly turn the tide of the game, such as seizing additional action opportunities or instantly acquiring necessary materials and completed potions.
The subsequent crafting stage is the time to combine your materials and potions to complete the recipe in earnest. An interesting point is that you can not only use your own potions but also steal and utilize potions or recipes painstakingly crafted by your opponent. The higher the difficulty and complexity of the recipe, the more powerful ‘Power Tokens’ you will obtain as a reward.
When you enter the movement phase, you will use previously acquired Power Tokens to race across the movement board. In this race, the player who reaches one of the three ‘Places of Power’ placed on the map first will claim the honor of victory. In the final replenishment phase, you will draw new cards and regroup for the next turn.
Ultimately, choosing which difficulty level of recipe to tackle at every moment is the core of the strategy that determines victory or defeat. The development team emphasized that beyond simple crafting, players can enjoy the intense strategic battles and high-level psychological warfare unique to board games, such as stealthily stealing an opponent’s ingredients or creating explosive synergy by completing multiple recipes in succession.
Six maps and support for online, local, and AI battles
In the official version, a total of six unique movement boards, each equipped with different gimmicks, await the player.
First, ‘Library of Five Worlds’ is a classic board that allows you to faithfully enjoy the original game’s unique basic rules. On the other hand, ‘Floating Island’ features talisman chests containing random rewards appearing on the field, while ‘Great Forest’ is lurking with tricky bushes that force you to stop moving if you step into them.
Conversely, in ‘Snow Country,’ set against the backdrop of a harsh winter, slippery ice surfaces appear, offering a sense of speed that allows you to glide smoothly over long distances with just a single power token.
In the ‘Underwater World,’ which incorporates an aquatic ecosystem, a penalty is imposed requiring the expenditure of as many as two tokens to break through bubble-filled squares, while the final ‘Valley of Creation’ is the most challenging final course, featuring a mix of the previously mentioned bush, ice, and bubble gimmicks.
The battle modes for enjoying the game are also richly configured to suit user preferences. It supports online multiplayer where you compete against users worldwide, local multiplayer enjoyed together on a single screen, and a robust AI battle mode.
The Steam page officially displays Online PvP and LAN PvP tags alongside Single-player, signaling a clear multiplayer environment. Notably, all maps can be freely selected in any mode without restrictions, allowing players to refine their strategies against AI opponents before entering actual matches or leisurely enjoy solo practice games.
In addition to this, there are cute customization features that allow you to customize your own player tokens, such as putting cute hats on your horses or setting special effects that flash when moving the board according to your preference.
Developer Oduvan Games Reveals AI Utilization and Future DLC Plans
According to the Steam page, the new title was developed by Oduvan Games and published by Beverlor. In particular, the developer drew attention by transparently disclosing the usage of AI-generated content, a hot topic in the industry recently.
They explained that the character designs and core narratives appearing in the game were created entirely by hand by their affiliated artists and writers, and that AI was used only as an auxiliary means to shorten the process of complex detailing or background drawing and to increase efficiency.
In addition, it was stated that real-time AI content generation does not occur at all during the process of actual users playing the game.
The roadmap for future updates following the official launch is also substantial. The development team has previewed a lineup of three major DLCs designed to add depth to the game.
First, in the first DLC, ‘Story Campaign,’ you can enjoy an exciting unique narrative as you fight against the mastermind Fulcanelli to restore the balance of a shattered world. The second, ‘School of Magic,’ is a hardcore competitive mode where players compete for scores using only pure potion crafting efficiency and optimized builds.
In the third and final installment, ‘Heroes and Villains,’ players can select characters with unique special abilities to employ strategies on a completely new level, and will also be able to fully enjoy the fun of faction battles by choosing between the Dark Wizards and the Great Archmages based on their playstyle.
The free demo version currently available on Steam fully incorporates the core mechanics that ‘Potion Making’ boasts.
You can have a thrilling preview of the game’s core gameplay before the official release, including potion crafting—the foundation of alchemy—as well as stealing ingredients to catch opponents off guard and creating recipe chains to aim for explosive scores.
This demo version will be available to play at ‘Steam Next Fest’, which runs from October 19 to 26, and is set to mark the beginning of the digital alchemy race that faithfully inherits the fun of the solid original.
Information regarding ‘Potion-making: Path of the Alchemist’
| item | detail |
|---|---|
| Developer | Oduvan Games |
| Publisher | Beverlor |
| Genre | Strategy, Indie, Board Game, Card Game |
| platform | PC (Steam, Windows) |
| Player count | Single Player, Online PvP, LAN PvP |
| Release date | November 10, 2026 |
| price | Unreleased |
| language | Interface/Subtitles support 10 languages (English, Simplified/Traditional Chinese, Russian, etc.), Korean not supported, Voice not supported |
| Reactions/Evaluations | No Steam user reviews, introduced by 4 curators |
| Steam Page | Shortcut |
