The Magical Mixture Mill Indie Video Game Review

Any regular readers of Geeky Hobbies will know that recently I have become a big fan of the automation genre. You wouldn’t think it would be all that satisfying basically creating a supply chain in a video game, and yet it is for some reason. It is fun to create a well run machine that helps you quickly and efficiently create finished products. Today I am looking at another game from the automation genre, The Magical Mixture Mill. The game originally entered early access around a year ago and recently had its full release. I thought this was a good chance to check it out. The Magical Mixture Mill is a good mixture of exploration, resource gathering, and automation mechanics; that may be a little too grindy but is still a blast for fans of the genre.

In The Magical Mixture Mill you play as an adventurer who was forced into early retirement. You have developed mixture tolerance which prevents you being able to use potions anymore. When you collapse on one of your adventures, and older witch named Griselda saves you. Since your days as an adventurer are over, she offers you a job as an apprentice in her shop Griselda’s Magical Mixtures. The shop used to be quite famous in the area, but it has fallen on hard times. As you learn the ropes, you need to help rebuild the shop’s reputation.

I would say that there are two main gameplay elements to The Magical Mixture Mill.

First the game has an exploration/open world mechanic. While you aren’t the adventurer that you once were, you can still go on adventures from time to time. You can explore the areas surrounding the shop in order to obtain ingredients for your potions.

This aspect of the game is similar to most in the genre. There are some enemies to fight (mostly plants), but combat is not a huge part of the game. Should you ever lose a fight, you just pass out and wake up the next day at the shop. You will mostly be exploring in order to gather resources. You have access to a scythe in order to cut down things like mushrooms and other plants. Additionally you have an axe to cut down trees, and a pickaxe to break rocks and various ores.

I would say the exploration/resource gathering aspect of the game is good. It isn’t particularly innovative though. If you have played a game like this before, you should have a good idea of what to expect. It might not revolutionize the genre, but I had a lot of fun with this aspect of the game. The controls are simple and work well. It is fun exploring the world as you gather the resources required for your shop.

The resource gathering aspect of the game feeds into the other main gameplay mechanic. Once you return to the shop, you will have to create potions in order to make money and grow the shop.

The basics of potion making are straightforward. Many of the objects that you encounter in the world have one of five essences. To create a potion using that essence you need to extract it and bottle it. This involves building a couple of machines and feeding in the required ingredients. Each essence creates a different type of potion. Eventually you will unlock the ability to add different types of essences together in order to create more powerful potions. Once you have created a potion, you can either sell it in the store, export it, or use it to complete various quests.

You could theoretically craft all of the potions by hand manually inputting all of the required ingredients. That would be tedious and would take forever though. Very early in the game you acquire the ability to automate the production process. Once you automate the process, you can just put the necessary ingredients in a container and the process creates the potions for you.

I am a big fan of the automation genre as it is oddly satisfying being able to create a well run operation. For the most part The Magical Mixture Mill does a pretty good job in this area. I will say that it is not as in-depth as some other games. I would say that it is more in the light to moderate range of automation games. You really need to automate your shop if you want to complete the game in a reasonable amount of time. It is not a factory simulator though, as it doesn’t quite give you as many options as some other games in this genre.

I think The Magical Mixture Mill succeeds in this area because it knows what level of depth it wanted to strive for. The automation is actually really straightforward, and a lot of it is automatic. For example if you put a container next to a machine, the machine will automatically take the item out of the container and start working on it. You just need to connect the machines and containers together to supply the materials where they are needed to complete the potion. To start the game each of your potion making production lines will be really simple. As you unlock additional machines and mixtures though, things can get quite a bit more complicated.

Like any good game from this genre, The Magical Mixture Mill excels at making it fun to build and reap the benefits of a well run operation. Once you have set up the factory you don’t really have to do much outside of supplying the basic materials needed in the production. Your operation will start quite small, but it will grow to be quite a bit larger. The amount of potions and cash you generate each day will grow rapidly as well. If you like a good automation game, I think you will really enjoy this aspect of the game.

The only real issue I had with the automation element, is that you can’t totally automate the whole process. This is because you still need to gather the raw materials. There really isn’t a way to automate the gathering of the raw materials. You eventually unlock the ability to import materials which helps so you don’t have to gather all of them yourself. This does cut into your profit margins though. In a way I can see why this was done as it forces you to keep exploring and gathering resources. It is kind of a bummer though that you can’t reach the point where you just sit back and rake in the gold without having to do anything.

The main goal of The Magical Mixture Mill is more than just making the most gold that you can. The game has a lot of different missions to complete for the various residents of the area. The missions themselves aren’t particularly complex. Most missions involve gathering a certain number of objects or crafting certain potions. The mission structure doesn’t really change the gameplay, but it does give you things to focus on as you gather the materials to complete the various quests. They don’t really differ outside of what you need to get, but I think they do a good job of giving you an objective as well as breaking up the resource gathering and automation mechanics.

I thought the gameplay of The Magical Mixture Mill was really enjoyable. Fans of resource gathering, exploration, and automation games should have a lot of fun with the game. I also thought the overall world and story of the game was pretty good as well. It should not come as a surprise that the game doesn’t take itself too seriously. The game in fact is built around trying to make fun of various fantasy tropes. The game tries to tell a funny story. For the most part I would say that the game is pretty funny, even if some jokes don’t really work. The world itself looks interesting, and is larger than you would first expect.

I really enjoyed playing The Magical Mixture Mill and I think a lot of people would enjoy it as well. It does have a couple of issues that do keep it from being a perfect game though.

First it does rely on quite a bit of grinding. The game has a number of sections where you will be forced to do certain things over and over again just to proceed the story. To start the game your workshop is really small. You can upgrade it with gold and resources, but at first you have limited space. You eventually expand your workshop size which allows you to craft a lot more items. This allows you to automate more things as well as create more production lines. You will eventually hit a point though where you have to spend a lot of your time gathering resources for your production lines as well as build up your money. The game is quite fun, but when you reach one of these grindy sections, you are probably better off playing in shorter doses as it otherwise could become kind of repetitive.

Second it could use a few more quality of life upgrades. None of these are game breaking, but they can be kind of frustrating at times. The biggest is the fact that you have to go to a book in your workshop in order to reference the mixtures you have created, and other information such as where to find specific resources. You eventually start to learn some of the mixtures, but it is annoying having to go to the book to check how to create a mixture when you set up a new production line. Another issue involves the map. There are various landmarks that tell you a general idea of your current location. You can’t see exactly where you are though, which can lead to you occasionally getting lost. These little issues don’t ruin the game, but some small tweaks would make the game more enjoyable.

As for the length of The Magical Mixture Mill I can’t really give you a definitive number. I haven’t finished all of the missions to start with. How much time you get out of the game is really going to depend on what type of player you are. The game has a lot more missions than you might first think. They will take you quite a while to complete. If you like these type of games, I think you will easily get your money’s worth. Should you just enjoy making potions, maximizing your production lines, and just lining your pockets with gold; the game is basically endless as you can just keep playing it.

When I look for games in the resource gathering/automation genre, I am looking for games that have the right balance between simplicity and depth. The Magical Mixture Mill is a good mixture as it is a good example of what the genre should be. The game is a good mixture of resource gathering, exploration, and automation mechanics creating the right balance between the three elements. The gameplay is quite simple, and yet it gives you enough options to remain satisfying. It is fun exploring the world gathering resources that you turn into finished goods. The automation is straightforward, and yet gives you enough options to create a well run operation. There are some parts of the game that do feel a little grindy, and it could use some quality of life upgrades. Otherwise The Magical Mixture Mill is a really fun game that fans of the genre should really enjoy.

If you aren’t all that interested in automation/resource gathering games or don’t like the premise of running a potion shop, I don’t know if the game will change your mind. If you are looking for a relaxed fun game from this genre though, I think you will really enjoy The Magical Mixture Mill and should consider checking it out.