I think this was the quickest turnaround I’ve had from playing a game demo to playing the full game. I had that much fun with it. I had a hunch that I might have been able to live out a power fantasy in this week’s game, and it was true. This week, I play as an apparent failed alchemist but come out as the underdog the whole time.

This week is my Brew review!

Brew is an action roguelite from Snow Leaf Studios. The game was released on Steam in November 2025 and retails for $20.

I want to give a shoutout to Snow Leaf Studios for the key! I really do appreciate it.

( I received a free review copy of this product from game.press)

You play as a little mouse that has been pitifully invited to the Alchion Alchemy Academy, this world’s most renowned alchemist school, not necessarily based on merits, but because you broke the record for most failed attempts at the entrance test. The aim of the story is to silence the haters and become the best. There is no real story in Brew, as it feels like the developers needed something to fill that gap.

The player can talk to the characters and give them gifts, but that is all there is to it. The characters are a little wonky, with no real depth; they feel like drop-ins, and for the most part, I blew through the conversations because they usually didn’t have anything meaningful to say, only that they gave me extra badges and potions to unlock for future runs.

Regardless, these characters have important things to say, like how to play the game. At its core, Brew is a roguelite where the main objective is to complete the entire exam and, ultimately, pass. This requires mastering movement with the mouse, jumping, aiming a gun, and potion-making. Potions require ingredients, and ingredients can be gathered while taking the exam. These items can then be combined into a potion that can be drunk, thrown, or loaded directly into the player’s main component, the potion gun.

The potion usage is implemented so well. The most fun I had playing Brew was figuring out potion strategy. At every turn, I was trying to figure out what potions would work in each scenario. Enemies would clump together? Throw a devastating fire potion. Lots of shots at once? Drink the air potion to gain a mobility boost.

Brew‘s exam rooms are segmented like every roguelite, where you break up the combat with shops, challenge areas, upgrade rooms, and such. Each room you clear gives the player a chest full of corks, which serve as currency for buying items in the shop and at the vending machines. Badges can be earned to enhance the experience. Things like critical hit chance, poison, smite, lightning, chance to dodge, etc, are all present here and usually give a helpful amount of percentages. Before the third exam, I could have been compared to a GOD. I had smite chance, crit chance, and poison maxxed.

Along the way, the player will collect medallions they can use on campus grounds to unlock all those sweet permanent upgrades. The shop has new potions and new rooms to access, while a crystal ball has permanent combat upgrades using experience you passively gain by defeating enemies during the exam. There is a lot to grind for in Brew, but the amount of content does not reciprocate the need to grind for the ability to reload faster.

I was really close to rolling credits on Brew in my first run. I then completed it on my third attempt.

I think I would have appreciated Brew’s look more if it weren’t so short. I had to force myself to stop and take in the sights, which, when you get down to it, are really thoughtful. Each exam room has a distinct atmosphere, along with variant enemy types that match that theme. The cogwork shield guy from the engineering exam is replaced with a giant wooden druid that try to corral you with vine barriers. The herbology exam is by far my favorite. Sprouting vines and trees that run alongside clear, untouched rivers that run through the castle is so serene. I am always a fan of the fantasy look.

The dialogue between characters is a bit wonky: characters would speak, but the protagonist would just give a creepy stare, a nod of approval, or an odd, shocked expression. There were also issues with the camera when approaching walls and in cutscenes, where the character model would cause the camera to shift inside its head.

I’ve been fretting over how to score Brew. The price is $20 for, at most, a 2-hour game right now. There is stuff to grind for, but it doesn’t feel worth it to do. I am optimistic about the roadmap. I think, at its core, the game is extremely fun. I had a lot of fun experimenting with the different points and how it challenged my combat skills. Upgrades feel meaningful and help push experimentation. The enemies/bosses/end boss are all really fun to fight, but they are not challenging. The cutscene animations are stiff, and the camera can sometimes get wonky when in the exam rooms.

7/10