So for clarity, because there seems to be some... interesting?... takes on the VIP shop. Let me list them out, as of 20260812:
-x1.5 Experience boost
-1 hour skip
-+3 storage slots, x1.10 action unlock discount, x1.10 epiphany drop chance, +100% field research gain from non-research actions, x3 -> x6 max field research boost
-+3 storage slots, x1.10 sale price, x1.10 bazaar speed, bazaar stall 4 (you get the other 3 through non-cash means)
-+storage slots, x1.10 output multiplier, x1.10 wizard XP gain, +4 class size seats (normally just 6 seats), remote education(you don't have to swap your wizards to level them all, you can teach ones in the field)
-+3 storage slots, x1.10 experience gain, auto-unlock the runic cauldron(not actually sure its that big of a deal), rune burn rate halved
-+3 storage slots, x1.10 action rate, diplomacy spill over gives +5% exp
I have all but the last three, and I will be supporting the dev by further purchasing those. No leaderboard. No 'winning' besides the dopamine loop. It's an idle game. You... idle a bit faster, and NG+ that mess. You start with 20 slots. I'm sitting at 90, now. Purchasing them is... not game-breakingly better. It's just a means for some people who cant afford the game, to get the game, and I'm with that. The dev took the financial risk, and that should be encouraged, not "oh this game says it has In-app purchases, that means its pay to win and bad".
Do you know what you could do instead of saying the whole game is bad because it doesn't have steam achievements? You could ask the dev to put them in. You could throw together some ideas for what the achievements could be. You could do any one of a handful of things besides dunk on something that is clean, pretty, and seems to work great on every box that isn't wildly adjusted for... god knows what.
Vibe-coded? I can't tell of a better way to determine whether or not someone understands why AI use is or isn't a problem than when you see "SVG assets were GenAI", and a bunch of folks marking it down for being AI slop or that it steals artists work. Do you know what happens when you give a coding agent a loose prompt that outputs an SVG? You get a stroke. Coding agents aren't trained on stolen artwork. They aren't trained on ANY artwork. You COULD train them on artwork, too, sure, but it's silly levels of expensive, and makes the whole thing worse, not better. Developer didn't 'cheat' by using AI, and isn't trying to market artisanal software, or whatever it is you think you're entitled to for free. Please read a book before this amazing technology turns into just a crappier way to get advertisements.
Archmage Idle has been out for less than a month, done up by a single developer. Whole teams have dropped much trashier, unplayable(and i mean that literally, like those games forgot their connection to the keyboard), uglier, and wildly more expensive games. This game is a labor of love, and it shows.
If you liked Melvor Idle, get Archmage Idle. I'm sure you'll have steam achievements in the next month or two. Game is beautiful. Runs well. Tolerates my stupidity with other user-actions on my machine(come to think of it, that is... not normal. This guy knows his business). Bar goes up, brain feel good.
