Thanks for playing, I stopped checking itch after the demo day hype died down so I missed this comment, but I really appreciate it.
Yes the alchemy only affects the visuals of the attack for now. The plan is to make it so you can brew potions with both different looks and different effects, and hopefully with some more interesting customization than just picking between a few static animations. I'll get on this someday, but for next demo day I'll probably just focus on making some new enemies with different attacks so that the dodging becomes more interesting and you actually have to jump.
I also thought that the bats are too easy to defeat right now, but many people were saying that the game was too hard, so I didn't dare changing them for now, lol.
Also glad you liked the toad.