Okay, so I played the Crystal Lab.
I found the early game experience quite frustrating. It’s pretty simple to cook the first batch, but the mixing and cooking rules are quite unclear. They require a lot of experimentation, when ideally they should be defined beforehand. Clearly explain the rules, but introduce many possible outcomes. In first 7 levels all the rules were unique, which meant you spent time learning them, but had very little enjoyment using them. They were one-off mechanics. Didn’t seem like you can combine them in any meaningful way besides 1-2 outcomes.
That said, I liked the pacing of middle/end game. At the beginning the delays feel long, which hinders the desire to experiment with combinations, but once you understand which does which, you can confidently manouever between the tables, and it feels nice.
I liked the atmosphere. It wasn’t in the mood of drug making, though. My feelings are mixed here.
Visuals are simple, but consistent and pleasant. With smoother animations, they can be confidently used in a full-sized game, I feel like.
Consensus:
Mixing should be more intuitive with clearer rules. I see a big opportunity with standart color mixing: (Red + Yellow = Orange; Green + Blue = Cyan and so on), and more standartized outcomes of mixing and baking.
Maybe the durations of operations should be smaller at the beginning, so that the player can experiment a bit more without feeling punished.
Graphics are nice and quite likeable.
The atmosphere is chilled and relaxing, but it contradicts the tense and ‘always downhill’ mood of Breaking Bad. It depends on your goal, but because of the Jam’s theme, it expected to represent the TV show.