A friend introduced me to the Coffee Talk series a while back, and while I’m often not someone with the attention span to get through a visual novel, I found myself quickly enthralled with the world that somehow managed to blend the supernatural and mundane such that all the folks based on creatures from folklore didn’t feel the slightest bit out of place in day to life, and with the characters whose stories I got to know as they visited my café to try out the various different drinks I could make for them. I’ve been looking forward to the third entry in the series for a while, and now that I’ve have my chance to go through it, I’ve got a few things to say.
Story
Premise
In Coffee Talk Tokyo, you play the role of a barista running a late-night café, this time around in Tokyo. You’ll meet various characters, both human and yokai, learn and experience their stories, and brew drinks for them.
Characters
Since we’re in Tokyo now, there’s a whole new cast of characters. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail on those we’ll encounter as I don’t want to spoil anything, especially since the characters are the most important part of the game. What I do want to say is that they’re an incredibly interesting and well written bunch.
Even those that aren’t human feel like real people, with their own strengths, quirks and flaws. Their dialog is all fantastically written and feels like something a real person would say, and despite primarily just talking to them as they came for a drink, I felt invested and involved in all of their stories. And even though we’re in a new place with a whole new cast, the game isn’t without some familiar faces for those that have brewed before.
Visuals and Music
Coffee Talk Tokyo is a gorgeous game. The character designs are fantastic, the style has a surprising amount of detail for pixel-art and has a lot of personality to it. From the decorations of the café to the silhouettes passing by on the street, everything about the game’s visual style is great.
This extends to the music too, it sets the perfect atmosphere for a late-night café, and has a solid amount of variety to it. And if you don’t like a track or feel you’ve heard enough of it, you can skip through the music playing whenever you’d like! Not that I ever do, since I loved every bit of it.
Gameplay
The primary aspect of the gameplay is the conversations you have with patrons, and the drinks you serve to them. You’ll get to know them, learn their stories, and in some cases even make choices that influence how those stories play out.
When it comes to the drinks your patrons order, they might know exactly what they’re looking for, or they might just have a general idea or need you to recommend something based on the person they are or how they’re doing. You can make both hot and cold drinks, and choose three from a variety of ingredients to brew with. There’s even an endless mode if you just wanna spend some time on the drink brewing part of the game.
Talking to people isn’t the only way to absorb their stories and learn about the world. A big aspect of every Coffee Talk game is the social media app Tomodachill, where you can see various pieces of profile information and posts from the characters in the game. What you can see varies depending on how close to the person you are, so it’s good to check it regularly as you make friends.
Something new to this game in particular is that you can now click the hashtags in the posts on Tomodachill to search them, which may allow you to learn more about the characters and their stories, or learn new information about the world of Coffee Talk as a whole. I find that some information being learnable through social media without being explicitly told to you in the game adds yet another level to how real everything feels.
Conclusion
Coffee Talk Tokyo is an enthralling experience. The characters feel like real people whose stories I couldn’t help but get absorbed in, there’s so much of the world to observe and learn about just from the counter of the café, and even though the gameplay was basic, I found it interesting discovering all the different drinks there were to brew. I honestly can’t recommend this game (and the series as a whole) enough; if you want to spend a relaxing time learning about a great cast of characters, definitely pick it up.
VERDICT: Recommended
Reviewed on PC
Review Copy was Provided
AloJapan.com