Yase Plays: Coffee Talk Tokyo
Hey guys, the year is nearing an end, it is cozy fall season, and I am back with another Toge Productions gem.
Coffee talk Tokyo is the third installment in the Coffee Talk series and was developed by Toge Productions and Chorus Worldwide.
After having been a fan of this franchose since day one, when I bought the first game excitedly and played it religiously, I was beyond delighted when I received an email from Toge Productions asking me to play and review Coffee Talk Tokyo, after I had just tried out the game’s demo on Steam.
Of course I immediately jumped at the opportunity because not only are Toge Productions and Chorus Worldwide two of my favorite indie developer studios and publishers from Indonesia, I had also just recently reviewed Toge productions’ and 5min Labs'
"Undusted: Letters from the Past", which I loved very much and was first introduced to them through the original Coffee Talk and A Space for the Unbound.
As aforementioned, Coffee Talk is one of my favorite game franchises in the whole world, so from experience and without personal bias - as I bought the first two installments as a regular player - I knew this was going to be a good ride.
The basic concept of all Coffee Talk games is that they are 2D-pixel art visual novels and barista and heart-to-heart with people simulators.
You, as the faceless and voiceless barista whip up all types of (un)imaginable and brewable drinks on a coffee, tea and sometimes even chocolate or milk bases.
All this happens in your secluded, quiet and little café, which offers all types of lost souls a place to seek community and company, a listening ear or a place to drown their sorrows and also share their happinesses. It would be important to mention that not all your customers are human, because in Coffee Talk you live in a world that’s inhabited by a lot of mythological creatures from different cultures and backgrounds such as demons and ghosts and fairies and everything else you can or can't imagine.
The entire game is experienced from a first person perspective as the barista from behind the counter. All while being accompanied by hand-drawn, beautiful and vibrant pixel art, likable and creatively executed and written animated characters and ambitious and pretty designs for the drinks that you put together and serve as well.
With a listening ear and skilled hand you take up the orders of each customer and try to prepare them just the way they should be from sometimes more or less vague descriptions given to you. It’s sort of like a puzzle and if served right, each correct order aids you in aiming for the best ending to drive the game’s narrative forward. Yes - there are multiple endings and achievements for messing up orders!
In the original Coffee Talk, you as the faceless Barista operate your café in the ambient city of Seattle within a cycle of 15 days, while all types of demons, spirits, fairies, elves and other supernatural beings visit your café, either for the first time or as regulars. This is a tradition that continues on in latter installments as well.
Seattle has it all for you: From pre-wedding jitters to overworked pop stars and journalists with writers block to more serious and - to me at the time very positively surprising - social issues such as racism and sexism and even contact to extraterrestrials.
Your customers trust you as their barista and part-time unlicensed therapist with all of the above and you play the game and hope that your choices bring the best possible outcome when the credits roll.
And so in the most recent Coffee Talk game the player switches their location and even takes on the roll of a new Barista, making their way from the buzzing Seattle to a bustling, neon-lit and somehow melancholic but kind Tokyo.
An all-new cast, new flavorful recipes and most importantly touching and engaging storylines with heartwarming moments that make everyone entering your coffee shop for a nice drink and company feel like family by Day 3 or 4 - at least it was like that for me.
The cast and the OG barista from Coffee Talk 1 & 2 get either cameos or mentions as well, especially in Coffee Talk’s own reappearing social media app Tomodachill (amazing name, really.)
and their version of a digital audio and music streaming service named Shuffl’d is back as well, with amazing lo-fi vibes and tunes, an amazing OST fitting every scene and occasion.
With the player being able to even create their own playlists of favorites and unlocking new songs, if the right choices with the correct characters are made.
You can use a few different apps which engage with and add to the story on your in-game phone, which also documents any recipes you have discovered recently! An amazing feature showing how lot of love, passion and care for detail goes into each Coffee Talk installment and it’s easy to see.
Without spoilering too much, let’s talk a bit about narrative design:
Coffee Talk Tokyo deals with a lot of loss from different angles. Losing loved ones, a job or opportunity, yourself, something important to you, your health, friends. Loss of all kinds - this truly felt like the most emotional of all installments to me.
I have to admit I shed a couple tears and shared heartfelt moments playing, with my family by my side.
It’s not that the prior games didn’t have these moments and didn’t touch me, but Coffee Talk Tokyo quickly became my favorite contender of the three.
If you are someone who cries quickly, be ready for things to get quite emotional.
Playing a different Barista than the one I had gotten used to in Coffee Talk and Coffee Talk Hibiscus and Butterfly felt a bit sad at first, but it was refreshing as character differences didn’t take long to show up in dialogue exchanges and actions.
Mild spoilers ahead from here on:
The Seattle Barista is a very…special person of interest themselves, with a great part of the narrative surprising you, turning away from your customers to yourself in a shocking turn of events - which in Coffee Talk Tokyo doesn’t happen whatsoever.
This didn’t bother me nor did it make the game less enjoyable, but a part of me was hoping to get a continuation or reference or further experience towards that kind of story line. It makes sense why we didn’t though, as Hibiscus and Butterfly concludes it pretty much.
But don’t worry, even without the barista’s personal business, there is more than enough narrative, secrets and personal stories to snoop through.
My favorite story line in the game, that also made this my favorite installment, must have been the one between the ghost Ayame, who can’t move on into the afterlife due to unfinished business and the singer Jun, who seems to be stuck in a writer's block.
A lot of personal experience made me relate to Ayame deeply and I didn’t expect some of the twists and turns as they hit me.
My other favorite character besides Ayame, Jun, the Japanese musical sensation who reminded me a bit of the singer Vaundy - a popular Japanese singer-songwriter, has his own identity and past to struggle with and you get to follow him on his journey to see if he continues to make music.
I would love to hear from you guys which characters and storylines you fall in love with, and which endings and achievements you unlock, by the end of this.
The game mechanics between all three Coffee Talk games are pretty similar and easy enough to handle:
The customer hands you their order - sometimes specific, sometimes left up for imagination and wit, you prepare said order by choosing from different ingredients like bases and toppings such as coffee, teas, cocoa, fruits and co and then if asked, you can add latte art to coffee related drinks and lastly serve whatever was ordered. Positive results generate different dialogue than negative results and since between the 15 days within which the story operates are selectable and you can quasi use the in-game calendar to time travel for missed opportunities, it makes sense to replay some of the days for unlockables or dialogues, which you haven’t witnessed yet.
The second Coffer Talk, Hibiscus & Butterfly, had you giving out lost and found items with each order, which was a bit more tricky to get right. It was a unique mechanic left to the second installment alone and it had left me wishing the new Coffee Talk would have a unique gimmick for its gameplay as well - but again, I was completely fine without it and discovering recipes from social media hashtags and the general wider focus on Tomodachill, trial and error and the wideness of the choice of drinks were more than enough fun and engagement for me.
The game is playable with a mouse or controller, I preferred a simple controller for PC while playing on Steam, but you can generally play Coffee Talk across PC, multiple consoles and mobile platforms, making it a perfect cozy adventure to carry with you.
I had played the original Coffee Talk on my Nintendo Switch, which was also a very pleasant experience.
Coffee Talk Tokyo is merely $14.99 on Steam which is honestly a gift given the amazing game experience you get in return from the amazing Indie devs.
Again, the game is a visual novel, there is on voice acting and a lot of dialogue that must be read and paid attention to, to get the full experience, so see if it is a fit for you and try the free Demo!
I personally love reading and read a lot of books and visual novels as well as comics and lengthy novels, and I believe the choice of not having voice acting makes the impact of the written dialogue even deeper.
All in all Coffee Talk Tokyo - to me - has been the best installment in the series so far and it made me hungry and excited for future Coffee Talk games which I hope will come.
I urge you guys to take a deep dive into the therapist-barista life and help some lost souls while cooking up some delicious beverages and vibes.
My next review will include Toge Productions Work Work Work and I want to take another minute to express how grateful I am to be given the chance to play all their amazing games after having been a fan for so long without needing any review keys!
Stay tuned, stay warm in this cozy fall weather and see you guys for the next review!
Yase out!
Coffee Talk Tokyo on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3161220/Coffee_Talk_Tokyo/
Coffee Talk series on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45691194-COFFEE-TALK-Series/
Toge Productions homepage: https://www.togeproductions.com/
Chorus Worldwide homepage: https://chorusworldwide.com/
Comments