Coffee Talk is a visual novel developed by Indonesian indie studio Toge Productions, and released on 29 January 2020 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The game was released in Japan for Nintendo Switch a day later on 30 January 2020. The game follows a barista working in a coffee shop in a fantasy version of Seattle as they listen to the concerns of the coffee shop's various patrons and prepare drinks. The game features an aesthetic inspired by 90s anime, pixel art, and the lo-fi chillhop genre of music.
Plot
The game follows a barista who is the owner and sole employee of Coffee Talk, the eponymous coffee shop, which is located in Seattle, Washington, in a fantasy version of the real world populated by a broad variety of fantasy races, such as elves, orcs, s, and others. Various members of these races serve as the shop's patrons. The game's plot is experienced over the course of two weeks, with each day acting as a vignette in which various characters visit the coffee shop and discuss their concerns with the barista and with each other. The game's characters include Freya, a human woman and a journalist for the fictional newspaper The Evening Whispers and an aspiring fiction writer; Rachel, a former member of a girl band who is trying to start a career as a solo musician; Neil, an alien visiting Earth with the mission of breeding with its inhabitants; a young couple consisting of Lua, a succubus, and Baileys, an elf, whose families do not approve of their relationship due to their racial differences; and others.
Gameplay
Coffee Talk is a visual novel, and as such, its gameplay consists mostly of reading dialogue. This dialogue is periodically broken up by a minigame in which the player brews various drinks using the ingredients in the coffee shop. Certain drinks give the player the option to create latte art. The drinks made by the player can have an effect on the events of the game's plot, and thus this minigame serves as the chief means of interaction with the game available to the player. The player character can access their smartphone at any time in order to view the social media profiles of the game's characters, reference a list of known drink recipes, read short fiction published in the game's fictional newspaper, and change what song is playing.
Development
Coffee Talk was developed by Toge Productions. According to Lasheli Dwitri, the person in charge of public relations at the indie studio, the goal with Coffee Talk was to create a medium where people can just be comfortable and feel warm, like sitting in a cozy café while sipping a cup of coffee. A Japanese TV show titled Midnight Diner served as the biggest influence for Coffee Talk. The story of Midnight Diner revolves around a chef in a restaurant that only opens at midnight, and his involvement in the customers’ lives. To create a 'sense of belonging' with players from all over the world, the game features various real-life drinks, such as Masala Chai from India, Teh Tarik from Malaysia, and Shai Adeni from Yemen. In Coffee Talk, alongside humans, fantasy races such as elves, succubi, orcs, vampires and werewolves exist. One of the reasons they were added was to represent real life experiences. Despite being fantasy characters, the studio tried to make the conflicts in the game as realistic as possible.
Critical reception
Coffee Talk received generally positive reviews from video game critics. Aggregating review websiteMetacritic gave the PC version 75/100, the PlayStation 4 version 70/100 and the Nintendo Switch version 76/100. Writing for Game Informer, Kimberley Wallace gave the game a positive review, calling the game "an interesting experience" while stating that some topics in the game could have been explored more. She also praised the characters in the game. Chris Moyse of Destructoid gave Coffee Talk a mixed review, saying that the game "is very much a mismatched brew", mentioning the lack of focus as a negative aspect of the game. He continues with stating that the game's "casual philosophies can sometimes be hard to swallow, great visuals, fun side modes, and a budget price point suggests that, for some readers, Coffee Talk will still go down smooth". In a review for the Nintendo Switch edition of the game, Dom Reseigh-Lincoln was positive towards the game, calling the gameplay relaxing and satisfying, although criticizing the length of the story-line.
