Finding a cafe that fits you can be a revelatory experience. For me at least, there are few places outside of my house that I can truly feel comfortable in. I’m lucky enough to have two options in walking distance: a coffee shop that’s bright, airy, and full of art, and another that doubles as a plant shop so that I’m surrounded by greenery while I write. They’re third places that have become central to my life. But in the virtual realm I have an option as well — and while it’s not a place for getting work done, it’s just as relaxing.
The Coffee Talk series kicked off in 2020, with a direct sequel three years later, and the title really says it all: These games are about coffee and talking. They’re visual novels, which means much of the experience is reading dialogue, like an interactive book. In each game, you play as a barista who runs a late-night cafe and also serves something of a therapeutic role, listening to your patrons’ problems and helping them out. You also have to make them drinks, using a simple gameplay system to brew everything from espressos to exotic cold teas. Oh, and you exist in a fantasy world, so you’re serving vampires, elves, and other mythological creatures.
The latest entry, Coffee Talk Tokyo, doesn’t change all that much in terms of structure or gameplay. But it’s a standalone story set in a new locale — the first two games took place in Seattle — which means new characters to help and new drinks to make. Once again you play as the perpetually helpful proprietor of a coffee shop that’s only open late, and your job is to serve the right drink and lend a caring ear. The shift to Tokyo means that many of your patrons are ripped out of Japanese folklore, like a newly retired salaryman who is also a kappa, or a struggling pop star who was once a powerful dragon. It also means you’ll be making plenty of matcha, and lots of cold drinks to combat the oppressive Tokyo summer.
There are a few things that make these games so comforting. One is the drinks themselves; while the process is pretty straightforward, there’s a soothing ritual that comes from picking the right ingredients or discovering something new through experimentation. Similarly, it’s very satisfying to make exactly what your patron is after based on only the vaguest of descriptions. In Coffee Talk there’s also really no penalty for messing up. Someone might be disappointed by a drink, but you simply move on afterward as if nothing happened. I should also note that the vibe in the coffee shop is extremely chill: lo-fi music, the sounds of rain, and lots of vinyl records and cute knickknacks decorating the joint. It’s a place I want to hang out in.
But what really makes these games so wholesome is the stories and people you encounter. It’s kind of like a cross between Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories and Ted Lasso. Coffee Talk Tokyo may be about a world where humans coexist with fantastical creatures, but the problems you’ll encounter are incredibly real. Your assistant, Vin, looks like a cool cyberpunk hacker with augmented limbs, but they’re actually struggling through chronic pain and attempting to hide it so as to not burden anyone around them. There’s a young girl who feels isolated at school because she’s a foreigner. A stay-at-home dad doubts the decision to give up his career.
These are important, relatable topics, and the game handles them with a deft level of care and heart. It doesn’t gloss over the difficult issues, but almost everyone in the game is just trying to do their best, and so things resolve in a way that feels plausibly optimistic. If only everyone I knew was as understanding as the ghosts and yokai I encountered in this game.
It’s all of these elements combined that make the series so welcoming. Coffee Talk Tokyo doesn’t change much, but it also doesn’t need to. All I want are some more friends to help out, and another excuse to hang out in a chill, pixelated cafe.
Coffee Talk Tokyo is available now on the PS5, Xbox, Switch, and PC.
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