Post by Steve Farrelly @ 01:00pm 18/01/23 | 0 Comments
Back in 2020 we stumbled upon an Indie sleeper called Coffee Talk -- a game set in a fictional Seattle where vampires, werewolves, orcs and more all often need a dose of the good stuff -- coffee. Once inside your cafe, these characters ordering said coffee (or other drinks) would ultimately pour out intricate stories about their day to day lives with you as the game's barista becoming inextricably involved with them, often helping shape their narrative outcome just based on your service alone.
Now, a sequel to this little gem is on the horizon, and is scheduled to land on PC and consoles this April.
Open up shop in Seattle where humans and mythological denizens coexist and serve the finest coffee to familiar faces and curious strangers. Sit down, grab a cuppa, and chill out with a cozy atmosphere filled with relatable dilemmas and interconnected narrative arcs. Personalise each drink with creative latte art to comfort customers with care, and customise a mixture of ingredients like tea, ginger, mint, chocolate, and more to accommodate everyone’s tastes.
April 20, to be exact for desktop, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch and the Xbox family of devices.
You can read our review of the OG Coffee Talk in the link above, but here's an excerpt in case you needed a reason now to jump in ahead of the sequel dropping in a few months:
One exception though, is an Indie from Toge Productions by the name of Coffee Talk, and as you’d expect, it is a game centred around conversation and coffee… so, it’s an elevator-pitched game about nothing. But as with Seinfeld’s groundbreaking premise, “nothing” is a misleading doorway to myriad topics and conversational tentpoles; social observations reflected in the confines of a barista’s bar, ear and benchtop backed against a rainy night time Seattle -- the home of coffee, as far as Americans are concerned. And it’s accompanied by a chill-beat collection of tracks perfectly befitting the setup.
The interesting part of Coffee Talk is that the gameplay really only comes in the form of making coffee. Which might sound boring, and at times you’ll crave that tiny slice of interaction, but as with Lucas Pope’s brilliant Papers Please, much of Coffee Talk is about conversation and observation. You learn each character’s plight night-to-night and as the game progresses, they’ll need new types of drinks to help them relax, perk them up or to just sip away the time. It’s a game unlike anything else, but the writing within is exquisite and on-point as a reflection of the world we live in right now. What helps, however, is that Toge has taken the fantasy basis of so much gaming and baked into a believable world. This isn’t a coffee shop that serves only humans, its clientele is as rich and vast and the wider fantasy world outside in the rain-drenched Emerald City (and beyond).
Coffee Talk was one of my personal favourites from 2020 and I can't wait to sit down to this second cup to see what the old gang has been up to these past three years.