Coffee Talk | PS4 Review
Being a barista is something in which I have had more than my fair share of experience. Most of my adult life has been spent working with coffee and espresso in some capacity. Because of this, it was with slight trepidation I approached Coffee Talk from Toge Productions. Playing a video game about coffee didn’t strike me as the most relaxing thing in the world after my job history.
Raindrops and Lattes
Alas, it was pretty relaxing after all! Owning a late-night coffee shop in a busy Seattle thoroughfare carried with it quite a bit of charm. Coffee Talk is unabashedly a visual novel first. There’s very little gameplay at all, actually. Yet I couldn’t help but be entranced in the well-written narratives of your lovely patrons. It’s gripping to see how their lives progress night after night as they sing their woes over a hot cup of espresso.
It helps that the setting for the game is more than you might expect. All sorts of fantastical creatures exist in this modern, urban society. Vampires, werewolves, mermaids, and even extraterrestrials are some of the races you’ll entertain in your establishment. It spices up the dynamics of relationships in just enough ways to be interesting.
Find Your Roast
The gameplay itself entirely boils down to deciding the three ingredients that make up any given beverage. Espresso, milk, and milk will get you a latte; whereas espresso, espresso, and milk will get you a cappuccino. A lot of the drinks are straightforward, but it’s fun to play around with myriad ingredients and see what kind of fancy drink you come up with. There’s even the option to add flourish with latte art, but the controls are cumbersome, and the foam doesn’t act as real foam would.
Curiously, there’s a recurring bug in the game that kept persisting. Somewhat regularly, the game won’t detect the d-pad movements on the controller. It makes brewing coffee difficult until you figure a trick to reset it (by pressing face button to bring up your phone). The game also refused to load my save multiple times. I had to restart the game entirely. I would say it was honestly a 50/50 shot whether I would have to do this.
Find Happiness in Caffeine
There’s an endless challenge mode that puts your memory to the test, but it’s a small distraction. Outside of that, a late game twist gives you an interesting reason to revisit a few in-game days. Otherwise it’s a short, but compelling six or so hours of story. It’s certainly a very niche kind of experience, but Coffee Talk is worth checking out.
This review is based on a PS4 copy of Coffee Talk provided by Brown Betty for coverage purchases. It will also be available on PC, Switch, Xbox One, and Mac on January 30th.
Coffee Talk
$13.99
Pros
- Enjoyable characters
- Fascinating setting
- Fun to mix-n-match ingredients
Cons
- Technical issues
- Occasionally wonky translation
