Coffee Talk is one of my favourite visual novels from the last couple of years, and when developers Toge Productions announced they were making a second episode back in 2021, I raised a steaming hot mug of tea in celebration. Now, it's time to brew up another one, as they've just announced its official release date of April 20th.
]]>Microsoft have laid out their PC Game Pass plans for the second half of August, adding another eight games to the subscription service across the remaining weeks then removing eight at the end of the month. Additions include Zachtronics hacking game Exapunks and Ubisoft's child-friendly open world 'em up Immortals Fenyx Rising. Alas, games going include the wonderfully sad What Remains Of Edith Finch and wonderfully wonderful Hades.
]]>Coffee Talk is the very definition of a chilled out game. It's a visual novel where you serve hot drinks in a late-night coffee shop to all sorts of fantasy-creature customers while listening to their dramas. It's relaxing and great, so it's wonderful news that developers Toge Productions have announced a sequel, Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly, which is set to release next year.
]]>2020 has been a good year for visual novels set in coffee shops and cafes. The excellent and stylish Necrobarista immediately springs to mind, but despite its name (and being set in arguably the best coffee shop in all of video games), it doesn't actually involve making a single drink. Coffee Talk, on the other hand, is all about the ins and outs of the barista experience, and it's one of the loveliest and most chilled visual novels I've played all year.
]]>Steam's soundtrack sale is nearly over, but as the resident soundtrack fanatic here at RPS, I thought it was only right and proper to take some time out and celebrate some of my favourite tracks and compilations. After all, there are plenty of bangers in there right now, and it would be a shame to miss out on these crackin' tunes while they're going cheap. So come, put on your headphones, turn up your speakers and prepare yourself for an aural assault on the senses.
]]>Mellow. I see little value in reducing games to a single word, but here that word is inescapable. Coffee Talk is a light visual novel with a drink mixing system, that lets you gently nudge its subplots towards good or bad outcomes.
I can't tell you it was a particularly gripping, dramatic or funny story. But it was very mellow. That may sound like faint praise. Perhaps it is, but it seems to be exactly what developers Toge Productions were going for.
]]>There’s a particular vibe to a good coffee shop; a chill atmosphere where people catch up with one another and enjoy a good hot drink. Coffee Talk captures that same vibe, with its lo-fi chill-hop soundtrack and the gentle noises of pouring water both from the rain and the espresso machine.
It also aims to capture the human stories that pass through cafés like this every day – despite being set in an urban fantasy version of Seattle where orcs, elves, succubi, and humans all live together in a sometimes uneasy harmony.
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