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In our Coffee Talk Episode 2 : Hibiscus & Butterfly review, we dust off our coffee machine and serve up our warmest smiles to the patrons of the Coffee Talk shop.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing through the first game by Toge Productions from its chill vibes and colourful cast of characters. Needless to say, I loved the second episode as well.
Welcome (Back) to Coffee Talk
For those who might not be familiar with the title, Coffee Talk Episode 2 is a Visual Novel which follows the story of a barista (the player) serving up drinks for various new and familiar faces; all while conversing with them as they discuss their concerns with you and the rest of the customers.
A very straightforward and simple concept, but it just works. As a fan of VA-11 HALL-A, Coffee Talk in general manages to scratch that itch of wanting a chill visual novel where I get to talk with all sorts of different characters in a re-imagination of our real world.
This might be biased of me to say given that I’m already a sucker for pixel aesthetics; but the visuals in Coffee Talk Episode 2, much like its predecessor, is gorgeous. The art style especially for the patrons looks really smooth, all while still maintaining that pixel charm. I personally was able to appreciate the pixel art more this time around due to the characters being a lot more expressive with the new character animated expressions during some of the more intense scenes.
Speaking of visuals, Coffee Talk Episode 2 also brings in a new revamped message log tab. The message log tab let’s you look at previous dialogue bubbles; and in the first game it looked like your average SMS log on your phone. But this new one looks a lot cleaner and more cohesive where it now adds the portrait of the character talking.
Complementing the beautiful visual style is the super chill LoFi hiphop-esque vibes music by Andrew Jeremy who goes by the alias Aremy Jendrew in the game (also on Spotify). He also did the music from the first game, and I’m glad to see his return in the second. I loved the calming and soothing experience from my first time playing and the feeling is still the same in the second game. It’s really easy to listen and to jam to, but LoFi isn’t to everyone’s tastes.
In for Another Drink
The main gameplay mechanic of brewing up hot drinks is still present in Episode 2, and it’s pretty much the same. You still get to mix up various ingredients and serve up beverages depending on what the customers want. But in Episode 2, you’ll get access to two new bases in the form of Butterfly Pea and Hibiscus (I see what you did there); which also adds a ton of more mixture combinations that both looks visually appealing and appetising.
Much like in the first game, making drinks in Coffee Talk Episode 2 can be both easy and challenging at the same time. It’s pretty easy when the customers literally tells you all of the ingredients that they want in the drink. The tricky part of making the drinks is when the customers get a little abstract when describing the drink they want.
Considering you don’t start off with the full Brewpad unlocked, you’ll have to try and decipher what they’re looking for. And given that the combination sequence between the primary and secondary ingredients matter; you’ll probably need to spend some time trying out different combinations to make the right drinks. For example, a drink that consists of Butterfly Pea as the base, Milk as the primary and Honey as the secondary will create Dreamin’ Blue. While swapping Milk with Honey will result in a Blue Marshmallow instead.
It might be a little annoying at times, but there’s no real punishment when you serve a wrong drink to a customer. Well, if you’re fine with the customer’s disappointment and sometimes harsh comments that is.
While most of the gameplay is still the same in the first game, there is however a new feature where customers might leave or hand you some items; which can be given to the respective customers when serving up a drink. It’s mainly to drive the narrative of the game and maybe give some more backstory of the characters. There are some cases where it doesn’t outright tell you who you should give certain items to, some can be a lot more obvious than others.
Although, it can get a little hard to keep track of who to give the items to since the descriptions can be pretty vague, and the only context you get is through the story, so you’ll need to to pay attention and keep a mental note for those.
New and Familiar Faces
Coffee Talk Episode 2 brings in some fresh faces to the Coffee Shop. There’s characters like Lucas, a satyr who is a charismatic and trendy influencer who can be a little too straightforward at times, whether it’s good or not. There’s also Riona the banshee whose main job is a delivery person and aspires to be a soprano singer but when you first meet her, hasn’t found any luck in her auditions.
Some of the customers from the previous game also makes an appearance in Episode 2, but this time with a brand new look. After the three years since the first game, some of them even get development too, like everyone’s favourite lovebirds Lua and Baileys who were originally a couple are now planning to get married.
To me, the main charm of Coffee Talk Episode 2, much like in the previous game, would be it’s diverse and colourful cast of characters, and ironically how human they can be. They’re your everyday kind of people with their own dreams and aspirations, trying to live their lives.
With how many games nowadays feature demigods with supernatural strength that can rival gods, or characters having to survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, Coffee Talk is certainly a breath of fresh air. I’m not saying those other games are bad per se, but it’s just nice to see characters going through mundane stuff and all they have to worry about is not breaking NDAs, dealing with family issues, or just trying to find a significant other through a dating app.
It just makes the characters feel like someone you might know in real life, and maybe even relate to them one way or another. All of which makes to game feel heartwarming and fits in the main vibe of the game – a chill experience of serving coffee while listening on to people’s troubles.
The game also sells the realness of these said characters through their conversation with which other. There’s tensions, silent awkwardness, and misunderstandings between the character when they talk with one another. It just makes you want to root for them and see their character development as the story progresses.
Speaking of the customers, the Tomodachill app in the game also has a new feature in the form of stories, where you can check up on a character’s daily lives which will appear on the feed, which will disappear after a day. It’s pretty cute to see the extra flavour text while playing the game, like how you can see Lucas and Rachel who are social media savvy update their statuses much like the influencers you can see on Twitter or Instagram.
It’s also really nice to see how some of the customers talk about the things happening in the world of Coffee Talk and expands upon them. It makes the conversation between characters feel very realistic and at the same time broadening the world building.
One example being with during the game’s first day, the newspaper headline talking about big companies moving out of state, causing mass resignations and protests. Jorji the Police Officer also brings up the topic saying that Police department he’s working in is also suffering from this, and how their department is severely understaffed and they have to deal with the rising tension from the protests due to the tax hike.
It’s the little things like these that make me appreciate the thought and detail that is put into the game from the developers.
Verdict
I said it before and I’ll say it again. I really enjoyed my time playing through Coffee Talk Episode 2 : Hibiscus & Butterfly. The coziness of the game from its amazing sprite work, calming LoFi soundtrack, relaxing gameplay and loveable cast of characters are all mixed together and served up in an aromatic blend that leaves me wanting more.
Although, I will have to admit that Visual Novels in general aren’t particularly everyone’s cup of tea, especially for those who wish for modern AAA graphics or out of the world gameplay mechanics.
Regardless, those who enjoyed the first Coffee Talk game will definitely want to pick this game up and return to the Coffee shop once again when it comes out on 20th April 2023.
| Pros | Cons |
| A cast of diverse and relatable characters | New item giving mechanic sometimes have vague descriptions and can be missed out relatively easily |
| New ingredients make up for more drink mixing and combinations | The Visual Novel genre might not be everyone's cup of tea |
| Overall relaxing and chill experience |
Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly was reviewed on PC via Steam. Review code provided by the publishers.
