Coffee Talk

A solid "Get Va11HallA instead, unless this is on sale. Otherwise, maybe.".
Coffee Talk: Fantasy Coffee-brewing Action, is a day-by-day visual novel with slight coffee-brewing mechanics on the side. Its storyline is broken up into several days, of which customers visit your coffee shop and talk. The first few days are rather short: no longer than a few minutes, but as the story advances the days become more packed with story. The game as a whole is rather short, less than 3 hours to complete the main storyline. Overall, generally a well rounded game, but not $15. On the other hand, it compares rather poorly to Va11halla, a game with a nigh identical format, but has more characters, story, and charm. If you liked Va11halla, and really can't wait for N1RVAnnA, then get it on sale. Otherwise, just get Va11halla. But I'm still recommending it because steam doesn't allow maybes, and there's very little competition for this niche of VN.

It’s time to brew coffee and change lives!
Coffee Talk is a visual novel centered around a late-night coffee shop set in a fantasy version of Earth where humans share the land with Vampires, Werewolves, Elves etc. You play as the proprietor of Coffee Talk and you provide hot drinks and conversations to your customers. It’s hard not to compare this game to VA-11 Hall-A, and there are definitely some clear similarities, but this game is definitely a lot more chill and it does feel like a very different experience (though if you have to choose between the two, you should definitely go for VA-11 Hall-A
Positives:
The pixel art here is great. I particularly like the way that the coffee shop looks, it creates a nice cozy atmosphere when combined with the nice music.
The drink making part of the game is enjoyable. You have a few bases (Coffee, Green Tea, Tea, Milk, and Chocolate) and then flavorings like ginger and honey. You have an app that keeps track of the brews you know, and as you find new named recipes over the course of the game they get added there. It can actually be quite challenging to brew the drinks your customer orders when they order named drinks, I actually had to do research a couple of times to try and figure out what I was supposed to be making. It had more depth to it than I expected it to. There’s also the latte art minigame, personally I didn’t spend much time with it but I’m sure artsier people than me will enjoy it.
There’s not a huge cast of characters, less than ten. I think that they’re well-varied and they all have well-defined personalities and you aren’t seeing all of them constantly with the exception of Faye. Faye is in the coffee shop for most nights and acts as a kind of catalyst for conversation, she’s a likable character so it works well to have her in this role.
I thought that the dialog was pretty good throughout the game and the character arcs were pretty decent. Nothing here was super unique (apart from one character, who’s a real hoot) but the arcs are strong enough to keep the game moving along. I certainly enjoyed ‘listening’ to the other characters, seeing how their situation developed over the course of the game.
Having a blank canvas protagonist helps keep the focus on the characters and I think it works well for a game where the game is mainly centered around listening to other people.
As well as the main story mode, there’s also a free brewing mode and a challenge mode. The free brewing mode just lets you make whatever you want. The challenge mode gives you different orders to make (a mix between named drinks or just a list of ingredients the customer want) with a time limit that gets extended every time you complete an order. I was surprised by how enjoyable the challenge mode was, but don’t expect it to keep you entertained for hours on end.
I think that the 4-5 hour length for a playthrough is a decent length and I think it’s priced well.
Negatives:
The game relies pretty heavily on the current state of our world for its setting. There’s mention of a virus outbreak, of Earthlings ignoring problems with the environment, gun control issues, there’s an event called Couchella etc. I felt that this relation to our reality spoils the game’s sense of immersion, it took me out of it when something like that came up. I would have liked it if they had worked a bit more to have the game have a unique sense of place.
There’s some repetition of information in conversations that bugged me. For example, you might be listening to two characters talk, and then a third character will show up and ask about what was being said. Sometimes the screen will just go black and skip ahead a little bit, but there were enough times that I had to read something that had already been said that it bothered me.
I found the ending to be a tad bit abrupt.
This is fairly minor, but I found that some of the facial expressions of the characters were a bit overexaggerated, particularly Faye’s.
Verdict:
This is a nice, chill visual novel with pretty interesting characters and a surprising challenge in the drink making portion of the game. It's not perfect by any means, but it's worth getting.
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(my opinion is neutral, however I give the game thumbs up simply because playing it wasn't annoying)
If you’re looking for a simple yet sweet story, then yes, I recommend you to buy the game. However, if you want something more complex, with great world building, characters and drama, or at least looking for the Va11 Hall-A-like game, then no, don’t buy it.
Even though Coffee Talk has nice premise, graphics and tea/coffee making mechanic, it still feels like a collection of short stories clumsily put together. Urban fantasy setting is mostly a decoration because all problems and drama are boring and shallow, and, of course, dancing around modern problems such as racism and showbiz scandals – I don’t mind reading about this kind of topics, however… well, I don’t see anything at least slightly urban fantasy about it. It’s painted in that light as if all characters are simply humans-cosplayers. Yes, something does going on in this fictional Seattle, yes, there’re vampires, werewolves, succubi and all kinds of creatures, however most of it looks like a small costume party – dress them all up like androids, or mutants, or Mass Effect aliens, and the story would be essentially the same. I don’t FEEL the world at all.
Coffee Talk tries to be all hipster and cozy but it lacks depth – it’s boring, and your character-barista being a shallow shell doesn’t contribute anything positive to the whole experience.

Coffee Talk is a wonderful visual novel about the patrons of a night cafe in the city. You play as the barista of this cafe and listen to the the different stories of the lives of the customers. Playing through the game is relatively easy, and with an amazing soundtrack makes for an incredibly relaxing game to play. I recommend this game for when you need some time to wind down or destress, and I hope more people get to experience the sweet stories this game has to offer.
I suffer from anxiety and depression and this game easily lifts my mood whenever I play it, the soundtrack and characters all have a special place in my heart.

Quick summary for anyone who is familiar with VA-11 Hall-A, as Coffee Talk derives a lot of inspiration from it.
Is it very similar to VA-11 Hall-A? Yes.
Is it as good as VA-11 Hall-A? No.
Is it still enjoyable? Yes.
For a short summary of the game itself, Coffee Talk is a slice-of-life game set in modern-day Seattle, with the addition of classic fantasy races like Elves and Vampires. The game takes place over a few days at the same coffee shop, where customers interact and you learn about their lives. The story itself doesn't have the traditional beginning and end; rather, it takes place in the middle, with an indeterminate beginning and an indeterminate end.
The characters are...decently written. None of them are overly annoying, and I ended up liking all of them, but most of them ended up not having a ton of depth to them. The real shame is that the character who is in the shop the most was among the least interesting among the customers. Again, she's not unlikable, but I didn't find her particularly deep or compelling. This is actually one of the two chief problems with the game - wanting more - which I'll touch on later.
Probably the largest problem is that the shop itself felt weirdly disconnected from the rest of the world. It almost felt like another dimension, where nothing that happened out in the world affected the shop in any way. While I can appreciate the escapism of such an approach, it also means that it's hard to have any real stake in the world that's been created. The characters seem to have no real place in it. No more apparent is that than in the choice of the barista you play as. They are genderless and faceless, and are in effect an extension of you. This again creates a disconnect as you can't really provide clear explanations as to why the barista does what they do, as the only real decisions you make in the game come from whether or not you serve customers the correct drinks (and what, if anything, you draw on their lattes). As you learn after completing the main story, there is a small twist concerning the identity of said barista, but the revelation is not worth the buildup and easily could have been discarded entirely. VA-11 Hall-A's bartender, Jill, was an everywoman with a clear identity and a place in the world, and as such was easily relatable. Unfortunately, that's not the case here.
The other issue with the game is, admittedly, not inherently a bad thing: I was left wanting more. The days felt very short. While there is an Endless Mode to dabble in, in 4 hours I completed the entire main story, including the aforementioned twist. Part of the problem may well have had to do with the setting: characters getting multiple alcoholic beverages in a bar - and staying longer and being more open - makes sense, while getting multiple coffees doesn't. Regardless, the days kept moving and as such, the characters didn't have enough time to develop. They all had their basic arc with a conflict to resolve, and that was it.
It's a solid effort, and as I said, wanting more is not inherently a bad thing: I wanted more investment in the world and the characters in it, as there was a lot of potential here. Unfortunately, I didn't get it, but I did ultimately enjoy the experience, and as such I still recommend it, especially if you've gone through VA-11 Hall-A. It's kind of like spaghetti without the sauce: it's close to what you want, and it gets the job done, but it's not quite what you're looking for.

This game, similar to VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action in many ways, has its own interesting lore that you can discover while reading the news, the stories written by Freya and meeting the characters coming to your café for a drink and someone to discuss with.
Though, if you're coming from VA-11 Hall-A I encourage you to embrace this game without trying to compare it with the one you played before. The stories are completely different, the world as well and it's interesting to see some problems being discussed that are relevant to our world in 2020. The secret behind the barista adding even more to that idea of similarities between that alternative-Seattle and ours.
If you have played VA-11 Hall-A before this game, you may find the drink system lacking, but the story are as interesting. If you haven't played VA-11 Hall-A and liked this one, what the hell are you doing ? It's time to begin another game ! And if you're like me and played both, let's cross our fingers and jump into Neo Cab while waiting for N1RV Ann-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action.

This is, essentially, a lite take on VA-11 Hall-A. The story is shorter (less than a quarter as long, judging by my respective playtimes), there's only a fraction of the characters, and the world-building isn't quite as deep, but because of that, it's more focused on the characters and relationships that it portrays without getting sidetracked. If you played VA-11 Hall-A and enjoyed it, I think that you'll enjoy this as well. If you haven't played VA-11 Hall-A, go play VA-11 Hall-A.