The coffee-as-visual-novel video game trend is due in a big part to Coffee Talk. Announced all the way back in 2018 and then released in 2020, a year when everyone was seeking the easy human connection that comes from hanging out at your favorite cafe, Coffee Talk took many of the typical gaming elements out of the game and offered up a low-stakes experience. And people loved it. It spawned a sequel in 2022, Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly, and now it is back for another installation, but this time, it’s taking place in Tokyo.
As reported by Noisy Pixel, the latest Coffee Talk was announced on August 27th as part of the Indie World Showcase, Nintendo’s event to preview new titles coming to their indie platform. Scheduled to be released in 2025, this is the first time Coffee Talk is leaving its home city of Seattle and heading instead for the late-night haven of Tokyo.
Set in a coffee shop on the backside of a skyscraper, Coffee Talk Tokyo features all the fanciful creatures living together and interacting. Humans, sprites, orcs, sea creatures, vampires, aliens, you name it. You play as the unseen barista, engaging in conversations with patrons and trying to figure out their drink orders (they are not the most decisive or forthcoming). It’s all very low-stakes and very chill.
Per Noisy Pixel, game maker Toge Productions worked with indie game publisher Chorus Worldwide to bring Coffee Talk Tokyo to life, and it will debut on Nintendo Switch in the coming year. No announcement yet on if it will also be available on Steam, where the original Coffee Talk premiered.
While Coffee Talk may not necessarily be everyone’s cup of tea in a video game—I need a purpose to my gaming, a mission that needs to be completed or a puzzle to be solved—and the solitude that helped make the first game so popular may have given away to returning to “life as normal,” it is nonetheless a worthy endeavor. No need for complicated gameplay mechanics or tortuous storylines. Just coffee and conversation with humans and non-humans alike.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
