Coffee Talk Review (jarjarblonks)
I booted up this game off of a recommendation from an online reviewer who I didn't really trust. He praises games too much just for the simple fact that they are indie, as if that and that alone means that if they do they're job competently, they should be praised.
I was expecting a Stock standard cozy talk game with meandering drama and a chill vibe, and i got that for the first few in game days. Not bad, but nothing really memorable. Im a completionist so i wanted to see it through and im really glad I did.
Coffee Talk is a really good character study that takes the setting of a coffee shop to explore the interpersonal longing of its cast of characters. The cast bounce off each-other in personality, and the writer/writers did an excellent job at making them feel unique.
The design, dialogue, personality and character decisions are all top notch stuff. As the owner of the Coffee shop you get a unique almost fly on the wall position on these peoples lives, from their relationships, to their orders, to their dreams and aspirations.
One character, (the main customer we interact with) is a writer finishing a novel loosely on the people who visit the coffee shop! This than adds incentive for her to strike up conversation with customers and help them through their problems and see them succeed. This dynamic wisely makes the conversations not devolve into small talk every time a new character is introduced or a new day is starting.
Coffee talk uses this fictional world to make a really interesting point about racism. That if humans weren’t the only majorly intelligent species, then species would clash and it would be a species division instead of a skin colour division. And in their world they have racists or species claiming that if only their species lived the world would be better off, or not divided. As if it would end division, which is a fiction that is our reality and quite plainly not true!
Coffee talk is a very well made game, with a-lot of heart, interesting introspection and well written arcs and stories.
8.3/10
My favourite character was Myrtle the Orc.