I’m hanging out at my favorite virtual coffee shop in Tokyo

Finding a coffee shop that suits you can be an inspiring experience. For me at least, there are few places outside of my home where I can feel truly comfortable. I’m lucky enough to have two options within walking distance: a bright, airy, art-filled café, and another that doubles as a plant shop so I can be surrounded by greenery while I write. It is these third places that have become central in my life. But in the virtual world I also have a choice – and although it is not a place to get work done, it is also relaxing.

the Coffee talk The series began in 2020with A direct sequel came three years laterAnd the title really says it all: these games are all about coffee and talk. They’re visual novels, which means most of the experience is reading dialogue, like an interactive book. In each game, you’ll play a barista who runs a late-night café and also takes on a therapeutic role, listening to his customers’ problems and helping them solve them. You’ll also have to prepare drinks using a simple gameplay system to prepare everything from espresso to exotic cold teas. Oh, and you exist in a fantasy world, so you serve vampires, elves, and other mythical creatures.

Latest entry, Coffee Talk Tokyoit doesn’t change all that much in terms of structure or gameplay. But it’s a stand-alone story set in a new place — the first two games took place in Seattle — which means new characters to help out and new drinks to brew. Once again, you play the role of the ever-helpful owner of a café that only opens late, and your job is to serve the right drink and lend a listening ear. Shifting to Tokyo means that many of your patrons are plucked from Japanese folklore, such as the recently retired employee who’s also a Kappa, or the struggling pop star who was once a powerful dragon. It also means you’ll be making plenty of matcha and plenty of cold drinks to combat the harsh Tokyo summer.

There are a few things that make these games so convenient. The first is the drinks themselves. While the process is very straightforward, there is a soothing ritual that comes from choosing the right ingredients or discovering something new through experience. Likewise, it is very satisfying to do exactly what your patron seeks based on only the vaguest descriptions. in Coffee talk There is also no penalty for tampering. Someone might be disappointed by a drink, but you simply move on afterward as if nothing had happened. I should also point out that the atmosphere in the cafe is very laid back: lo-fi music, rain sounds, lots of vinyl records and cute trinkets decorating the joint. It’s a place I want to hang out.

But what really makes these games useful are the stories and the people you meet. It’s kind of a cross between Midnight Dinner: Tokyo Stories and Ted Lasso. Coffee Talk Tokyo The game may be set in a world where humans coexist with fantasy creatures, but the problems you’ll face are incredibly real. Your assistant, Vin, looks like a cool online hacker with augmented limbs, but in reality he suffers from chronic pain and tries to hide it so as not to burden anyone around him. There is a young girl who feels isolated at school because she is a foreigner. The stay-at-home father doubts the decision to give up his career.

These are important and relevant topics, and the game treats them with a masterful level of care and heart. It doesn’t ignore difficult issues, but almost everyone in the game is just trying to do their best, and so things get resolved in a way that feels reasonably optimistic. If only everyone I knew were as understanding as the ghosts and youkai I encounter in this game.

It’s all these elements combined that make the series so welcoming. Coffee Talk Tokyo It doesn’t change much, but it also doesn’t need to. All I want is more friends to help, and another excuse to hang out in a cold, lazy café.

_{Coffee Talk Tokyo Available now on PS5, Xbox, Switch and PC.}