HomeReviewsCoffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly
Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly review: more sweet tales from the fantasy caféVenti your problems over another warm cuppa
Venti your problems over another warm cuppa
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Toge Productions
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Toge Productions
Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterflyis a continuation of that story, set three years later in the same, alternate version of Seattle where elves, werewolves, orcs, mermaids and other fantastical creatures all rub shoulders as city-dwelling citizens in need of a good cuppa. Once again, you play as the owner of the titular late-night coffee shop, brewing up a multitude of exotic hot drinks that you’ll need to match to each customer’s request that night as they tell you their woes.
Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly - Release Date Announcement TrailerWatch on YouTube
Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly - Release Date Announcement Trailer
Get the order right, and you’ll gently nudge their lives in a better direction, leading to various different endings for its individual cast members, including (for the two main new characters, at least) the option for them to never return to your café ever again if you really balls things up. It’s classicvisual novelterritory, in other words. Sure, the idea of a coffee, tea, hot chocolate or milky drink being so legendarily good / catastrophically bad that it has the power to change the course of someone’s life still requires a certain suspension of disbelief, but with story arcs that play out across multiple days in the game’s two-week time window, Episode 2 lends itself well for a lot of repeat playthroughs if you want to see every possible outcome.
I’m going to say upfront that I enjoyed Coffee Talk Episode 2 a lot, and if you dug the first game, you’ll no doubt dig this one a lot too. I loved spending more time with this peculiar bunch of characters again, and newcomers Lucas and Riona - an influencer satyr and wannabe singer banshee, respectively - bring a welcome freshness to the pack as they debate the merits, flaws and general murkiness of online prejudices, selling yourself on social media, and finding an audience for your work, whether that’s randos in the ether or more traditional acclaim from lauded establishments.
Customers won’t always tell you exactly what they want, so you’ll have to experiment with different ingredients to try and match their wish. Usually, though, if the drink doesn’t have a unique name, you’ve probably gone wrong somewhere.Image credit: Rock Paper ShotgunImage credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Toge Productions
They join returning characters Lua and Baileys, a succubus and elf now in the throes (and frustrations) of planning their wedding, as well as werewolf Gala and vampire Hyde, the latter of whom has grown sick of his career as an eternally youthful model and is now seeking a different, albeit unknown direction in life. Then there’s Jorji, everyone’s favourite scaredy-cat cop who has a run in with some mysterious vandals sabotaging people’s cars around the city.
Alas, with the addition of new characters, it does mean other returning favourites get a little side-lined in the process. Orc Myrtle and mermaid Aqua, the pair of budding indie game devs, make a brief appearance here, as does cat girl idol Rachel, but they’re barely in it compared to the others, and their stories feel quite threadbare as a result. It also makes their respective endings feel even more far-fetched, as some you’ll only make one, maybe two drinks for over the course of the game. I quite enjoyed this trio in the first game, so it’s a shame they don’t get more screentime to flesh out their grievances.
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Toge Productions
Conversations can get heated, especially if you serve the wrong drink to them. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Toge Productions
Oddball astronaut Neil, meanwhile, has now restyled himself as regular human Silver, making him a bit blander in the process, but thankfully his visiting sibling Amanda is on hand to step into the role of ‘quirky alien comic relief character’. Their ongoing struggles to understand the human condition continue to lightly amuse among the more harrowing woes of everyone else, and it’s a credit to Toge’s entire writing team that the tone and style of Episode 2 as a whole feels one and the same as its source material - a role I wasn’t sure they’d be able to fill after the sad, untimely passing of original Coffee Talk creator and writer Mohammad Fahmi last year. But I’m pleased to report that, from a writing point of view, both games feel like they’ve stemmed very much from the same pen.
Never change, Amanda. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Toge Productions
Luck of the drawerThe lost property drawer feels like an unnecessary addition at the end of the day, as most story beats resolved themselves automatically, even when I missed giving them the intended item. I was gutted when I accidentally forgot to give one character a wedding invitation, but they ended up going anyway because they’d all texted each other as a back-up, I found out later.Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Toge Productions
There’s also a lost property drawer now where patrons sometimes leave things behind that you can return to them later. In some ways, hitting and missing these moments gives you a much more tangible sense of how you’re affecting the story than the actual drink mixing does. Riona won’t be able to discuss Lucas' offer to help her get her singing videos online if I don’t give her his business card the next time she orders a drink, for example.
