Sequel Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly from Toge Productions and Chorus Worldwide is ready for you on Nintendo Switch. Learn more in our Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly review!
Sequel Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly from Toge Productions and Chorus Worldwide is ready for you on Nintendo Switch. Are you ready to go back to your favorite supernatural coffee shop to work as a barista at the titular business in an alternate-reality version of Seattle in the year 2023? That means that the customers that visit and hang out at Coffee Talk are not of the usual variety. I got a chance to review Coffee Talk back in early 2020, so I was definitely looking forward to checking out Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly on Nintendo Switch.
This one is a visual novel, which means there’s going to be a lot of reading to do as you progress through the game’s story and meet its many characters. Your journey in this sequel will begin on September 19, 2023. Coffee Talk is a fine boutique establishment that opens its doors late in the night and remains open for its customers until the early hours of the morning. That means you’ll get to meet a very diverse and interesting cast of characters as the barista who prepares all of the drinks they desperately need in their lives.
Once the coffee cup on the bottom right corner of the screen is full, you’ll get to start a new day with a cup of coffee and a copy of The Evening Whispers, letting you know what is going on in the world outside the Coffee Talk walls. If you’re new to the series, you won’t have any trouble jumping right in, even if you did miss on fun prequel Coffee Talk. You’ll meet characters such as orc game developer Myrtle, freelance graphic designer elf Baileys, bisdev executive succubus Lua, Officer Jorji, social media specialist satyr Lucas, or supernatural banshee Riona.
After having to wait for the coffee machine to heat up – what with the constant electric storm outside causing some issues with the area’s power – you’ll be able to get started with your first beverage. Jorji will be your first client, so be sure to pay attention to what he wants so that you can prepare the perfect drink for him! Since he’s done for the night and has no midnight patrol to take care of, he’s going to stay away from coffee. This time around, he’ll sample Coffee Talk’s tea selection, with hibiscus and blue pea as options.
Jorji gives you a chance to pick which tea to serve him, so you might as well give him some of the titular tea. Btw, blue pea is actually short for butterfly pea, hence the game’s title. You’ll get to know each of the characters through their conversations and their orders. He is kind enough to remind you of his golden rule, just in case you don’t know it or have forgotten it: no dairy for Officer Jorji.
The machine was already set for making coffee, so your first step will be to reset it by pressing the B button. Once that’s been taken care of, you’ll be able to select the base for the drink. Since Officer Jorji is having some tea, you should select either some blue pea or hibiscus as the base. You can also select a primary and secondary ingredient to go along with it, as well as pick the temperature. The elements that you add will affect the drink’s sweetness and bitterness, so be sure to check what it is that a customer needs. This is very important because the drinks that you make for each of your customers will affect your relationship with them.
Some customers will like something extra with their drinks. Say you make a blue pea latte for one of your customers. They might want you to add some latte art on top as well! When that is the case, press the X button after you’re done brewing the concoction so that you can get started. You can then pour a bit of milk by pressing the ZR button as you move the cursor over the drink with the left analog stick so that you can start to create your masterpiece. You can also rotate the cup with the L and R buttons as needed.
Your phone is a very useful tool. You can pull it up by pressing the Y button. Once you see it on the screen, you can select between the social media app Tomadachill – think Twitter with a dash of Instagram – your Brewpad where you can check recipes, The Evening Whispers Short Stories free trial plan that will provide you with daily short stories, or your phone’s Shuffld app, from which you can change the background music for this colorful and chill experience. If you need to review a recent conversation, you can press the X button to go back and check out your latest interactions.
As for the extras, there’s a Gallery section where you can unlock 120+ images created for the game, with a handful of them being available as soon as you boot up Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly. There’s also an in-game achievement system with a bunch of objectives for you to work on. There are 53 achievements in total, and some of the objectives you’ll have to complete include starting a new game, trashing a drink for the first time, brewing your first drink, serving the wrong drink, meeting all main characters, listening to all songs in the game, serving one of the characters their favored hibiscus drink, unlocking all special drinks, unlocking all the artwork In the Gallery, completing the game, and then one last achievement for getting all other achievements.
Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly is a solid sequel that follows the formula of what Coffee Talk set out to do three years ago. It gives us new stories to experience, new customers to meet, new drinks to make, and an improved latte art system, all while giving us an extra shot of more of the same, which, as a fan of Coffe Talk, was exactly what I needed. Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly is out tomorrow on Nintendo Switch with a $14.99 asking price.
Disclaimer
This Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Chorus Worldwide.
