Toge Productions' Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly is available now on Xbox Game Pass (console and PC), PlayStation consoles, and Switch. In it, Players work as a barista in a Seattle coffee shop where they serve warm drinks and have heart-to-heart interactions with their diverse customers.
The idea behind the Coffee Talk series stemmed from Mohammad Fahmi, who passed away in 2022. He was also an avid coffee lover and wrote a lot of the game's stories in a cafe in Jakarta, where he often spoke with the barista. Despite the untimely loss, Coffee Talk Episode 2's producer and composer, AJ, along with lead artist and art director, Dio, told Game ZXC in a recent interview that Fahmi's love for coffee lives on in the game, and the two discussed the real meaning behind a cup of coffee.
A 'Perfect Companion' in Coffee Talk Episode 2
Like the first game, players will find themselves behind the counter of a coffee shop in a world where the line between fantasy and reality is blurred. The barista will be greeted by old characters like Hyde, Gala, and Baileys—whose stories have been expanded on by new writer Anna Winterstein—but will also see new faces like Riona and Lucas, who have contrasting personalities. Riona is a banshee, which is a mythological creature who is an omen of death and screams as a warning, but she wants to reverse that stereotype and become an opera singer. Lucas is a satyr, a man with goat horns, and is also a brash influencer. Each character has their own story, and all it takes is a few warm drinks to draw them out. AJ said,
I'm not really a coffee drinker myself, but if I can take from the late Fahmi, coffee is all about culture. I think that people can really connect to each other through coffee because when you start sitting down together and you just drink coffee, you just let everything flow from yourself. You just want to share anything and I don't know why, but I think coffee really makes the perfect companion for that. That's what I kind of take from [Fahmi] about coffee because he was a super coffee lover.
Players will witness the interactions between customers and will often be dragged into the conversation, whether that be for advice or to place an order. The customer will notify players of their preference for the drink and then a coffee machine with adjustable settings and its accompanying ingredients will appear. Some customers will also request latte art. After every order, the characters may seem to grow more comfortable with the barista. Coffee Talk Episode 2 also features 50 new special drinks that have some influence on these conversations. Dio added,
Coffee Talk is a visual novel, but we don't allow players to choose a different conversation; we allow players to decide what drinks to give to the customer because the coffee or any warm drinks will open the character's heart. They share their story, and that's what Fahmi liked to do. He was in a coffee shop, he talked to the barista, he had this conversation with the barista, so he wrote a lot of the stories in Coffee Talk 1 in a cafe shop in Jakarta.
The Biggest Challenge of Coffee Talk Episode 2
The Original Coffee Talk was praised by many for its unique take on interactive visual novels, but some critics said some of the stories fell short and weren't that deep. AJ and Dio told Game ZXC that it was these types of fan reactions that influenced the development of Coffee Talk Episode 2. Dio added this means more story branching, while AJ said,
I saw several reviews where people said, this game is not really deep, just really casual, and some people said this is not a really good story because it's so boring and etcetera. But, we know there's a lot more people that really enjoy the story because it really relates to them. So in Coffee Talk 2 , we [made] the story deeper but also still kept relatable elements. We just really hope that they can really catch the story, and they just really like it. We really hope. I think people just want more stories.
Fahmi was the main writer for Coffee Talk, but now after his tragic passing, Junkipatchi has taken over to focus on the main arc while Winterstein has expanded on specific characters' stories. One character that Winterstein has worked on is Baileys, an elf who works as a freelance designer. He is in a relationship with Lua, a succubus, but neither of their parents approves of the relationship.
Indie game players and people who have a dream of being a barista were likely satisfied with the relaxing vibes and art direction of Coffee Talk and may be itching to play Coffee Talk Episode 2 now that it's out. Its aim is to be a cozy game, one with relatable elements tied to folks' love of coffee, and hopefully, Toge Productions will be sitting down with its audience, with a perfect companion in a cup of coffee, through its gameplay.
Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.