Hookah Haze: Everything We Know

Coffee Talk and VA-11 Hall-A have merged together to infuse their aromas and inspire a new sort of project—a visual novel called Hookah Haze. That’s right, a visual novel based entirely around hookah (or flavored tobacco, to the Western clientele) lounges, and the regulars that call them home. If that doesn’t sound like a cozy spot to kick off your boots and meander around in for a few hours, then honestly, we don’t know what is.

At the time of writing, Hookah Haze has been slated for a loose 2024 release on a multitude of platforms. Need to know a bit more ahead of its debut? Here’s everything we can currently tell you about the latest visual novel.

What Is Hookah Haze?

Hookah Haze is an upcoming romance visual novel—an episodic tale in which players take on the role of the temporary manager of a local hookah bar. As such, you will need to study the routine, and make firm connections with the regulars, and well as those on your payroll. Turns out, there are three “eccentric girls” who just so happen to share a love of the product—a fondness that you, weirdly enough, will be able to connect over and use as a gateway to a potential romantic relationship. Fair enough.

From the sounds of the press release that came out earlier this week, Hookah Haze will release with a selection of language options, including English, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese. So, if you happened to have any concerns over whether or not it’d be localized on launch — don’t, basically. If all goes according to plan, then we should, with any luck, hear a bit more about it over the coming months. But more on that shortly.

Story

According to the blurb, “the protagonist, Toru Sumiki, loses the will to live after being diagnosed with a fatal illness. Toru’s doctor insists he should make the most of the little time he has left, and he signs on as a temporary manager of a hookah lounge.”

“Through his new job, Toru meets three very unusual girls,” the blurb continues. “Although cheerful at a glance, they’re battling with work problems or past trauma, searching for a place to belong. As Toru begins to bond with them through hookah, what will he find once the girls fully open up to him?”

So, there you have it. On paper, it’ll be a story about hookah — and not to mention the staff’s obsession with the product. But deep down, however, it’ll be a love story between several like-minded people, all of whom have their own opinions, beliefs, and motives. To that end, it’ll be your job to divide them, and ultimately find true love in a seemingly troubled world.

Gameplay

It’s a visual novel, through and through, so you can expect to wade through a whole lot of dialogue. In a similar fashion to most games of its kind, it’ll also allow players to make crucial decisions that effect alter the course of the narrative, which means, where one decision could change your relationship with a particular character, it could do the opposite for another. And, seeing as there’ll be three girls to familiarize yourself with, there’ll no doubt be a lot of opportunities to either break hearts, or fix them. Speaking of which, here are the four characters that ACQUIRE has introduced to date:

Amu Aigami

“Don’t skimp on praise for me, I deserve it!”

Birthday: November 11. 23 years old. Blood type: B.

Novelty cafe employee at Akihabara. Thirsty for attention, loves to be spoiled. Absolutely loves herself.

Meigetsuin Kokoro

“Ever thought being alive was overrated?”

Birthday: June 21. 27 years old. Blood type: A.

Store clerk. Polite, intelligent and usually optimistic, but hides past trauma.

Kurumi Komori

“Nuts!”

Birthday: July 22. 21 years old. Blood type: B.

A doll-maker employed by a big business. Comes off as willful. Not a great communicator.

Toru Sumiki

“I’d like to connect with someone through my interests.”

25 years old. Blood type: AB

Hookah Haze’s temporary manager. Has a tendency to give up on his own desires and put others before himself. Loves hookah and fish tanks.

Going by the press release that was teased by ACQUIRE, “tobacco flavor recommendations on social media affect who visits the lounge, weaving the twists of the story nudged in this or that direction by the choices the protagonist makes in the course of relaxed late-night conversations with his customers.”

Development

アクワイア新作発表🎉Aniplexとの協業第2弾になったけど、実はこちらの方が先行して進んでいたプロジェクトだ。
裏話的にはホリーは後付けで協業になった。最近ではプロジェクトの立ち上げ方も変わってきているhttps://t.co/vnCFScsGZI

— 遠藤 琢磨@アクワイア (@takuma_endo) December 4, 2023

If you did miss the initial announcement earlier this week, Hookah Haze is a product of ACQUIRE, a Japan-based studio that, at the time of writing, has been responsible for the likes of AKIBA’S TRIP, No Heroes Allowed!, Way of the Samurai, and Octopath Traveler. Suffice to say, Hookah Haze is in capable hands, and what’s more, under the guidance of reputable publishing house Aniplex, too. So, hardly any reason to fret, all things considered.

Trailer

Looking to whet the whistle? Good news — ACQUIRE actually went on to post a trailer of Hookah Haze on its streaming channel earlier this week. Need we say more? You can check it out for yourself in the video embedded above.

Release Date, Platforms & Editions

Hookah Haze will be heading to Switch and PC via Steam at some stage in 2024. Does that mean we can scratch out the odds of it being on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 at some point in the distant future? From the looks of it, yes. But then, as we’re still a ways off from seeing it grace the shelves, it could still very well port its way over to either of the two as a post-launch emulation. The jury’s currently out on that one.

Edition-wise, Hookah Haze will only have the one copy, which will be available on both the Nintendo eShop, and Steam, as a digital download. You can go ahead and add that standard copy to your wishlist on Steam here.

Interested in staying up to date with Hookah Haze? You can check in with the team over at ACQUIRE by following their official social handle here. If anything changes ahead of the game’s 2024 release, we’ll be sure to fill you in on all the details right here on gaming.net.

So, what’s your take? Will you be picking up a copy of Hookah Haze when it arrives on Switch and PC? Let us know your thoughts over on our socials here.