Coffee, Plis Review (Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Switch & PC)

Picture a world where everyone has an unquenchable thirst for caffeine and croissants, but a shared lack of patience for incompetent baristas who can’t tell their creamer from their crumbs. Imagine that, and add a kitchen that’s teeming with frothy spillages and forced smiles to the equation. Do that, and you should have a vague idea of what Coffee, Plis looks like during rush hour. Now imagine this: four people, none of whom have the slightest clue how to manage a successful business, aimlessly rampaging back and forth between slippery surfaces and irritable customers. That, in short, is what Coffee, Plis encapsulates: a mirror to the world of incompetence and anxiety.

For the sake of bursting your bubble — no, Coffee, Plis isn’t a “cozy” co-op cafeteria management simulator. It isn’t Cooking Mama, and it definitely isn’t an entry-level culinary experience that gracefully courses you through the basics and hands you majestic stickers for your efforts. No, Coffee, Plis is a lot more abrupt in its approach to caffeine-oriented emulation. It isn’t kind, and it certainly isn’t peaceful; it’s brash, chaotic, and about as messy as one would naturally expect it to be. It isn’t about brewing coffee and catering to friendly guests; it’s about learning how to keep your head well above water while the world crumbles around you and the fumes from the coffee choke you out. And yes, it is awfully entertaining to watch unfold, especially when you have a ragtag crew to applaud your mistakes and witness your internal downfall.

At a first glance, you’d think of a game like Coffee, Plis as a relaxing co-op kitchen affair with a few subtle time-based challenges. But that just isn’t the case. Well, it is, but it also runs a lot deeper than most caffeinated beverages, in that it doesn’t just serve as a quick multiplayer romper, but as a continuously evolving experience that forces you to knock back infinite liters of pure and unadulterated chaos. Case in point, you don’t just serve one guest at a time, but rather, an entire battalion of souls simultaneously, all of whom have the patience of an evil tyrant with an itchy trigger finger and a knack for leaving eye-rolling reviews on your social handle after you’ve made them wait for too long for their caffeine fix. And even then, you have other duties that require your attention, like the cleanliness of the cafeteria, as well as the duties of the staff. The point is, if you don’t have a well-oiled machine for a workforce, then you don’t have a coffee shop; you have a toddler’s sandbox with dozens of unruly patrons on a temper tantrum.

Don’t get me wrong, the core gameplay loop is simple to wrap your head around. In fact, once you decide who will operate each portion of the café—the brewing process, the food preparation, and the front-of-house service, for example—then it quickly shifts into gear and becomes a lot easier to juggle. But, herein lies the main problem with Coffee, Plis: no shift is ever made to feel like a walk in the park. Given that the game is intentionally designed to put you to the test, almost every stage that you tackle has a ton of challenges for you to work through. Alongside the general populace being unfathomably ignorant, you also have the task of catering to vast curveballs that are likely to throw the proverbial spanner in the works. For instance, if you make a mess, then customers will reflect on it and essentially present you with a lower score. And that same headache applies for most of the jobs that you do here. The caveat is, you need a high score in order to unlock new levels, challenges, and kitchens.

When it comes to brewing coffee and preparing food, the process is as simple as hammering a few buttons in a timely manner and plating up. It isn’t a difficult task by any means, and it doesn’t require you to think outside the box, so to speak. That said, it does require you to juggle a lot of moving pieces all at once, doubly so when you progress further into each stage and allow for more foot traffic to frequent your cafeteria. And yet, it’s still a tremendous amount of fun to watch unravel from the comfort of your own home. It’s a little manic, true — but a lot of fun, nonetheless.

With all of the above said, Coffee, Plis is still a messy game. Although most of it is intended to be sloppy, the game does foster some janky visual elements and a general lack of polish. The controls aren’t half bad I’ll admit, but it’s the other things that dampen it—the random items clipping through furniture and walls, for example. It doesn’t spoil the overall experience, but it does pull you away from it from time to time. It isn’t a deal breaker, mind you. Still, it’s worth pointing out that, quality features aside, Coffee, Plis does still harbor a couple of loose screws.

With just enough stages and challenges to conquer over a decently sized campaign, Coffee, Plis is likely to give you enough bang for your buck. It might begin to feel a little repetitive after the first several rounds, but with a nifty multiplayer mode and enough variety in the customer request department to keep you busy, it ought to make the experience worth the investment.

Verdict

Coffee, Plis brews a charming yet highly erratic co-op experience the can keep both you and your ragtag band of culinary misfits serving, slurping, and spilling gallons of caffeine for hours, with more than enough oddball guests, scenarios and challenges to quench your undying thirst for classic, albeit bare-knuckle multiplayer chaos.

While the overall experience might lack the full weight of a meaty campaign, Coffee, Plis does provide a solid foundation for a genuinely engaging co-op venture. It might not be the best way to curb your appetite, but for what it does provide on a silver spoon, it ought to be enough to line your stomach for an hour or two between loftier meals.