Hookah Haze Review (Switch & PC)

It’s closing in on the twilight phase of the shift, and the air around me is becoming increasingly pungent with the sweet scent of smoke cascading directly from the spouts of countless hookah pipes. In this corner of the world, the patrons are always looking to share their stories, and they’re often willing to ease the burden that slumps over time. And believe me when I say, time is of the utmost importance for me as of late; the doctor tells me that, in the wake of my fatal illness, there isn’t much else to do other than to absorb the final moments and spend each and every waking minute unraveling a fresh piece of information from my client’s logbook of thoughts and aspirations. Naturally, I oblige to heed this advice, for tomorrow may never come. In Hookah Haze, however, I can remain in purgatory for the foreseeable future.

Hookah Haze, for those who’ve yet to onboard their own share of information, is a “cozy” business and mixing management-simulation game, one in which players take to the role of a temporary manager at a nicotine-riddled hookah cafe. Think Coffee Talk meets VA-11 Hall-A, and infuse each of their respective stories with the wisps and wonders of a hookah-inspired ambiance, and you’ll have a rough idea of what we’re talking about. That, in short, is what Hookah Haze attempts to capture: an atmospheric simulation experience that’s absolutely bursting at the seams with relatable characters, heartfelt messages, and bottomless dialogue.

It’s been a good few hours since I first stepped foot into the occupation, and so, in my mind, half of the battle is over. And yet, even as I now begin to embrace the latter half of the journey, the climax continues to eludes me. Death, on the other hand, doesn’t.

Infusions of Emotion

Entering Hookah Haze is a lot like greeting an old friend by the door of a parallel universe. I say that, because, even though you’re worlds apart from each other’s respective homestead, you immediately begin to feel the warmth of the world and an inseparable connection between its local townsfolk and the stories that they’re so passionate to share. This isn’t a world that you’ve seen before, and yet, the people around you make it seem as though you’ve been a part of the furniture for as long as it has been spinning on its axis. The customers are alien to you, but to them, it’s almost as if you’re a permanent fixture in the trade. And that, really, is where you begin your journey: home.

For the sake of lathering a bit of context over the matter, Hookah Haze plays out in a similar fashion as Coffee Talk, in the case that, as a newly elected manager of a local establishment, you have the responsibility of catering for the locals, as well as the regulars who refer to it as their own private haven of sorts. The game, which sees you taking on the role of a young bookkeeper known as Toru, invites you to explore each of your client’s secrets and general roles in the community—a task that involves having to channel your energy into drawn-out conversations that span several shifts, as well as making vital connections through the power of—you guessed it—hookah. As it turns out, each of these local patrons have a few things to hide, and only the right hookah can bring about their secrets. Go figure.

Smoke & Haze

Hookah Haze centers its entire premise around three girls, in particular: Amu, an attention-seeking socialite who yearns to be adored by the folks of the city and its surrounding boroughs; Meigetsuin, an optimist who seemingly shelters a rather traumatic past; and Kurumi, a doll-making introvert who, like her fellow patrons, also shares a desire to unleash her inner secrets to those familiar enough to be able to understand them. And that, in short, is essentially what your primary objective is: learning what makes each of these girls tick, and utilizing the ever-evolving ingredients of hookah to establish lifelong bonds that’ll carry you through your final stages of life.

The gameplay in Hookah Haze isn’t anything to fret about, I’ll say that much. In fact, if you’re not sifting through copious amounts of text and highlighting the occasional dialogue choice to usher in a new story beat, then you’re either obtaining fresh ingredients to create warm brews, or blending some form of flavors to fulfill a request of some kind. For the most part, though, the only thing that matters is the art of conversation—a pastime that, if done correctly, can provide you with additional lore, routes, and avenues to explore later down the line. Again, it isn’t all that different from the likes of Coffee Talk; in an ideal world, you mix drinks, and you listen to tales, all whilst taking in the natural ambiance of the lounge. In other words, it doesn’t require a genius to put two and two together — just a natural-born conversationalist.

Plumes of Light

All in all, you’re looking at a rough ten-hour campaign here — and that’s taking into account the sheer volume of dialogue and nightly transitions and what have you. In addition to the game featuring a rather hefty amount of content, it also includes a slew of different endings, too—climaxes that, depending on the choices that you make during your time as manager, will affect the game’s general outcome and tone. For example, if you opt to use one set of recipes for your hookah instead of another, then there’s a higher chance that you’ll unlock one of several special endings for each of the three girls who come to visit. Of course, I won’t spoil the surprise by telling you which endings correspond with which character — but you get the idea: the choices you make determine the outcome.

So, is Hookah Haze actually worth pouring a handful of hours into, or is it something of a visual novel that’s better left to the imagination? Well, without sounding a little biased about it, I will say this: the hours that I poured into it were nothing short of exceptional. And it wasn’t just the act of mixing recipes and sourcing ingredients to serve my customers that made me feel the need to press on—I didn’t care much for that, to be honest—but the process of learning the stories of each of the three girls who I eventually came to know and cherish. That, to me, was what it was all about: finding common ground amongst the public, and manifesting unbreakable bonds between them. It was like Coffee Talk all over again, only with a fresh collection of faces to befriend. And honestly, that was enough for me.

Verdict

Hookah Haze isn’t exactly short on heartfelt moments or transparent encounters, as made clear by its rich tapestry of intriguing characters and relatable text. And to think, it isn’t exactly an easy task — generating a ten-hour campaign that can keep you emotionally invested for the long haul — but Hookah Haze manages to make it look like child’s play, and it deserves to be celebrated for being more than capable of doing that. Sure, its gameplay is all rather simple and even a little bare-bones, but that doesn’t change the fact that, as a product, it can still make even the most basic components come across as enjoyable—satisfyingly good, even. When all’s said and done, it isn’t the gameplay that drives these sorts of gigs, but the dialogue between the characters. To that end, it captures the beating heart of the genre incredibly well — and then some.

If you’re a die-hard fan of anything that sports the fashionable outlines of a visual novel, then there’s a good chance that you’ll adore just about everything that gets crammed into ACQUIRE Corps’ frothy little jewel. Likewise, if you enjoy cozy games like Coffee Talk (guilty as charged), The Red Strings Club, or Death and Taxes, then I have no doubt in my mind that the world that Hookah Haze illustrates will be more than capable of stealing your attention for the next few days, or perhaps even weeks, funnily enough. If, however, you honestly believe that talk is cheap, then you might want to steer clear of this one, as Hookah Haze is, for lack of a better description, an antisocialite’s worst nightmare.