Pixel Cafe Review (PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC)

Simulation games are like a digital mirror of real life. Take The Sims, for example, where you can virtually live out your ideal life. Then there are games where you manage businesses or construct entire cities, facing various challenges and making decisions along the way. These games provide an escape into an immersive experience.

Baltoro Games chose this genre for their new game, Pixel Cafe, and the name says it all—pixels, a cafe, and coffee. It's a management game where work is fun, literally. You'll be hustling, serving customers, having chats, and maybe finding a bit of self-realization in the mix.

Wondering if Pixel Cafe is the right game for you? Stick with us as we unpack the good, the bad, and the ugly (if any) in our Pixel Cafe review.

New Beginnings

Right from the start, the game introduces us to Pixel, our main character. Pixel is a 23-year-old facing some challenges in life. The beginning gives us a glimpse into her childhood, suggesting that tough times began early on. Her parents drop her and her younger sibling off at her grandma's place, and you can sense some tension between the adults. It's relatable for someone like me who spent every summer morning at my grandma's. The drop-off is a mix of joy for the younger one and sulking for Pixel on the porch. 

As a child, she felt indifferent, and this feeling carried into her adulthood. She shares that she struggled to figure out her career path and what she wanted to be. Now, as she's grown older, she just wants to be left alone.

Fast-forward, Pixel's grandma passes away, and her ongoing arguments with her mother lead her to move out to her grandma's place for a fresh start. It's a new beginning for Pixel as a young woman, and she has to navigate the challenges of adulthood. The first step in her journey is to find a job, and that's where your adventure in the game begins.

Sip Happens

Pixel lands a gig working at a cafe known as The Pit. As a newbie, your first day is about getting a feel for the workplace. Thankfully, Sandra shows you the ropes. The second day is where you get into the nick of things. 

Customers stroll to the counter with a thought bubble above their heads, holding an image of what they want. Working at the coffee shop reminded me of those mobile games where a customer walks by the counter with their order hovering above their head. It's like you can read their mind—a gift I wish every food server had. But you can't have everything you wish for. This also goes for the server getting your order right. 

You'll spend much of your time in the cafe. The game starts slowly, with only a few items to serve and a limited number of customers walking in. As you progress, just like in Diner Dash, things get heated up. From making coffee, you'll dive into baking cakes and cooking eggs as you mark your one-month anniversary. Also, you'll be receiving more customers at different counters, so remember to swipe to cover them all. Moreover, you’ll earn coins for every successful order. 

The game also depicts how hostile the service industry can be. Serving disgruntled customers is never a walk in the park. You must make the right dish to avoid a pay cut. But you can throw it in the trash and start over. Plus, you can replay the level if perfection is your goal.

Brewing Relaxation

Pixel Cafe is a laid-back game that does not ask much from players. All you need is a watchful eye and impeccable management traits. The gameplay is quite basic and repetitive. But you can crank things up a notch with upgrades. With more money, you can get upgrades that perfect your customer service. Also, you may as well activate your “Special” when you are in a hurry. Activating it turns the cafe into a happy, trippy zone and boosts your equipment’s efficiency. Plus, it will certainly get your customers smiling. 

Moreover, the game is divided into levels, each representing a day at work. At the end of a caffeinated day, you retire to your house. You can use your wages to spruce up your crib since you'll be kicking things back at home over the weekend. 

Eventually, you'll move workplaces, which varies the gameplay a bit. From the Pit, your next gig is at the Breakfast Corner. Each cafe shop you work in has a target for the number of clients you serve before the timer runs out. This is reason enough to move on to the next gig. But since it is a game about the old adage of tough times and getting through, you're fired from your job, and it's on to the next one.

Each new location has a boss who puts the A in awful. Thankfully, some of them get served a taste of their own medicine. As you start a new gig, the headlines scream of their misfortunes. 

Sip, Savor & Spill the Beans

The game’s narrative comes to life through conversations and memory flashbacks. The conversations follow a visual novel style. Each character's talk comes with a pixelated picture on your screen. The story interludes are like a breather from the action. It's a sweet bonus, especially with the game's loop. It makes you feel like you're grinding away and eagerly waiting for your planned break.

Your typical workday will either include work-related discussions or nostalgic flashbacks. Plus, the conversations are engaging and relatable, especially for a 20-year-old navigating complex family dynamics. This makes Pixel's experiences feel quite close to home. Whether you're in the same age bracket or have already “been there, done that,” these dialogues resonate with a broad audience. As you progress through the interludes, the game throws a curveball, prompting you to choose which memory to relive. 

For instance, a heated argument between Pixel and her mom has her referencing her grandparents. So you get to pick which grandparent to rope into the narrative. The 

Speaking of pixels, you'll be seeing plenty of pixelated graphics. Well, what more do you expect from a management sim? They tend to sacrifice the visual details for the strategic experience in order to nail the immersive bit. Thankfully, Pixel Cafe does a remarkable job at this. 

The Good

From face value, Pixel Cafe delivers on the simulation management bit. Serving customers feels satisfactory after counting your earnings at the end of a hard day. Plus, the personalization bit, where you can improve your house, is the right push to throw you back into the grind. 

Moreover, the pixelated graphics are simply stunning, giving a generous serving of nostalgia. Plus, the lo-fi background music gives off cafe vibes, perfectly complementing the setting. The best part is that you can listen to selected music tracks from your house. And trust me when I say it. The tracks are music to your ears. Arkadiusz Reikowski, the artist behind “Layers of Fear, composed the music.” 

The game occasionally gives breaks from its repetitive gameplay with pop-up conversations or mini-games. None of the mini-games are brain-wracking, but seeing something else for a change after staring at counters for so long is good.

Additionally, the food preparation and delivery techniques are pretty simple. Its pick-and-drag gameplay makes it a game suitable for all ages.

The Bitter Brews

Unfortunately, despite being a simple game, Pixel Cafe has flaws. First off, the conversations in the game often take an off-turn. They sound like AI-generated scripts, which makes them difficult to keep up with. Take the conversation between Pixel and her second boss. Certain parts of the text don't add up. This takes away the seriousness of the scene since it invokes zero emotions from the audience. 

Also, in a pick-and-drag game, the simple controls can become frustrating. The train level, for instance, appears to have a glitch, which affects your customer service. After a few seconds, you'll have customers swarming the counter for their orders. And it doesn't help that you are helpless. Don't for a second think you are incompetent; the game's sluggish controls will fail you.

Verdict

Pixel Cafe is the kind of game you can't afford to overlook its flaws. The first levels are enjoyable, but things get frustrating towards the end. So it's pointless to recommend a game that becomes unplayable later. Following its launch on November 30, the devs released a pre-release update, but it didn't smooth things up. At the time of writing, the issue remains unfixed.

Moreover, the last thing you'd expect is sluggish controls for a game with a price tag. Especially since similar game versions are available on mobile and are free. This is certainly a miss for Baltoro Games, and until the issue is resolved, this is a game for the archives.