Tokyo Coffee: Grinding in the Pandemic Review (PC)

Like you, I’d rather not mull over the thoughts of the global pandemic, because quite frankly, it often feels like a time capsule that I’d rather not bust wide open and visit again. And yet, even with a natural desire to steer well clear of that awful period in our lives, it appears that we still have some form to fascination with it. Well, I say that, when really, it’s the likes of Heaviside Creations’ Tokyo Coffee: Grinding in the Pandemic that can’t quite seem to move on from the past. As it turns out, the game itself still has an odd obsession with not only the worldwide downfall of humanity, but the stories that each of its community members have since made public domain. That’s right — even a coffee granule now has some spiritual attachment to COVID-19, and I can’t quite figure out if I enjoy that fact.

Of course, if you were to remove the blatant pandemic themes from the blueprint, then you’d essentially have something else—a VA-11 Hall-A and Coffee Talk hybrid, perhaps. Funnily enough, it doesn’t actually deviate all that far from the basic premise of either of the two aforementioned visual novels. The only major difference here, of course, is that its patrons don’t often speak ill of their neighbors, but rather, the ongoing issues between the everyday townsfolk and the ever-demanding authoritative voice that has a stubborn tendency for keeping a leash on their own citizens and what have you. But, other than that, Tokyo Coffee: Grinding in the Pandemic is exactly what it says it is on the tin: a visual novel about COVID-19, and one small business’s desperate attempts to stay afloat during times of economic uncertainty and financial turmoil. The question is, does it work? Let’s talk.

Teas & Tales

Tokyo Coffee: Grinding in the Pandemic isn’t so much a game as it is a time capsule of inescapable experiences and tales of emotional and financial trauma for people to rekindle. Set during the immediate aftermath of the global pandemic, the game transports its players to the root of a small coffee shop—a petite beacon of joy that, like countless other small businesses, has also fallen into disrepair and a rabbit hole of economic collapse. It’s within this small corner of the world where we, as overseers of sorts, are invited to share a cup of coffee with several of these patrons and other business owners, and talk about life, hobbies, and more importantly, the drastic consequences of the government’s decision to lock down the country and tighten basic regulations.

It’s a visual novel at heart, and so, while it does touch base on the odd mini-game and interactive dialogue piece, the vast majority of it is solely based around one thing: the art of conversation, and the countless stories that each guest has to share about their own experiences during the ongoing pandemic. Naturally, you spend a lot of your time with these folks, and so, the more you converse with them, the more they begin to share with you, and with all of this comes various strands of information, secrets, and other talking points to gradually explore. And that, really, is where Tokyo Coffee comes into its own: locked in a certain kind of purgatory, shackled to the aroma of coffee fumes and the lifeblood of everyday citizens and their tales.

The Fumes of Life

Of course, there’s a bit more to Tokyo Coffee than simply sitting idly by while others rant and rage about their own personal predicaments and what have you. Like Coffee Talk, yet another visual novel that adopts a relatively straightforward art style and progressive approach, you also spend a lot of your time toying with fresh ingredients and other recipes, too. Well, you certainly spend a lot of time going through the same motions of grinding, extracting, and pouring your coffee, whereas the other half of your shift is mostly spent listening to others. Whatever it is that you find yourself doing during these twilight hours, the process often remains one and the same: you brew coffee, and you talk. And that’s about it.

As Tokyo Coffee does take place during the height of the global pandemic, there are several rules that you must also learn to abide by, such as closing the store to meet government guidelines, as well as—and don’t tell the authorities this—opening up during the outer hours to serve your favorite customers their morning caffeine fix. But like I said, even with the watchful gaze of the officials forever keeping tabs on the country and making swinging decisions on what goes on within the far quarters of the city, your job doesn’t change all that much. Simply put, you grind coffee, and you chat amongst the other patrons whilst the world outside of your store continues to plummet into mass panic. It’s a darn good thing a cup of coffee has the power to alleviate such problems then, eh? Well, that is provided that you can make it.

One Cup at a Time

The good news is, you don’t technically need to be an avid barista to produce a warm cup of espresso in Tokyo Coffee. In fact, the game does a pretty splendid job of walking you through a lot of the basic mechanics and techniques — to the point of gradually allowing you to experiment with fresh concepts and brew fascinating elixirs with an array of beans and flavors. And even then, there isn’t a huge amount to learn, given the fact that the game, being more lenient on its storytelling than its gameplay, basically asks only that you listen, adapt, and casually stroll through a series of relatively laidback milestones and story arcs. In other words, you can’t really fail, you can only learn from your mistakes and figure out how to make amends later down the line, at which point most of the obstacles become more like molehills than mountains.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out where the beating heart of Tokyo Coffee comes from, to be fair. Like VA-11 Hall-A, Coffee Talk, or just about any other business-centric visual novel that adopts a simple gameplay loop, Tokyo Coffee pours all of its greatest assets into its characters, and not to mention the journeys that each of them are more than willing to share with you over a warm drink and a few melodic beats. This, unsurprisingly, is what the game is all about, and so, if you’re all for the idea of enjoying a bit of one-on-one time with a few relatable companions over a candlelight cappuccino, then you’ll probably enjoy a lot of the plumes that bubble out of the cauldron in Tokyo Coffee: Grinding in the Pandemic.

Verdict

Tokyo Coffee: Grinding in the Pandemic touches base on a time period that, quite frankly, we’d rather not visit for a second time. And yet, thanks to the eccentric flavors and fumes of a pot of warm pot of coffee, it isn’t quite as depressing as it probably should be. Sure, it’s a little repetitive, and it doesn’t do a huge amount to change that same generic blueprint that we’ve already seen countless times before in alternate iterations, but the fact that it does make an attempt at providing a thought-provoking insight into the global pandemic and its impact on Japanese townsfolk does make it all the more interesting and, in some certain cases, even a little binge-worthy, weirdly enough.

Sure enough, if you can pour one cup of coffee, then you can probably brew just about anything in the catalog. Having said all that, I’m not about to slate Tokyo Coffee for being overly simplistic, for it does make it all rather clear right from the get-go that, controversial themes cast aside, it isn’t a game that prioritizes perplexing puzzles or demanding control schemes, or anything of that sort, for that matter. No, what it is, when all’s said and done, is a cozy place for you to put up your feet and rest for a short while. The fact of the matter is, if you’re easily swayed by deeply rooted feelings and relatable stories, then I have no doubt in my mind that you’ll love pouring a handful of hours into Heaviside Games’ Japanese melting pot.