We’re in a gaming era where we have less large Triple A titles releasing every month, and more cozy or casual titles aimed at providing us those simplistic experiences that shaped what gaming is today. You’d think these games would do little to entertain, or perhaps be overly simplistic that you spend ten minutes in them and call it quits. Honestly, for us, that can and does happen with a few of the games we’ve played recently, but Coffee Please was not one of them. In fact, we couldn’t help but feel pleasantly surprised at how addictingly fun this shop management sim was, and we’re going to explore why, so let’s break it down.
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Running the Cafe:
In Coffee Please, the main gameplay loop revolves around, you guessed it, running the cafe. You’ll be darting around to customers, memorizing their orders, preparing their concoctions behind the counter, and then serving them their requested drinks. In casual mode, you won’t have to worry about memorization, however, I found it especially enjoyable to challenge our memory, ensuring each customer got exactly what they asked for. Of course, you can always walk back over to them for a quick refresher if you’ve genuinely forgotten and don’t know what delicious pastry or coffee to serve them, so even in the more challenging mode you won’t be entirely hung out to dry if you forget. If the unfortunate circumstance arises that you do serve them the wrong order, they will storm out with a quick “That was not my order!”, so be mindful of which items you click on from your tray while delivering.
In terms of the speed of gameplay, the game starts with a quiet and calm environment, with only one chair and client to worry about at any given time. As you upgrade your shop and add more chairs, that changes drastically. You’ll be darting around to a half dozen different tables, barely able to keep up with delivering orders before the first person you served is already asking for their check, and the moment you deliver it, someone else is walking in the door. Considering you can have over a dozen chairs, I’m sure you can imagine how it gets out of hand quickly. Surprisingly though, customers are quite patient. We’re not sure if it’s the adorable cat that demands fresh milk and pets every once and a while or just the lovely Lofi music and ambiance of the cafe, but we never had anyone storming out because we didn’t deliver an order in time. That suggests that despite the plentiful amount of customers you’ll have towards the end, you’ll be free of the pressure of them all storming out and leaving you a horrible Yelp review.
I have to admit, I loved the eclectic mix of cafe equipment, drinks, and pastries you’re able to serve, and the simplicity of the crafting menu is what made the difference in this being a tedious shop simulator, versus a fast-paced yet addictingly fun serving sim. There aren’t any annoying mini-games that get incredibly repetitive by day 10 and I can’t explain how appreciated that is. Minigames are great additions in the right place, but Coffee Please is not that place. Instead, you’ll open up your serving menu, locate the type of drink they want, and the special variant and size they’ve requested. This stands true with the pastries as well, keeping things as simple as a few clicks. It felt more like a true time management title closer to the Delicious or Diner Dash series, rather than attempting to overcomplicate something and ruining the experience in the process. It’s superbly simplistic and we loved it.Similar to the order creations, I adore the additional touch of having to generate change for your guests. No more do your patrons somehow have the perfect amount of cash for their three-dollar croissant, rather, you’ll be questioning why they gave you forty-plus dollars for their meal and counting back the change from your register. Don’t worry, if you get it wrong you can reset the amount and start over, and they’ve optimized the coins available to save you as many clicks as possible, which is appreciated because these high rollers can make it quite tedious on occasion. Honestly, it was just another quaint feature that you don’t typically find, but added a bit of fun to the cafe experience.
Upgrading Your Cafe & Ingredient Management:
As I briefly mentioned earlier, a large portion of the gameplay is saving up enough of your cafe money to buy additional chairs, tables, and equipment to craft new pastries and drinks. You’ll start with one chair and the ability to make one type of tea, and quickly work your way up to being a bustling barista who has no time to take a break.If you do manage to find time for a break, you might use it to check in on your stock count via the computer in your cafe. Many times I couldn’t believe how quickly I’d run out of the simplest ingredient, water. Thankfully for us, you can order more supplies mid-day and even close your shop to stop the clock, giving you time to pick up your supplies that get magically, and instantly, delivered to your front door. It might feel tempting to spend your hard-earned money on upgrades and leave yourself with next to no cash, thinking you have just enough stock to get you through the day. Believe me when I say you’ll need a decent bit of that money to keep your shelves stocked and your customers served. My biggest mistake of the game was purchasing pastry equipment knowing that my coffee and tea reserves were high, but then realizing of course that I now needed pastry supplies and had demanding customers I couldn’t serve, with no money to buy the ingredients. Thankfully I had a few loyal customers who only wanted drinks, allowing me to salvage the day by purchasing those supplies mid-service, but it’s a mistake that had me ensuring I wasn’t pushing my money reserves too low right after upgrading my cafe.
Business Loans & Bills:
Speaking of money reserves, as typical with most business simulators, we’re offered a loan from the bank which I used quite early on to secure some additional equipment and increase my menu variety. The game allows you to set the price of your pastries and drinks and this went a long way into helping us increase our daily takehome by a significant amount. Which, in turn, allows you to pay off any loans you might’ve taken out, and secure additional equipment even faster. If you’re the type that prefers taking advantage of the entire loan term, which in Coffee Please is 30 days, you’ll be able to casually pay off your balance with a small amount each day. That being said, you’ll need to factor in paying your daily utilities and rent, which come across as small amounts rather than a large lump sum, and I think I prefer it this way. A daunting bill constantly looming over your head that you know you’ll have to pay all at once can be tougher to manage than splitting that bill across each day you run your cafe. Other than the daily utilities and rent, or any business loans you might’ve taken out, you’re free to operate your cafe as you please, spending your hard-earned cash on whatever your heart desires.
Bugs & Issues:
Now, as this is an Early Access game and review, we went into it knowing full well we’d experience a few bugs, and indeed the first time we opened our cafe doors, we could barely get through the day without a customer glitching us into the table, or the blinds interfering with taking and delivering orders. That being said? The developers have done an impressive job with fixing most of the bugs, and save the cat still enjoying a nice power slide across the table to ensure they’re polished before the next guest, we’re happy to report that we didn’t find any game-breaking bugs or even inconvenient ones. We’re hopeful that your time with Coffee Please should be much the same, and even if you do come across a small spare bug hiding in the windowsill, we’re confident the developers will squash it before it can cause you too many problems. We’re happy to state that this team is wonderfully responsive and keen on improving the game to make it the best it can be, and that’s a win in our book.
Our Final Thoughts:
After a few hours with Coffee Please, I’m happy to report that I genuinely had a good time. For $13 you unlock dozens of hours of cafe simulation that’s peaceful, yet properly-paced to keep you active and entertained, with incredible Lofi vibes and a cute cat to keep you company while you play. If you’re looking for something simple to constantly revisit that’s going to evolve and grow over time, then this is one to consider supporting. If you’re the type that needs a story or doesn’t enjoy the repetitive gameplay loop, then perhaps it’s fine to skip out on this one, but if you’re like me and enjoy a simple time-management title that’s going to keep your brain on alert while you grow your business empire, then I’m confident you’ll find a good few hours of fun with this one.
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