Coffee Talk Episode 2, Hibiscus & Butterfly Nintendo Switch Review

Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly is developer Toge Production’s sequel to its hit visual novel barrister simulator, Coffee Talk. You play as the barrister at the Coffee Talk Cafe in Seattle. As you serve drinks and converse with regular customers and new ones, you become friends. Throughout the story, you’ll learn about their lives, current events, their struggles, dreams, and more all over a hot beverage. The game continues some character arcs that were established in the previous game and starts new ones. There are also a few elements added, but perhaps not enough.

The Story Continues

Coffee Talk 2 is the continuation of your story as a mysterious, but cool barista. You will be following several returning characters from various mythical and non-mythical races. This includes the couple of a business-oriented succubi and a freelancer elf who are set to marry but must first overcome their family issues, the friendship between an orc and a mermaid and how it’s being tested by a videogame developer who presents them a questionable deal for their indie game, a vampire who’s contemplating a career change, and a police officer who’s tasked to solve some strange events going on in town, among others. The game also introduces new characters like a banshee who’s facing difficulties believing in her dreams and a boisterous influencer who tries his best to help everyone while trying to create unique content.

As a narrative-focused game, Coffee Talk Episode 2 does a great job of continuing several characters’ stories that started from the first game, which rewards returning players, while also not isolating newcomers by making these stories simple enough to follow. New characters bring new perspectives and personalities to the series. While the game doesn’t end in a definite way, it was still entertaining and satisfying to see the end of the narrative and watch the characters grow separately and together.

What’s New?

It’s also worth mentioning that the game sports several endings, many of which depend on the new item-in-drawer mechanic. This feature lets players make choices that can affect the way characters and stories are played out. For example, you’ll be given items from one character to give to another or choose what item to give a character at specific points in the story. Failing to deliver the items, providing them too late, or selecting specific items over others will affect the story, how it plays out, and what ending you’ll get. However, while the new feature is cool, I admittedly found it hard to take it seriously as it was used too loosely throughout the game, and some decisions didn’t matter as much as I thought they would.

The game adds to the existing ingredients two new ingredients for coffee and tea. These ingredients bring to the game more than six delicious, colorful and visually appealing beverages. However, while their addition is nice, just two new ingredients wasn’t enough to make the brewing experience distinct from the previous game. I think the developers knew this too, because they made players re-learn all the recipes from the previous game to compensate for their lack.

Extras

When not brewing teas and coffee and listening to customers, players can also use the in-game Twitter-like social media app “Tomodachii,” which loosely ties into the story, as players use it to keep up with the characters’ lives. They can also choose background music that is mostly carried over from previous games, as well as read thought-provoking and beautifully written poems and stories in the newspaper app.

Visually, because much of the game’s assets are carried over from the previous game, the game looks mostly unchanged from the last game, with little to comment on. The game has excellent, highly detailed and aesthetic pixel artwork, while the new characters are designed in a unique and creative way. Lastly, Coffee Talk Episode 2 has a gallery with tons of art from talented artists, some seen in the game’s story, others just extra. It also has art paying tribute to the game’s creator Mohammad Fahmi, who sadly passed away last year, which was incredibly heartwarming.

Final Thoughts

Overall, while I feel more gameplay content should’ve been added to the sequel, Coffee Talk Episode 2 still managed to impress and entertain me as a fan of the series, with its endearing characters and heartwarming story despite having a different writer from the first game. Coffee Talk, the sequel, and other visual novels that have a cozy vibe and a good story are worth checking out if you like visual novels.

Do you frequent Cafes? Do you play this game? What do you think of our review? Please let us know what you think in the comment section below.