Posted on: December 10, 2022

user_edited
Verified ownerGames: Reviews: 23
Adorable... until you hit the grind
I really wanted to love this game. It has many nice qualities: adorable art, comfy concept, charming setting and characters. But... ugh, the grind! And no, I don't mean the coffee kind. The gameplay loop consists of attracting specific types of customers, each of which reward you with their unique currency. Each type of currency is then used to buy certain types of items which (ideally) improve your cafe. As an example, Fishermen give Fish, which is used to buy items for your cats. But here's the grind: every item costs way too much! And the devs decided to make the Businesspeople's currency (Gems) used in combination with other currencies, for almost every item. So you will *always* need gems. There isn't any sane cost scaling either - you'll have to decide between a tiny cat toy, or a deep fryer. Because you only have enough gems for ONE item after slaving away for an entire game day. And that's with additional staff, staff and cats leveled up correctly, meeting customer's needs, only attracting customers with desired currency... after all that, I could only afford *one* item! Perhaps if you approach this game with a mobile game or automation mindset it would be passable. However, for someone who approached this as an active, hands-on game, all my efforts reduced to only affording one item a day felt like a kick in the hoo-ha. I also found advancing the social bonds with the regulars is poorly balanced. The game constantly reminds you that you can invite them, but doesn't warn that with each bonding level increase, an entire class of customer will become more demanding. And if you can't meet their expectations at this new level, your income will tank. It was also disappointing that the staff sprites have identical clothes/poses/body types. And always holding a serving tray, even when out of business hours. Not sure if I recommend this in its current state, unless you love grind as much as you love cats.
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