Overall, where Coffee Talk 1 and 2 are funnier, even if still real, 3 is an overall more serious take on the genre, tackling harder and more nuanced topics, such as chronic disabilities. It's also more inclusive, has better art, and factors in whether you've read Tomodachill posts in the talks.

Overall, a game about grieving. But in a cozy and safe atmosphere.

I haven't finished the game yet (I'm on day 12 now), but unlike the first game, I don't think I can recommend CT Tokyo to anyone.

(Warning there will be spoilers ahead.)


For starters, I get the feeling that this game was written by someone from the Twitter/X, social media loving, Gen Z+ generational group.
While social media was present in the previous games (iirc), I don't remember it being anywhere near this pervasive. Checking the social media posts everyday was rather tedious, the hashtags especially. Even more so when I realised they would have a bearing on the storyline and dialogue. One irritation was that I couldn't save any of the useful recipe posts that explained how to make certain drinks. One day they'd be there, the next they were gone and it seemed like you were expected to jot them down elsewhere. Another irritation was the lack of explanation of some hashtag abbreviations. What on earth is #MFST? I still don't really know even after googling it as the abbreviation seems to have multiple meanings. Also, having to click on every post to make sure it was registered at read felt like a chore.

There were a number of spelling and grammar mistakes within the game as well. They weren't very common, but a few were quite obvious, which makes me think there was a lack of proof reading for this game. The presence of social media slang wasn't appreciated either. "I love this for you." appears in the dialogue on day 11(?) and considering the context and dialogue that followed, I couldn't work out whether this meant to say "I'm happy for you" or "I love this side of you". English is my mother tongue and personally I would consider this sentence as grammatically incorrect. Apparently it's used somewhat on social media, so maybe I just don't spend enough time on X to be aware of the lingo, but I don't feel like it really should have been used in the game when other wording would have been perfectly sufficient, like in my examples of what I thought it might mean.


Some of the dialogue felt very frictionless, unnatural, shallow and borderline preachy. There were points in the game so far where I felt like I reading a self-help therapy book rather than playing a game or watching a realistic conversation unfold. At points it seems more like 'topic bingo' than a genuine discussion of societal or relationship issues.
From what I remember from the first game, the customer's issues usually related to their supernatural/mythical nature. Like a werewolf storming into the cafe during a full moon and needing a very specific drink and a vampire that usually knew the right thing to say as a result of his decades of wisdom the other characters didn't have. Having the issues framed in a supernatural context provided a nice bit of distance that prevented the game from sounding too, if at all, preachy. In CT Tokyo, it seems like there are more human characters than supernatural characters (I haven't counted them), not necessarily because there are more, but because their supernatural/mythical nature doesn't really come through in their actions, words or behaviours. At the same time, it feels like some characters aren't quite human at all because of how lacking in flaws they seem to be.

Overall, the characters often feel flat, shallow and underdeveloped, and the cultural aspects, including the species of the characters seems a bit like an afterthought. None of them feel very real to me. Several characters leave me with more questions than answers.
Makoto, the no-face... how exactly is he drinking his drinks? Erika - is she adopted? It doesn't seem like it from the dialogue, but... a pixie and a human, created a kitsune... how? Genuinely don't know what's going on there. Yuki... she's a yuki-onna and yet... despite the game being set in summer during the sweltering heat, there's no sign of her species being impacted by this at all. Surely a yuki-onna would either be melting in that weather, or a walking AC. Sure she seems to be the least bothered by the heat but considering the amount of dialogue around air conditioners and heat, I'm surprised it's not addressed at some point in the dialogue.
For some characters, I do feel like their issues are so generic and common that the characters could have been written as humans without any change to the plot. Yuki, Ash, and Erika come to mind. If they are going to be written as supernatural characters, it should mean something.
Yuki and Emi in particular, feel very flat as characters to me. They talk about their problems occasionally, but I don't get the sense that they really feel the way they say they do sometimes. At points I feel like these characters purely exist to help other characters and progress the story. They always know the right thing to say, in a way that feels incredibly unrealistic. Others’ reactions to said advice seem often too agreeable. There's little friction or pushback. Not all the characters are like this though. Kenji, Ayame and Erika are probably my favourite characters in the game.
I also don't get much sense of Tokyo or Japan from this game. It feels like all of this could have easily set in another country with little change to the plot or character designs. I think more research could have been done to make the setting and characters feel more Japanese.



Making drinks is enjoyable as always and I'm very pleased with the new options for hot or cold drinks. It adds more variety which is very welcome. The whipped cream and ice cream are also nice additions which fit the season and weather. I do wonder why only Soy Milk is used in this game as opposed to regular milk. The game suffers a bit as a result of the increased options in that it's more difficult now to find the set recipes through trial and error. It seems like the game makes up for this with the barista or the characters practically giving you the answer, which is a bit of a shame because it takes the fun out of it. I feel like there must be some middle ground here than could have been reached.
When it comes to drinks making a difference to the characters, it doesn't feel like as much impact as previous games. Maybe that's just rose-tinted memories from the previous games, I don't know. There's usually a considerable gap between drink making where you are just listening, which would be fine if I was more invested in the characters, but I'm more bored than anything now and just want to get to the end.
The latte art is enjoyable as always. I think the controls for it are more user-friendly than I remember from the first game. One thing that did bother me though was the lack of on-screen hints on how to rotate the cup (I'm playing on a laptop with the keyboard). I had to find the correct keys through trial and error. Another addition which might be nice if another CT game is made is a little instruction leaflet on how to make certain latte art shapes. I'm always resorting to simple shapes cause nothing else turns out well. It's good that the latte art rarely has a bearing on the game, but it would be nice to expand this feature a bit more even if it's just cosmetic and purely for player satisfaction.


I won't be recommending this game. It just doesn't live up to the standard that I remember, writing-wise, for the first game. This game had more heavy lifting to do by introducing a brand new cast, but it fell short with many characters feeling very flat and boring, so much so that I'm just not invested in their lives and don't really feel like I know them at all. I just want to get to the end now. Add to that the preachy nature of some dialogue, and the reliance of social media, I don't think I can recommend it.
I'll finish the game and maybe check out a few alternate endings, but I doubt I'll want to revisit this game in future.

Another good entry into the Coffee Talk series. Coffee Talk Tokyo still captures the same cozy late night atmosphere of the previous games, and it's what makes these games so loveable to me. The art and music are spectacular as usual, and it really adds to the overal atmosphere of the game.

However, the writing in this game is not as strong as that of the first two games. Of the main stories, only that of Ayame's really touched me, whilst the other characters and storylines were far less compelling to me. These other stories weren't bad by any means, but compared to what we've had in the previous Coffee Talk games, it's definitely a step down, and overall, this game is just not as good as the first two.

Despite this, Coffee Talk Tokyo is still a really lovely and worthwhile experience. If you enjoyed the previous games because of the atmosphere, you'll definitely enjoy this one.