Game Over: Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly

Recently, I reviewed Coffee Talk Tokyo, and I realised I never actually finished Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly. Oh yes, I’d done part of a playthrough, but after getting 100% completion when I played the original Coffee Talk? Well, I had to go back and play the whole game until I got that sweet, sweet achievement. Besides, I couldn’t go and get full completion on Coffee Talk Tokyo until I’d done the same for both of the previous games.

So let’s talk about Hibiscus & Butterfly. This is a direct sequel to Coffee Talk, with many stories continuing on from the first title, and adding some newcomers to the shop. Of the newcomers, there’s Lucas, a Satyr content creator/influencer, and Riona, a banshee who dreams of becoming an opera singer. Oh, and let’s not forget Amanda, another of Neil’s (the alien from the first game who now goes by Silver) relatives who is there to research humanity.

Of the old group, you’ll find Bailey and Lua, who are struggling with wedding planning; Gala and Hyde — the latter of whom is bored of his modelling career and in a bit of a rut; Myrtle and Aqua, who are struggling with communication issues; Officer Jorji, who is experiencing a rough time at work and home; Silver, who is still trying to find a relationship; and Rachel, who is working on a collab with Aremy Jendrews (the in-game version of Coffee Talk musician Jeremy Andrews).

As you can see, it’s quite a busy time for everyone, and of course, it’s up to you to serve your customers the best drinks to achieve the best outcome for all of them. But there’s also another mechanic, the Lost and Found drawer, where you can return (or give) items to the intended recipient. In some cases, returning an item — or forgetting to — can influence the outcome of an ending, and as with all Coffee Talk titles, you can expect multiple endings. Typically, to get the normal endings, you just have to give some of them the wrong drinks, but sometimes, you’ll need to actually combine a normal ending with a best ending to get every achievement.

Of the drinks, you’ll need to do the usual structure of a base, a primary ingredient, and a secondary one, and figure out which order to put them in. When it comes to the ingredients, you’ll find coffee, tea, green tea, chocolate powder, blue pea, hibiscus, and milk as your base ingredients. For your primary and secondary, there’s ginger, lemon, mint, cinnamon, and honey. Blue pea and hibiscus are the newest ingredients to be added, and you’ll be able to track the recipes you’ve discovered on your handy Brewpad app. An app, which, of course, comes in handy for Challenge mode.

While the story is the main part of Coffee Talk, there’s a Challenge mode where you make drinks to the customers’ specifications. In the beginning, it’s simple as they list the ingredients. In the second stage, they’ll name some of the drinks on the Brewpad, and in the latter stages? Well, you’ll need to experiment with what constitutes extra bitter or less sweet, as two examples. Getting the measurement wrong will mean disappointing your customers, but of course, if you’re like me, you’ll spend several hours just trying to get that sweet, sweet achievement of getting 50 correct orders on Challenge Mode.

Honestly, I appreciated the improvements that were made from the first Coffee Talk. Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly brings in fresh faces and a fresh way of looking at things. It was interesting playing it before and after Coffee Talk Tokyo, as it made me nostalgic for the Seattle-based shop, but impressed with what could be added in the future.

The Coffee Talk series will always be my comfort games, but I can’t lie. I think Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly is still possibly my favourite. Although Freya will always be my main girl, and no, I won’t stop making Hyde suffer for my entertainment.