Life is full of surprises and unpredictability. If there is anything that is consistent is that everything comes to an end and that death is inevitable. Or is it? Developed and published by Route 59 with publishing partners, Coconut Island Games and Playism, follow along the stories in the visual novel, Necrobarista, where a stoic and sassy Necromancer is running a café for both the living and the undead. If it’s not the morally ambiguous choices that are questioned, then it’s the coffee being served as dealing with spirits and working as a barista are two totally different ballgames.
As someone with the ability to defy the laws of nature, the Necromancer, Maddy, certainly has practice at not following the rules. A jack of all trades, Maddy, has many talents, however, balancing her responsibilities of maintaining the hours she owes to the Council of Death is certainly not one of them. Due to her outstanding debt and her frowned-upon tactics, she is quickly running out of time before she will lose the café. With not just the fate of her reputation and the café at stake, but her friends’ as well, she must quickly find a solution.
The concept and premise are certainly fascinating, however, Necrobarista is more of a click and point story than a game, as the player cannot make any decisions that may affect the outcome of the characters or the plot. The most noticeable feature that sets Necrobarista from just a visual story is that the player can navigate throughout the café when a chapter is over. Players then have the option of reading extra information from objects throughout the café once enough symbols are obtained from chosen words of completed chapters. Aside from this, there is not much a player can do, but follow along and read what happens next.
The introduction of the characters was at first interesting, but as the game continued, they began to grow stale and there wasn’t much incentive to invest more time into who they were. This staling was increased due to how the story felt very drawn out and that the characters themselves were not very likable. There are no great character arcs, emotional triumphs, or failures, and Maddy’s sardonic and patronizing attitude throughout most scenes makes Necrobarista a bit boring.
The humor could have been better written as most of the dialogue between characters felt corny and a bit dated. Most of the chapters felt like fillers and gave no depth in the form of major plot or character development. The three robots that appear between each chapter also served no purpose and their appearance was distracting. Couple all of this and with no actual gameplay, there is no hard incentive to continue other than to know how it all ends.
The whole café itself was designed very beautifully and it would have been amazing if there were more available interactions with the environment around. Such as, the player being able to interact with the characters and patrons instead of just the objects after the cafe has closed. It felt as though all the attention and work was invested into the environment and the soundtrack, but not much else. Especially when characters looked as if they were better rendered in some scenes than in others.
PROS: Beautifully designed café, soothing and nostalgic music that fits the mood.
CONS: Poorly written dialogue, no actual gameplay, and unlikable characters.
Check Out the Necrobarista Steam Trailer:
Necrobarista is available for PC via Steam for $19.99.
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Video games have always been a huge influence in my life and have definitely shaped me to who I am today . Some of my best memories growing up were the many adventures and stories I was able to experience and become immersed in. If my hands aren't either covered in clay, typing, editing, creating, or helping shoving food in my mouth, they would either be gripped to a controller, tapping away at the screen of my phone, or clicking away on my PC. I am always up for trying something new because why live just one life when you can live many.
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