Little Dragon’s Café Review for Steam

When their mother comes down with a mysterious illness, it’s up to a set of twins to find a cure with the help of an unlikely friend; a dragon. The twins must raise a baby dragon on the side while figuring out how to create delicious recipes to further their mother’s café in her absence. Meet and greet quirky characters in your island town. Adventure awaits in Little Dragon’s Café!

Originally a title for Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4, Little Dragon’s Café finally makes its debut on Steam. Aksys Games and TOYBOX Inc. bring you this adorable heartwarming tale created by game designer Yasuhiro Wada. Wada is world renown for game series Harvest Moon and has a new story to share in this cafe running, world life simulation game.

When I found out about this game, it immediately made my “want-to-play” list. From an early age, my younger sister and I were fans of Harvest Moon and would play hours of the farm simulation. So when I heard Wada was part of a new game in the making, I kept my ears open for news. I wasn’t sure how I was going to like Little Dragon’s Café, so I held off on buying it and luckily was given the chance to review it for Steam. I really enjoyed my play time and wish I had more!

When you first start the game, it’s slow and feels a little meaningless collecting crops and materials to learn how to cook for the café. Cooking is simple with selecting ingredients and introduces a rhythm mini game mechanic to earn a grade for the food cooked. After two or so days in game time of this, you will be introduced to the plot and the most important part of the game: your very own pet dragon! Who doesn’t want a pet dragon? This promotes the adventure part of your story which takes you out of the house to gather crops, go fishing, find recipe pieces, and explore the island you live on. Your loyal dragon companion will follow you and even provide help when you can’t squeeze into tight spots. I honestly found this game to be a relaxing alternative to all the high stress games of today. It was refreshing to not have set goals and have the ability to head out whenever you see fit.

There are, of course, some shortcomings to this game. Little Dragon’s Café has some really odd characters and most of them sort of strike me the wrong way. This, of course, could be due to the cultural difference in Japan and the United States, but I just found something off-putting for a super lazy character or an overly aggressive character. There is a limit for how long your dragon can be outside with you. There is so much time taken away when you have to recharge a character. I am the type of person who wants to get as much done as possible in the time given in a game. So that burdened me a little. The plot does not flow too evenly in the world. There are points where you want or need to gather something but the plot would introduce a new cut scene or character and impede progress. It felt as if the plot and the free world experience were fighting against each other instead of coexisting.

When I look at this game experience as a whole, however, I generally had a great time. I felt relaxed during my playtime. In my opinion, this game is a great introduction for someone who wishes to get into video games as it has many genres rolled up into one experience. For more experienced players, it may be a let down.

Key Features:

• Raise your own pet Dragon!
• Collect and gather items in a free world setting.
• Learn to cook and help run the café.
• Fish and grow crops.
• Meet and greet neighbors and customers.
• Multi-genre gaming experience.

Score: 7/10

Little Dragons Café is now available for PC via Steam.