Hanging out in my favorite virtual coffee shop in Tokyo

在我最喜欢的东京虚拟咖啡馆里消磨时光

Coffee Talk Tokyo is a return to the cozy cafe series, with new faces but the same chill vibes. 《Coffee Talk Tokyo》是这一温馨咖啡馆系列的回归之作，虽然换了新面孔，但那份惬意的氛围依旧如初。

Finding a cafe that fits you can be a revelatory experience. For me at least, there are few places outside of my house that I can truly feel comfortable in. I’m lucky enough to have two options in walking distance: a coffee shop that’s bright, airy, and full of art, and another that doubles as a plant shop so that I’m surrounded by greenery while I write. They’re third places that have become central to my life. But in the virtual realm I have an option as well — and while it’s not a place for getting work done, it’s just as relaxing. 找到一家适合自己的咖啡馆是一种启示般的体验。至少对我而言，在家里之外，很少有地方能让我真正感到舒适。我很幸运，步行范围内有两个选择：一家明亮、通风且充满艺术气息的咖啡店，另一家则兼作植物店，让我在写作时能被绿植环绕。它们是我的“第三空间”，已成为我生活中不可或缺的一部分。但在虚拟世界里，我也有一个选择——虽然它不是工作的地方，但同样令人放松。

The Coffee Talk series kicked off in 2020, with a direct sequel three years later, and the title really says it all: These games are about coffee and talking. They’re visual novels, which means much of the experience is reading dialogue, like an interactive book. In each game, you play as a barista who runs a late-night cafe and also serves something of a therapeutic role, listening to your patrons’ problems and helping them out. You also have to make them drinks, using a simple gameplay system to brew everything from espressos to exotic cold teas. Oh, and you exist in a fantasy world, so you’re serving vampires, elves, and other mythological creatures. 《Coffee Talk》系列始于2020年，三年后推出了直接续作。正如标题所示，这些游戏的主题就是“咖啡”与“交谈”。它们属于视觉小说，这意味着大部分体验都在阅读对话，就像一本互动书。在每一部游戏中，你都扮演一名经营深夜咖啡馆的咖啡师，同时也扮演着某种治疗师的角色，倾听顾客的烦恼并为他们排忧解难。你还需要通过简单的游戏系统为他们制作饮品，从浓缩咖啡到异国风情的冷茶应有尽有。哦，别忘了你身处一个奇幻世界，所以你的顾客包括吸血鬼、精灵和其他神话生物。

The latest entry, Coffee Talk Tokyo, doesn’t change all that much in terms of structure or gameplay. But it’s a standalone story set in a new locale — the first two games took place in Seattle — which means new characters to help and new drinks to make. Once again you play as the perpetually helpful proprietor of a coffee shop that’s only open late, and your job is to serve the right drink and lend a caring ear. The shift to Tokyo means that many of your patrons are ripped out of Japanese folklore, like a newly retired salaryman who is also a kappa, or a struggling pop star who was once a powerful dragon. It also means you’ll be making plenty of matcha, and lots of cold drinks to combat the oppressive Tokyo summer. 最新作《Coffee Talk Tokyo》在结构和玩法上并没有太大改变。但这是一个设定在全新地点的独立故事——前两部游戏发生在西雅图——这意味着有新的角色需要帮助，也有新的饮品需要制作。你再次扮演那家只在深夜营业的咖啡馆里乐于助人的店主，你的工作依然是奉上合适的饮品并倾听顾客的心声。场景转移到东京意味着许多顾客取材于日本民间传说，比如一位刚退休的河童上班族，或者一位曾经是强大巨龙、如今却在演艺圈挣扎的流行歌星。这也意味着你将制作大量的抹茶，以及许多用来对抗东京闷热夏日的冷饮。

There are a few things that make these games so comforting. One is the drinks themselves; while the process is pretty straightforward, there’s a soothing ritual that comes from picking the right ingredients or discovering something new through experimentation. Similarly, it’s very satisfying to make exactly what your patron is after based on only the vaguest of descriptions. In Coffee Talk there’s also really no penalty for messing up. Someone might be disappointed by a drink, but you simply move on afterward as if nothing happened. I should also note that the vibe in the coffee shop is extremely chill: lo-fi music, the sounds of rain, and lots of vinyl records and cute knickknacks decorating the joint. It’s a place I want to hang out in. 有几点让这些游戏如此治愈。首先是饮品本身；虽然制作过程非常简单，但通过挑选合适的配料或在实验中发现新配方，有一种令人舒心的仪式感。同样，仅凭顾客模糊的描述就做出他们想要的饮品，会带来极大的满足感。在《Coffee Talk》中，做错饮品也不会受到惩罚。顾客可能会对饮品感到失望，但之后一切照旧，仿佛什么都没发生过。我还得提一下，咖啡馆里的氛围极其惬意：Lo-fi音乐、雨声，还有许多黑胶唱片和可爱的装饰品点缀着店面。这是一个我想待着的地方。

But what really makes these games so wholesome is the stories and people you encounter. It’s kind of like a cross between Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories and Ted Lasso. Coffee Talk Tokyo may be about a world where humans coexist with fantastical creatures, but the problems you’ll encounter are incredibly real. Your assistant, Vin, looks like a cool cyberpunk hacker with augmented limbs, but they’re actually struggling through chronic pain and attempting to hide it so as to not burden anyone around them. There’s a young girl who feels isolated at school because she’s a foreigner. A stay-at-home dad doubts the decision to give up his career. 但真正让这些游戏如此温暖人心的是你所遇到的故事和人物。它有点像是《深夜食堂：东京故事》与《足球教练》（Ted Lasso）的结合体。《Coffee Talk Tokyo》或许讲述的是一个人类与奇幻生物共存的世界，但你所遇到的问题却极其真实。你的助手Vin看起来像个拥有义肢的酷炫赛博朋克黑客，但实际上他们正饱受慢性疼痛的折磨，并试图隐藏起来以免给周围的人增添负担。还有一位因外籍身份而在学校感到孤立的年轻女孩，以及一位对自己放弃事业的决定感到怀疑的全职爸爸。

These are important, relatable topics, and the game handles them with a deft level of care and heart. It doesn’t gloss over the difficult issues, but almost everyone in the game is just trying to do their best, and so things resolve in a way that feels plausibly optimistic. If only everyone I knew was as understanding as the ghosts and yokai I encountered in this game. 这些都是重要且能引起共鸣的话题，游戏以一种巧妙、细致且充满温情的方式处理了它们。它没有掩盖棘手的问题，但游戏中的每个人都在尽力而为，因此事情的结局总是带有一种令人信服的乐观色彩。如果我认识的每个人都能像我在游戏中遇到的鬼魂和妖怪那样善解人意就好了。

It’s all of these elements combined that make the series so welcoming. Coffee Talk Tokyo doesn’t change much, but it also doesn’t need to. All I want are some more friends to help out, and another excuse to hang out in a chill, pixelated cafe. 正是所有这些元素的结合，使得该系列如此受欢迎。《Coffee Talk Tokyo》并没有做出太大改变，但它也不需要改变。我想要的只是更多需要帮助的朋友，以及另一个在惬意的像素风咖啡馆里消磨时光的理由。

Coffee Talk Tokyo is available now on the PS5, Xbox, Switch, and PC. 《Coffee Talk Tokyo》现已登陆PS5、Xbox、Switch和PC平台。