Pixel Cafe tells the story of Pixel, a young 23-year-old woman who just can’t seem to get a handle on life. At the start of the game, Pixel moves back to her grandparent’s house in Karstok for a fresh start. Not knowing what exactly to do and what passion to follow, she gets a job at a cafe. Thus begins the cyclical employment cycle of adulthood as she works hard to make ends meet only to be unemployed by the end of the month for reasons often beyond her control.
Pixel Cafe is a game of two parts. The first is a visual novel, full of disjointed yet profound conversations, while the other is a management sim, that puts you in Pixel’s shoes to serve the hungry guests of a given bar of the month. While the marriage of both parts isn’t always a perfect one, it makes for a game that I actually find hard to discuss. Nonetheless, after over 15 hours of collective reading and serving, I’ll try my best.
Let’s begin with the visual novel aspect. As a fan of the genre, I find myself a bit conflicted about Pixel Cafe’s narrative. In between the typical work days are story interludes. These are either flashbacks that often show Pixel interacting with her grandmother or present-time conversations Pixel has with those around her. I really grew to enjoy the breaks from gameplay because the conversations were interesting. As someone who is also in their 20s, I found myself relating a lot to Pixel and her struggles.
However, as I said, these scenes are often disjointed and end up feeling like unrelated anecdotes as a result. I would have liked it if these story beats were a bit more cohesive as it would have given the narrative more structure. There are discussions of war and relationships and there’s not too much context between them that ties it together. It’s clear that the story revolves around a special recipe that is important to Pixel but, in execution, this works less like a narrative thread that ties it all together and more like breadcrumbs being occasionally left behind.
One thing that makes talking about the story here a bit difficult is the game’s ending. Or lack thereof depending on your perspective. This is one of the rare cases where the statement “the game doesn’t really start until you finish it” applies wholeheartedly. It takes about four hours to clear the first island and roll credits for the first time. I say first time because you will do so multiple times. Getting to credits in Pixel Cafe often unlocks new areas to explore and seek employment at. You do get a shiny trophy for getting there and sitting through them, but they feel self-indulgent and not satisfying. This means that despite it only taking a few hours to get to an ending, it can take three or four times that to put the whole picture together. I admit, the ending doesn’t change how the first two-thirds of the game is paced and presented, it does attempt to recontextualize everything enough for me to say that you aren’t done until you’ve seen the credits roll three times.
Of course, a majority of those hours will be spent behind the bar, serving food and drinks to customers. Before I delve into the gameplay loop further, I have to say that despite the visual novel aspects in Pixel Cafe, it’s really not a game for visual novel fans. The story breaks up the gameplay, not the other way around, and you don’t make many crucial decisions along the way either. There is one dialogue choice Pixel has to make but it’s also one you loop back to see the other side of if you keep playing. To put it simply, these moments are just cutscenes that you can read at your own pace, and, to that end, I think they would have been stronger with the use of voice acting.
Alright, now time for the meat of the game. A majority of your time in Pixel Cafe will be spent serving up dishes and drinks to hungry customers in a variety of locations. It starts out simple, managing one window with a limited number of items, but as the game progresses, the number of windows you manage grows along with the size of the orders. To be entirely honest, while Pixel Cafe may exude relaxing cozy vibes, the gameplay is anything but. And not necessarily in a bad way.
I suppose the silver lining to Pixel’s unfortunate job insecurity is that each new job starts off easy. But by the end of the month, things can get truly wild as you juggle cakes in the oven, shakes being blended, eggs being cooked, and coffee being brewed, all before a customer loses their patience and storms out. In the jobs following the first credits, I found myself genuinely tensing up as the workday neared completion without the earnings quota being met. It is a stressful affair as is, and the addition of small mini-games (like fixing a busted coffee machine) makes that process even more brutal.
In fact, all this leads me to say that Pixel Cafe’s greatest achievement is that it manages to make you sympathize with workers in the food service industry. (Assuming you don’t already, that is.) When you’re already struggling to meet orders, little things, like the ice bucket needing to be refilled, can be incredibly frustrating. And when you include hurried customers, who will actively destroy items you’re preparing if you’re late in serving them, it’s hard not to want to throw a blender across the counter. That’s not to say that all my frustrations with the game were by design. Certain controls and mechanics can lead to unintentionally messing up an order (or throwing it away) and having to start over, wasting precious time in the three to five-minute levels.
Despite its frustrations, I really liked the gameplay loop of Pixel Cafe. It’s a nice balance of fun and challenging. Although I gave the game my full attention during the cutscenes, while I was serving, I put on a podcast and got in the zone as I whipped up plates of bread and ketchup. To ease the pressure a bit, you do have a power-up that lets you slow down time and impress customers for better tips. Getting the right orders to customers fast is what’s important here as missing too many customers will inevitably mean you won’t bring in enough revenue for the day. Not reaching even a one-cup rating will see you replaying the day over until you do. Surprised customers are a small but significant addition to the game and seeing them stare in awe as I hand them their order seconds after they place it is a rewarding touch.
For the completionists and masochists (though I suppose they’re one and the same), the game is a pretty easy near-Platinum. You can get a majority of the trophies/achievements just by playing through the game and rolling credits thrice. The hardest part of getting the 100% will be getting three cup ratings in all locations including the Nightmare levels. These are extra shifts you can pick up between the regular workdays that test your serving skills. They are optional for your main playthrough but there are two trophies tied to them so if you’re looking to get the Platinum and minimize replaying levels, then I would recommend going for the perfect three-cup ratings right from the start.
There is a house upgrading mechanic in the game as well but it really feels like an afterthought here. As you get money, you can buy new things for your house to improve Pixel’s happiness and, consequently, upgrade her stats for better power-ups and reduced penalties. However, it ends up becoming more of an excuse to buy random crap that you don’t actually use just to boost numbers. While I suppose this is poignant commentary in its own way, it’s just not that satisfying after the initial look you’re going for is reached.
Speaking of looks, Pixel Cafe is visually pleasing. The whole game is presented with pixel art (though I suppose you could say that about almost any game). Story segments often switch between a few well-drawn still images and character profiles make faces during dialogue to reflect their emotion. In gameplay, the game always manages to look fresh with each new job. Equipment and counters change based on where you’re working and their corresponding backgrounds prevent the visuals from getting stale. To put it plainly, no part of Pixel Cafe seems like it’s out of place, and that helps establish Karstok and its characters. Even in the more unusual settings.
To touch briefly on sound, the music is also fittingly pleasing, composed by Arkadiusz Reikowski (Layers of Fear), and there’s even a music player feature at your house that allows you to listen to any track you want. The sound department really comes in handy (for those with sharp hearing) because a lot of the equipment you use in the kitchen makes distinct sounds to signal when something is ready. This paired with the counter icons on the UI at the top of the screen should be enough to prevent you from burning your cakes to a crisp. Emphasis on should.
Over the last week, as I played and reviewed Pixel Cafe, I found myself coming back to the game more often than I expected. In fact, after a long day, I ended up reaching for this game instead of an open-world action game from last year that shall go unnamed. The story progresses in an unusual way that can make it feel disjointed, and whether the final story beat lands satisfyingly will change from person to person, but the gameplay loop is fun and intense enough to keep you engaged anyway. It’s an odd game, for sure, but it’s also faithful to its vision. Pixel Cafe is out on November 30 for PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC. A code was provided by the publisher for review.
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