Mixed Spirits: Bartender

first of all congrats to all the artists who worked on this game!! i especially loved the drink designs and the characters, they look so unique. the game is definitely very niche, and the mechanics are really well done. you really get the most out of what a good bartender game can offer. definitely one of my favorite games from you guys so far!! :3

The game is fun and relaxing, with a satisfying gameplay loop, though after several hours it does begin to feel repetitive and lacking. Even in hard mode there's not really any challenge as the customer's patience seems to last just as long as the tip window, so if you switch from casual to hard mode you're already used to making drinks at the required speed and the change is barely noticeable. The art in the game is probably the highlight. Character designs are fun and mostly distinct enough from each other, and the ingredients, backgrounds and cocktails are all nicely designed as well. The character's social media posts also feature illustrations often, which I thought was nice. The phone in general is a nice feature and i enjoyed the inclusion of the little minigames, though I do wish there was a way to check our highscores in them Unfortunately, the writing in this game might be my biggest problem with it. Every interaction is trying to hard to be deep that it circles back to being hollow, and all of the attempts at emotional moments fall flat. And a lot of characters have the same personality and lack a unique voice. Most of their personalities come from their designs rather than the way they speak. I also don't really get the friendship system. I didn't know there even was one until I got a steam achievement saying I'd hit max friendship with a character. There are other milestones that suggest how far you've progressed in your friendship with a character, but when there's so many characters it's hard to keep track of all this. I also don't like how the main character is written. In my opinion they don't work as a self insert when so many other characters try to deeply psychoanalyse them and end up saying things about them that a good amount of players won't relate to. I'd rather the game just committed to making them their own character with their own name and design rather than having this confusing character who's both too vague to be interesting and too specific to be relatable to all or even most players. Overall, despite my criticisms, I did like this game. I got a decent amount of hours of enjoyment out of it for the price and will probably still play for another couple of hours. I just think it has a lot of untapped potential and the writing could be greatly improved.

Overall I think it is an incredibly fun game I would recommend to people who are more into the gameplay aspect than roleplaying as a bartender. The mechanics are the highlight of the game and never get tiring. I enjoy the customization of the ingredients, garnishes, glassware, and drinks a lot. The cocktail recipe designs are always cute and exciting when you get a new order you have never seen. Managing ingredients and restocking is fun to manage with the early game financial constraints. I like how diverse the array is of flavors, moods, and types of liquors creams and spirits. The game could benefit from a tutorial minigame the first time new minigames are introduced. The beer tap minigame, for example, will only let you go for one pour, which was slightly jarring to have to learn through trial and error, perhaps letting multiple pours occur could be implemented. A major issue I encountered the game is the dialogue. During my playthrough my friends and I ended up skipping most of the dialogue once we hit around level 30 because it was a struggle to get through. The various designs of the patrons are amazing and we loved the diversity. But most of them had a rather stilted and esoteric way of speaking that we felt removed us entirely from the atmosphere. There are only a rare handful of NPCs where the dialogue feels authentic and relatable, though it is clear there are a lot of references to other media so perhaps much of the dialogue is also a reference to their source material. The fact that the dialogue tree is exceptionally linear does not help matters entirely, and greatly limits roleplay potential within the game. You never actually choose a response that matters so you don't get to cultivate the personality of your bartender. Having customers so early on tell you repeatedly how perceptive and attentive you are is a bit jarring for how fast the gameplay goes, because it feels unearned and that a personality has been selected for us. [SPOILERS BELOW] [SPOILERS BELOW] In the same vein as unearned, the Elise/Lily story plot felt like it happened too quickly. In my playthrough I did not feel like I had the time or personal investment to care about the character or her sideplot, so the sudden shift was disruptive to my enjoyment of the game. This is entirely subjective however, and other players may greatly enjoy Elise. I found myself wishing I had the option to pursue which NPC storyline I found interesting, rather than passively building affinity through correct drink orders, which is less about the NPCs and more about enjoying the amazing gameplay.

Честно очень скучная песочница.По началу чет прикольно когда знакомишься с геймплеем, но потом очень быстро превращается в рутину, которая просто надоедает, и смысла в прокачке нет, открываешь новые ингредиенты, новые рецепты, которые не дают тебе удовольствия, а наоборот усложняют твою рутину и над одним напитком ты начинаешь тратить больше времени. Сюжета тут почти нет, открываешь доверие посетителей, которые рассказывают тебе какие-то истории, и почти все говорят загадками и я не врубаюсь что к чему. А может это и из-за кривого перевода, хрен его знает. Возможно разрабам стоило пойти в сторону хёндая хотя бы, чтобы хоть немного был смысл этого всего. В общем это не расслабляющая игра нифига, а рутинная. Надеюсь мой отзыв поможет вам сделать правильный выбор.

Wanted to pause on my first run through to write a review, it's soooooooooooooooooooooo good. The art is really cute and cozy, the music is really nice. It's gameplay is relaxing, heavy emphasis on the management aspects as you have to manage your liquor, garnish and glass inventories but where this game really shines for me is the characters that visit your bar. They're all designed so well, and beautifully, you never know what to expect walking in the door next. And they're all so well thought out, as soon as i discover a new customer I immediately go to the phone app to read their life stories, this game is everything i hoped it would be :)

Devs: PLEASE MORE OF FLOWER NPC XD Reminds me of the good ol bartending flash games, but modernised with modern characters, modern themes, and story/characters. Great job! Cocktail art is gorgeous. Enjoy seeing nostalgic games get a new life. Also, the story was better than I expected.

Love this game and its atmosphere!! Played the demo for hours and I'm excited to play the full game for hours as well. I only have a small issue; when I make a drink right (with all the specifications or if its a certain cocktail) the characters sometimes tell me I made their drink wrong. Other than this, I love everything about this game <3