The Archipelago

It's very peaceful, I enjoy making the tea and making notes of who's story I've seen and who's I have not

This game is extremely short but extremely worth playing! It's one of those bartender/cafe style visual novels, where you learn customers' preferences and subtly work to open up conversations by feeding them tea they love. The characters are interesting, and the is surprising depth and difficulty to unlocking their stories (I've only managed about half so far). But what really took me by surprise is the setting! This has a really unique take on an airship setting, where the ships are gone, islands are isolated, and the local mailmen are a driving cultural force. It's fascinating, and I would love to learn more about it in other games.

<3

Eine etwas andere Visual Novel. Das gesamte Geschehen spielt sich in einem Tee-Stübchen ab. Der Spieler übernimmt die Rolle des Tee-Barista. Es kommen unterschiedliche Persönlichkeiten und Storylines zusammen, je nachdem, welche Text-Auswahl man wählt und welche Tees man zubereitet. Es gibt verschiedene Handlungsstränge, die man durch wiederholtes Spielen kennen lernt. Ein interessantes Spiel mit schönen Grafiken, gut geeignet um auszuspannen, und am Besten mit einer Kanne Tee zu genießen. Sehr empfehlenswert.

Very peaceful and easy to play through. The story was very interesting, and I will likely try playing a couple more times to see other pathways of the storyline. Despite it having a warning for Mac OS it was able to run just fine.

It's a short game, but a very interesting one. The player is a café owner, in a sort of dystopian setting, where land as been separated and formed an archipelago. You brew tea, and the combinations will get the customers to open up or not, depending on their preferences. On the first playthrough you'll go in blind, but on the next ones you'll get their faces next to the ingredients. The stories are quite interesting, and the art is very good and full of details, akin to the pixel art you would see in the 90s. Still, prepare to end all of your replays with a sense of unfinished business. The game ends on kind of a cliffhanger, and doesn't go beyond it in multiple playthroughs afterwards. That's my biggest dislike, the story seems unfinished, and there's no hints at a part 2.

The best thing about this game is its big cast of intriguing characters. Each of their personalities are distinct and unique, making you want to learn more about them. The way the exposure is handled in this game is interesting - you catch a sense for what is happening through snippets of conversation, like pieces of a puzzle that you have to put together. The lore and worldbuilding is extremely rich for such a relatively short game. This also means that you can really only grasp the full extent of the story after at least a couple of playthroughs. Overall, this game is a cozy, delightful little gem.