Zipp’s Cafe is a low game designed to fulfill two roles. First, it sets the stage for the upcoming Chicken Police title The Wild Gentlemen. Second, it offers players a concise but engaging introduction to World of Wilderness, the lively setting that connects both games.
In the game, you play as Zipp, a reformed raccoon who has abandoned his questionable history to enjoy the peace and silent of running his own coffee shop. Located in a region often referred to as No Man’s Land, his establishment becomes a haven for an eclectic mix of people looking for hot beverages, delicious food, and a amiable listener.
As the day winds down and the café closes, a final minigame of washing dishes appears. However, this activity feels mechanically indistinguishable from the previous tasks, lacking a unique touch. While this straightforward gameplay loop is in line with the game’s intention to be a cozy, story-driven café management sim, it fails to develop into a truly engaging experience.
It’s a sight you’ll quickly get used to.
When customers enter your establishment, you immediately engage in conversation with them. During the interaction, you are tasked with preparing a specific drink or meal for them. After serving, the dialogue lasts a low while before you move on to the next customer.
Although I quickly overcame the initial difficulties, the minigame lost its charm and became less engaging after the first of three days.
Making sure the bread doesn’t burn.
Even if different containers and different amounts of ingredients are needed to properly prepare a dish, the process inevitably becomes repetitive because it requires performing the same steps over and over again.
The routine begins with reading the recipe and then preparing the necessary cookware—whether it’s a pan, cups, or glasses. For coffee, the procedure is consistent: start by preparing water and grinding the beans, then put them in the coffee machine and choose one of the three available drink options.
Preparing meals involves adding fat or oil to a pan and placing it on the stove, then adding ingredients such as bread, meat, or vegetables. The cooking process is simply a matter of waiting a few seconds while watching the progress circle fill up, indicating when the food is ready.
Finally, you enhance the flavor with unlimited amounts of ingredients, such as sugar, cinnamon, garlic, or catnip. These are selected and dragged from a location on the screen, then held over the prepared drinks or meals long enough to meet the recipe’s requirements before serving them to your customers.
A bit of darkness.
Each client comes with distinct tastes that are clearly indicated. While these preferences usually align with their personalities or current life events, from a gameplay perspective, they only add a diminutive task to the overall workload.
The game allows for recipes to be messed up, but even if it’s not due to the occasional mislabeled bubble, the consequences of getting less than 5 stars feel negligible. Characters might briefly comment on the less-than-ideal quality of the coffee or food before quickly moving on to the next segment of plot-driven dialogue — a change that can sometimes feel abrupt or jarring.
The mini-games offer a simplified option through story mode, which allows for a greater focus on character narrative. In retrospect, part of me wishes I had taken that path during gameplay.
A little bit of sugar can work wonders.
The voice acting in Zipp’s Cafe is thin, constrained to introductory and ending sequences, as well as the occasional line at the beginning of cooking or making a drink. However, the voice work that is present complements the game’s noir setting, adding depth and personality to its protagonist.
Zipp’s Cafe partially makes up for its shortcomings with the engaging conversations between the protagonist and the five distinct characters who recurrent the cafe. While these interactions often rely on genre conventions and rarely offer shock value—aside from one notable plot twist—they effectively offer insight into the diverse histories, aspirations, and fears of the cast.
Newspapers provide additional information about the world.
Throughout Zipp’s Cafe’s narrative, there’s a recurring theme of starting over, or at least challenging established norms. While the dialogue tends to be dehydrated, there are occasional tellings that slip through the cracks. These exchanges also gradually reveal layers of the larger world that lie beyond the confines of the cafe where the entire game takes place.
Zipp’s Cafe tackles stern topics, delving into issues like segregation, crime, and personal failure. However, due to the game’s concise format, these convoluted topics are only briefly explored, preventing the characters’ struggles from having a truly lasting impact.
The game’s most notable achievement may be the codex entries that become available as you progress. These entries flesh out the world, offering a more complete picture of the game’s universe. While there is a key decision point toward the game’s ending that affects the final movie, the incentive to replay the entire game for a different ending may not be compelling enough for all players.
ZIPP’S CAFE VERDICT
The repetitive minigames that make up a significant portion of Zipp’s Cafe’s gameplay tend to detract from its charm, despite the narrative potential that shines through its admittedly dehydrated dialogue. While the game does a good job of drawing players into its sprawling environments, the flat routine of food and drink preparation, coupled with underdeveloped characters, makes it challenging to feel drawn into becoming a regular.
THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENT IN THE GAME
Access to all codex entries allows for a deeper dive into the wider game world.
Good
vs
Bad
We managed to create a convincing image of the wider game universe
Mini-games get tedious after a while
Character development is constrained by not enough time for their stories to fully develop
Repetitive background music can be irritating
