Few games can try to “do it all” and do it well. Fortunately, Affogato has actually pulled it off. A café sim, a “reverse” tower defense, RPG mechanics with multiple choice dialogues. Even a side-scrolling world to explore. To top it off, the art and music are top notch. Cute witch girls and demon girls await, my cultured friends.
I’ll Just Run a Café and Save the World
Affogato starts out with our protagonist and titular character waking up in a strange place. An equally strange woman named Mephista seems to know her well enough. Her shirt reads “The Worst,” but her style and attitude already put her in the running for Best Girl. Affogato is a witch, a human who made a pact with a demon in exchange for great power. Her task is to save humans and seal demons away before they take control of their victim’s hearts. She’s a cute redhead. Sorry, it’s “magenta.” Mephista is, as one would imagine by the name alone, an archdemon. Best Girl status: confirmed.
Their plan is to run an upscale café to get close to victims. These poor individuals are having a rough go of it. For instance, the first target is a girl named Aoi. She’s a victim of serious bullying at Arorua City’s prestigious Grace Castle Academy. As such, the demon promises that the bullying will end, and creates an illusion that everyone on campus loves her.
Beyond that, the other major part of the game is the café itself. It’s appropriately known as Witchery. The landlord’s name is Dr. Dave House. He wears a lab coat and doesn’t own a cane, unfortunately. He’s also a psychiatrist. Still, Spiral Up gets an A for having a doctor named House.
Besides Dr. House, Affogato meets unique and interesting characters. Her first (unofficial) customer is a journalist named Natalie Ryan. She used to be a professional with a stellar job and a penthouse. Now she’s a ghostwriter who writes about ghosts and vampires on a blog named “Oh My Goddess.” I love these references. Nice work, Spiral Up.
Affogato now must keep her shop running while saving innocents from demons. All in a day’s work for a witch.
Let’s Make Coffee and Destroy Some Towers
I’m playing this game on “Normal” difficulty, and will not complain about how difficult it is. I know you fine people expect reviewers to play on “Easy” and complain about how hard games are, but you can expect more from the reviewers here. It’s just how we brew things here.
Gameplay is split up in a few different ways. First and foremost, the Mind Labyrinths. Affogato will travel into her charge’s mind to defeat their inner demons. Our witch girl can use Witch Cards, magical items millennia old and coveted by anyone looking for extra power. Witch Cards can be summoned to the field to travel along a pre-determined path. They’ll conjure a fighter to defeat tower defenses. These cards require mana, called Penta, to use. More mana can be gained from defeating enemies marked with the “Penta” symbol, or by collecting Witch Cards on the field that offer free Penta.
Players will click on floor tiles to decide where their units will move next. Should a unit be defeated, the Witch Card will return to the player’s hand to be used again after a cooldown period. Players can also conjure healing fields, and even healer and defender units, to add more depth to an already strategic game.
There’s also a solid shop management system in the form of the Witchery café. When you’re rundown and don’t feel like playing the reverse tower defense game, go run a café. Brew drinks by dragging ingredients to the different devices, and add seasonings for a final touch. It’s much more than clicking a button to brew a coffee, players will have to actually perform the steps themselves.
As an aside, affogato is an Italian coffee ice cream delicacy. Spiral Up is on a roll with these references. The shop itself can be customized to the player’s liking, and Affogato herself has some stats as presented on her phone that the player might want to look at. They might also want to look at what Mephista was talking about when she mentioned a “corruption percent,” and how it relates to Affogato’s fate.
Cute Anime Girls Everywhere
Affogato employs an anime aesthetic in its designs. The cutscenes play out with still images of the characters making various expressions. Behind them are chibi versions that make similar expressions as they move about to enact the cutscene properly. It’s all done incredibly well. The characters, like Affogato, look cute. Natalie looks cool in her business suit. I do wonder if those are horns on her head… Mephista just looks great. Short shirt, tight clothes, and a wicked expression. Best Girl status: confirmed.
The world is more or less fully realized. Players can navigate left and right, and everything is presented in such a way that every spot calls out to be explored. NPCs may not have fully realized faces like plot-important characters, but they still look fine.
Songs to Battle By
Let me start by saying that the sound work is phenomenal. I can genuinely rock out to the menu theme. My god(s), they went all out on the menu theme alone. Really, just hang out on the main menu and just enjoy the theme.
Awesome music aside, the game is fully voice-acted, and the developers at Spiral Up didn’t skimp out there, either. This is clear enough in their behind-the-scenes video. It’s clear they carefully planned every line and hired only the best talents they could find.
Having an Affogato with Affogato
To be completely clear, I’m no fan of tower defense games. I can’t even remember if I ever played one. However, I truly enjoyed playing this game. The “reverse” tower defense gameplay was fun. I had to make split-second calls while planning ahead. Watching the little characters pace around the field bombing enemies was cute. Likewise, brewing coffee was more interesting than I thought it would be. Choosing which ingredient to toss in, while hoping it was the correct one for the customer, it’s not my usual go-to for fun, but I liked it. The characters are all unique and likable. The way Affogato and Mephista bounce off of one another. Affogato is just a human witch, but Mephista is an “Archdemon.” The plotline, which involves helping people with some relatable issues who saw demons as an escape, can pull one in.
All said, Affogato is well worth a look. Even people with no real fondness for shop sims or tower defenses might just find something to like here. The game launches on August 17 on Steam.
©Spiral Up
Anime Corner was provided a review copy of Affogato.
