Sep 6

Sep 6 Review | Necrobarista: Final Pour - A Damn Fine Cup of Coffee

I haven’t been writing about games for very long. I only started at the beginning of this year, but somehow Necrobarista: Final Pour is the third game I’m writing about where death is a critical aspect of the narrative. Now, I’m not saying that death is all I think about, but I have to admit it’s given me some pause recently. Why do I find myself so drawn to the topic? I know what the inciting incident was (you can read a bit about that here), but why do I keep coming back to it in my own writing, creative or otherwise? Thankfully, I think Necrobarista helped to answer those questions.

Oh, er, in which case I’ll take two brown sugars… Please don’t hurt me…

The premise of Necrobarista is pretty simple: it’s about a coffee shop that acts as a layover for the dead before they pass on to whatever is next, but also, it’s a regular coffee shop that anyone can go to. It’s run by a young woman named Maddy, a necromancer and also the head barista of the coffee shop called The Terminal (she is also the namesake of the applause-worthy name of the game).

The game is unabashedly inspired by anime and oozes with style - from its character designs down to the cinematography. It’s a visual novel but unlike most, it exists in a 3D space - which you can explore in interstitial sections (we’ll get to that). The main story progresses in a typical visual novel fashion, with the player just pressing a single button to advance the story, though the use of 3D gives each scene a real depth. While the occasional bit of animation helps sell some of the more emotional moments found in the game and brings the characters to life in a way 2D graphics can’t always do. While I found many of the shots to be visually striking, the pacing could sometimes feel a little awkward, this is because it was in my hands. I didn’t always realise when I should progress a scene, making some moments feel stilted or leaving dialogue hanging unresponded to for just a little too long.

Pacing aside, however, the writing in the game is incredibly strong. Characters feel distinct from one another, whether it be our strong-willed but caring lead, Maddy, the old and wisened Chay, the eclectic and technically gifted Ashley, or the loveable and ponderous Kishan, they all feel like they offer something different. Necrobarista leaning into its Australian development team definitely acts as a boon - the comedy in the game regularly had me laughing, and was refreshingly un-American.

We will not spoil who this character is… BUT THEY ARE VERY AUSTRALIAN.

What makes the game a little extra special, is that in-between chapters you have the opportunity to explore The Terminal.

After finishing the first chapter, you find yourself being able to explore the ground floor of the coffee shop. At first, there’s not much to do, but there are small bonus stories you can engage in. These are all text-based, always from a fixed camera angle, with a mixture of stories about the main characters as well as secondary characters, and some that don’t affect the main story at all. In general, the stories helped to flesh out the vibe of The Terminal, the kind of people that resided there or just passed by and the things they wanted to do in life or death.

The Yakuza are big fans of a quality blend.

There are also a couple of more in-depth side stories, featuring the more important secondary characters. One focuses on a teenage boy and girl trying to understand their freshly formed relationship, while another is a Yakuza-style love story full of double-crosses. Early in the game, there is a scene that can only be described as an anime intro credit sequence, and an incredible one at that. The characters featured in these side stories appear in said opening and apparently were there in the original release of the game, however were hardly present in the game itself at the time. This led to some criticisms that it felt odd to have these characters introduced but to learn nothing more about them.

While not having experienced that version of the game myself, I know that Necrobarista needed these stories, and would have felt lacking without them. The premise of a coffee shop that serves both the living and dead is an interesting one, and while the main narrative is excellent, the space it exists in is and what it can facilitate is the most compelling thing of all. And it’s exactly why Necrobarista helped me answer some questions I had about me and death.

All the different narrative threads coming together or straying off into their own path helped me realise that the thing I find most interesting about death is the individuality of it all. There’s a great point made by the main character, Maddy, that funerals aren’t for the dead, they’re for the living. And it’s true - when you organise a funeral, whether it’s with malicious or well-meaning intent, it’s normally to help you process it. Death is the same for everyone, but after that point, it is those that remain that are the variable and how we react to the loss that changes from person to person. I want to see those differences.

I like playing games that deal with life and death because they vary to such huge degrees. The two other games that most directly deal with death I’ve written about this year are Spiritfarer and Loop Hero, and they couldn’t be more different from one another, and Necrobarista is different again. I don’t know if any of these games are the writers and designers trying to present their experiences with loss, but it certainly offers a look into how they view it, and how it affects them.

I’m not sure if Necrobarista is always completely successful in the thing it’s trying to do. It did at times feel like it wished it was just an anime rather than a visual novel - its boldness limited by what I imagine comes down to time and budgetary restraints. However, despite that Necrobasrista is tied together by the often comedic and emotional writing and deeply appealing style throughout. What you are left with is a game that may make you cry, will probably make you laugh, and will definitely leave you wanting more. I honestly hope we do get a sequel because I want to see more of the differences of death the game so lovingly only begins to explore.