Heartthrob Cafe: A Close Up

Opening up a bar or a cafe is a pretty risky move, especially nowadays when people already have so many options at their disposal. Not only that, but the age of Internet makes many things obsolete, including having to visit a nearby shop sometimes. Even so, people are always going to need a place socialize that’s not Instagram or Facebook, which is where bars and cafes come into play.

Heartthrob Cafe: A Close Up is an upcoming visual novel featuring furry characters and a humorous tale about working in a cafe. Naturally, there’s always a bit of romance going on, not to mention the usual drama that keeps things moving and keeps the players from getting bored. Granted, it doesn’t work all the time, but even the simplest conflict can peak someone’s interest.

As such, the story revolves around a couple of interesting characters that work in a cafe. The characters in question are actually mixtures of animals and humans, which might not sit well with everyone. On the other hand, this is a presentation demo that doesn’t even feature a plot, so you only get to see the characters introduce themselves and get familiar with the locale.

Although this is just a prototype that doesn’t feature any gameplay, things are bound to be different in the full game, especially when it comes to whether or not you can influence the story. It’s not clear yet whether this is going to be a kinetic visual novel, but it would be nice to have some sort of say when it comes to how the action goes and how the characters interact.

As for the graphics, everything appears to be in order, although you really need to enjoy furries in order to be comfortable with the visual style. There are no mature scenes included in the prototype and none are rumored for the full version either, so at least that’s out of the question. The backgrounds are quite detailed as well.

In the end, Heartthrob Cafe: A Close Up is clearly not going to appeal to everyone, but it’s nice to see such niche productions trying to hit a specific segment of the market. Hence, the full game should be quite fun and enjoyable.