A warm treat
If you’re a fan of visual novels, you’ve likely come across developernpckcfor their work onA Pet Shop After Darkand A Year Of Springs - one of thebest visual novels on PC.They’re now bringingTavern For Tea- a lovely-looking tea-brewing sim - to PC, after it launched on mobile a few years ago.
The setup is similar to the equally chillCoffee Talk, but this time you’re replacing the coffee with some teabags. You play as the owner of the titular tavern, and chat with and serve tea for a cast of fantasy characters, who’re fully equipped with the classic swords, shields, and bat wings you’ve come to expect.
The tea-brewing minigame looks relatively simple, asking you to pick the right ingredients for the right customer so you can serve the perfect, warming cuppa. Let’s play videos of A Tavern For Tea show the game’s vibes are just as sweet, dishing up some relaxing lo-fi beats to accompany its cute paper-cutout art style. Perfect for the cold season, eh?
Npckc has been making (and translating) interesting visual novels for years, and their games have been illuminating LGBTQ+ stories throughout. J. Szpilka was impressed by Last Day Of Spring, and how it exploredtrans lives through a cis lens.Spring Leaves No Flowers was another unique entry, highlighting why games need morecoming out stories. Finally, last year Alicia Haddick had the chance tointerview npckcabout telling kinder queer stories in their bitesize games.
A Tavern For Tea opens for business onSteamlater this month on March 24th. Now excuse me while I boil the kettle.
