Coffee Bar Simulator is a simulation game developed by Digital Melody. It puts you in the shoes of a coffee shop owner, learning to grow your business by serving delicious products to paying customers and tidying up the café through various decorations. It’s a laid-back business management game.

Coffee Bar Simulator literally gives you a glimpse of the daily life of a humble employee working at a local café, as it is played from a first-person perspective. The utilities and appliances of the shop are fully interactive, and you’re going to use them to perform your daily tasks.

Craft the coffee shop of your dreams

During your first day in Coffee Bar Simulator, you start with humble beginnings: stocking up products, setting prices, and serving your first batch of customers. All of these are guided by a helpful tutorial to teach you the controls and how the basic mechanics work. The gameplay loop walks you through the complete process of serving a customer — from taking their orders to settling transactions on the cash register.

There is also some financial management involved, since you’re going to have to order and restock products from time to time; couple that with the new equipment that you’re also going to buy. Your store also has a level, and each time it levels up, it unlocks a contract that you can purchase. These contracts reward you with new types of food and drinks, such as muffins and energy drinks.

The interior of the café doesn’t always have to stay the same. You can add furniture like tables and chairs, and decorate the café with some neat items, such as plants and paintings, to create a peaceful and cozy atmosphere, suited for coffee enthusiasts. The background music also fits perfectly with the environment, something that you usually hear at a coffee shop.

Recommended for its easy-to-learn gameplay

Overall, Coffee Bar Simulator has an easy-to-understand gameplay loop: take orders, serve customers, and earn money. However, after doing this several times, it does become repetitive and stale, almost feels like you’re working a second job. Nevertheless, the fun comes from building your coffee shop from simple beginnings to a thriving business — a very satisfying journey to say the least.