Cafe enchante - Overall thoughts

 

Published by: Idea factory/otomate (JP)
ENG: Aksys games
Available for nintendo switch (ENG & JP)

I asked on twitter which game I should play after finishing collar x malice FD and people voted for Cafe enchante. While I was playing cxm I saw on twitter some other people playing this game and how they mentioned not to judge this game by the cover. So I was a really curious how different this game was what it looked like. Because it gives this "happy,warm and cute" type of game vibes.

Summary from vndb

When Kotone inherits her grandfather’s Tokyo café, she discovers the shop holds more secrets than anyone could imagine. The café is a meeting spot for beings from multiple, mystical worlds. You’ll meet the king of demons, a humanoid beast, a fallen angel, and more. And when government agents monitoring non-human activities show up at your door, your new café is about to become a lot more colorful.

cafe enchante characters 

Overall thoughts:

I wasn't sure what to expect from this game. Only thing what I knew about it was cafe/non-humans theme and that it. On twitter some people where talking about this game and how it broke their soul and how heartbreaking some stories are. At least that kind of image I got from peoples tweets. So I was a really curious how much suffering this game is actually going to be :'D 

I'm not going to write that much about the routes bc I don't want to spoiler anything. But there still might be some little spoilers!

Other blogs recommend to play in this order and I also followed it. You're able to play Misyr route after playing other routes:

Canus-Ignis-Rindo-Il and Misyr

Start for this game was really cute and cheerful in it's own way. Prolugue for this game felt a really long and character routes felt sometimes short. I didn't have same excitement which I usually have when I start playing new game. 

At the beginning you get to know all main characters a little bit. 

After finally finishing a long prolugue I was finally able to start first chara route. 
I really liked Canus as character. He was cute,sympathetic and this awkward potato chara. I found it cute when Canus was embarrassed and his "head fire" changed to pink. First I thought this headless chara would bother me a little bit but in the end it really didn't bother me at all. It was actually nice/funny try to imagine what kind of face Canus would have. Even thought I liked Canus a lot his route ended up to be kinda boring. While I was playing his route I kinda hoped that it wouldn't end up to be boring/disappointing. But the ending was cute and I really hoped to see more of Canus & Kotone together. I guess Canus route was this "warm up" route for all shit storms what was going to happen in other boys routes. 8D 

Next I played Ignis route and ah yes 10/10 tsundere firewolf boy. Start for this route was very cute and I liked how there was a lot communication between Ignis and Kotone. Still laughing at the scene where Doromi asked if Kotone was Ignis mate and Kotone just friendzone Ignis. It was hilarious. 

 There was some boring/self-repeating moments in 2/3 chapters but then the real shit storm started. Some of the moments in Ignis route were shocking or big middle finger for everything. Igni's route hurts my soul a lot and I cried in the last chapter. This route was cute but at the same time I had this "my mental is broken" feeling after it :'D  I found this route a lot more interesting than Canus route. Also last CG in Ignis route was kinda "horny bonk" :'DD

After crying for tsundere Ignis it was time to play "playboy Rindo" route. (other boys calls him that lol) I don't know why I liked Rindo from the start. I guess I still like those flirt type of character,oh boy. 

At the same time Rindo was this flirt/player chara but he also was kinda melancholic sometimes. (bc his past stuff) First I was kinda hmm of Rindo and Kotones age difference. But it was funny to follow how their relationship grow up. I was amused when other boys "disturbed" or should I say protected Kotone from Rindo :'D 
I cried couple times in last two routes and after finishing Rindo's route I really wanted to see more cute/funny moments with him & Kotone. 

I ended up to like this route a lot even thought age difference in this route was kinda ??? but then I remembered those non-human boys with their ages,well. :'D

Second last route was this otome games loving fallen angel boy. I found it cute and funny how passioned Il was about otome games. He was this true otoge fanboy. Start for this route was cute and had this good mood in it but then it suddenly changed. While I was playing Il's route I had this though "okay there is probably going to be some bullshit thing that hi is robot/doll or something else". 8DDD
There were a lot emotional moments but sometimes I got a little bit bored while playing this route. 
End for this route had a little bit bittersweet taste. Of course I was happy for the ending but at the same time I had this mixed feeling after finishing it. Am not sure if I liked Il's route or not. There was some cute and funny moments but somehow it left a little bit mixed feelings for me. 

Oh boy it was finally time for the main boy,Misyr. 

I really liked Misyr in other routes so I was really looking forward to play his own route. Start for his route was kinda mysterious and already left some questions and you hoped to get answers for those. While I was playing his route at some point had this feeling "everything is big lie and they have fooled us". There was also moments when this route felt long-winded and forcibly sad/melancholic. Also when you get to know more about all worlds and other stuff I had this "well of course" feeling. Last chapters were emotional roller coaster and at some point I was wondering how edgy it's going to be.

 To be honest I cried like a little baby for this route and some ending moments hurts my soul. BUT in this route I also had this bittersweet feeling which I had in Il's route. I was happy but at the same time I was like "really...this is the end,well sure". 

 

Final thoughts:

So finally this crying fest is over. 

I guess this is first otoge where I cry in every route lol. Overall I liked this game but also found it a little bit boring sometimes and felt like it always followed same pattern with different elements. Most of the time felt like I skipped most of the game before I get any new content which kinda ate my interest/motivation for this game sometimes. But I still tried to enjoy this game and of course I wanted to know plot for this game. 

Also most of the time all side characters ended up to be assholes in many ways (not all of them). First you see nice new character but at the same time you're like "oh wait...this is side chara...oh nononono"

I found it funny how I didn't have any best boy chara when I played this. Because I kinda liked all the boys. After finishing the game I guess my fav ones ended up to be Ignis,Rindo and Canus. I liked Ignis and Rindo routes the most and Canus is just precious even thought his route ended up to be a little boring for me. But he is good boy! 

First I actually thought Il & Misyr would end up to be my fav ones but well that didn't happen. 

My fav boys list ended up to be like this:

Ignis,Rindo,Canus,Il and Misyr

Anyway overall I liked this game,but I don't think its "best game ever". Hmm I don't know why its hard t say why this game wasn't that enjoyable what I thought. Maybe I had high expectations for this game?