Coffee is great. Death… not so much. But horror is great, and it’s filled with brutal and bloody deaths all the time! Necrobarista: Final Pour isn’t a horror story, but that doesn’t stop it from addressing the topic of death in some interesting ways. We’re currently in the spooky season, when it’s common to do all sorts of horror movie marathons and play through your fave horror games. While Necrobarista isn’t exactly a horror game, it’s a nice change of pace if you’re looking for something lightly spooky and highly moody to play as October winds down.
At the heart of Necorbarista: Final Pour is The Terminal, a coffee house that serves patrons both living and dead — though the baristas know to never ask customers if they’re dead or alive! This is a visual novel through and through, so there are no real playable parts. Instead, you’ll read a lot of expertly written dialogue and watch multiple characters’ stories unfold over the course of this six-hour game.
Maddy runs The Terminal. She’s often cheeky, but she can also be a no-nonsense barista. More often than not, though, she means well and has a good heart. She’s a decent conversationalist, as the recently deceased Kishan finds out when he ends up in The Terminal.
Visual novels live and die by the strength of their stories, as well as the quality of their writing. Necrobarista stars a strong cast of characters, and being a part of the ride is never boring thanks in large part to just how interesting all of the interactions are. Kishan, for example, seems to be dealing with his own death pretty well. Sure, he’s a bit down about it, but he gets along nicely with the crew running The Terminal.
Unfortunately for Kishan — and really anyone else who has the misfortune of visiting The Terminal because they died — deceased patrons only have 24 hours before they must leave the coffee shop and go to the great beyond. Once Kishan’s time starts coming up, you see just how conflicted he is about being aware that he’s dead. (For clarification, customers who visit The Terminal aren’t forced to leave within 24 hours, but it’s best that they do — otherwise Maddy and her pals have to answer to a pretty strict and annoying death council.)
Maddy is fairly laidback, and she seems to enjoy running The Terminal, but the caveat of having to deal with The Council complicates things and gives her some unnecessary stress. This creates multiple interesting dynamics between Maddy and Kishan, as well as Maddy and Ned from The Council, and ultimately even Ned and Kishan.
Without spoiling anything, Necrobarista: Final Pour really dives into the concepts and conversations of mortality and the afterlife in some fun and at times quirky ways. It works well, and the coffee shop backdrop is massively intriguing. Not to mention, the game is a darn perfect fit on Nintendo Switch, allowing you to just lean back and chill with its engaging story.
This Final Pour version of Necrobarista features the base game plus some extras, including the Walking to the Sky and Devil’s Den DLC side stories. These additions are great, and Walking to the Sky is an especially emotional and beautifully written story about life, illness, and even romance.
Other extras in the game include optional dialogue sequences you can check out by exploring The Terminal in between chapters. (These first-person moments are the only “playable” moments in Necrobarista.) There are quite a few of these, and you can activate them by interacting with different objects in the coffee shop. Some stories are better than others, but the ones that are good are really good, so it’s worth it to check out as many of these as you can.
The whole time you’re playing Necrobarista, it’s impossible to escape how grim and moody the game’s narrative is. This is communicated with both the strong writing and the presentation. The game features a really cool cel-shaded look with lots of warm browns and oranges contrasted by blue-ish tints and violet hues. It’s a great look for the game and brings the whole death and coffee vibe together in a beautiful little package.
Naturally, a game like this won’t be for everyone. It’s a text-heavy visual novel, but if you dig that sort of thing and you enjoy a somber story with some really fun beats, awesome characters, and great dialogue, it’s impossible to call Necrobarista: Final Pour anything other than one of the best visual novels to come along in recent memory.
