VN - Ren'Py - Cosy Cafe [v0.11] [Cosy Creator]

Played Version: 0.9. Played until ingame-day 16.

Summary:
MC inherits a mixed-purpose property from his grandfather and mentor, deciding to both move in and start running it as a café/restaurant. He is still a student in the last years of mandatory education, much to his annoyance. Through a series of random events he meets the prospective harem members, who also become employees and in some cases co-inhabitants of the restaurant. A plot involving an aristocratic system of families was hinted at shortly before I stalled reading on day 16. Not the most inspirational plot, but arguably better than the AVN average, which is a rather low standard in the first place. The idea of MC building up a business is a novel and fresh for an AVN, but the overall execution feels a bit shallow. The power fantasy with the noble, benevolent yet clearly dominant MC, is front and center in terms of where the narrative has its attention. Relationships seem to be developing at a breakneck pace, often in a rather contrived fashion and with little rhyme or reason to it. Now that it looks like I actually did write a summary, I’ll end it here and let the Pros, Mehs and Cons do the rest of the work.

Pros:
- Compensating somewhat for the lack of facial expressions, the characters body language is decently expressive.
- You occasionally get some oddly great one liners and comments like “No kidding, that guy is definitely a few noodles short of a stir fry”. It relates to the topic of food being central to the plot and is funny in a random way it doesn’t make sense, yet it still works.
- It’s nice to have a simple day/calender system helping you keep track of things. Something that I would like to see more of in other AVN’s.
- Interactions between girls are done well by harem AVN standards. MC doesn’t feel like the star in a solar system with all other bodies (characters) circling around him. The LI’s have their own social dynamics.
- Grammar, vocabulary and so on are good. The technical side of the writing overall is solid.

Mehs and hit/miss:
- Personally I don’t mind it, but while the girls all have good quality models, they also lean toward looking quite doll and plastic-like. This is a general Honey Select trend, but it feels more pronounced here. Maybe exacerbated by the blank-face issue.
- Well done animations. Loops are smooth. Transitions between loops are as well. The number of loops is also high enough to detail the progression of an H-scene and give some variation. The animations are, however, also very slow. You do not get the impression that the characters are having sex at the pace the text describes. Looking at the movements themselves, it also frequently looked like someone rendered the 2 characters having sex at a fast pace and then simply slowed the animation down to fit the scene, making it look as if you were watching it in slow-motion. This resulted in otherwise natural looking movements ending up looking unnatural.
- Environments are somewhat well set up, but also feel very barren. Big boxy rooms with limited furnishings, plain painted monotone walls and incredibly flat lighting on the surfaces.
- Music could do with a bit more variety. Rather piano heavy as is and it didn’t always fit with the tone and mood of scenes.
- Much of the romantic development felt rushed. I don’t really buy into how and why the LI’s all fall for MC so quickly, especially considering just how deviant he really is. They just readily accept it for no reason. Anything goes, if it is him. You could say they get assimilated into a harem hivemind without any real explanation. It’s as if they know MC is an AVN main character and that is just the way thing are supposed to be.
- Lack of shading on characters and sometimes objects.
- The school uniform makes the male characters look like neanderthals. Short necks and bulky barrel like builds. Other reviewers mentioned it looked like the guys were using big shoulder pads.
- Single-color silhouettes for background characters are ok as a measure to save time and having locations feel populated. But the bright blue and pink colors used for them are too distracting. More subtle colors would be better.
- While I like the MC’s spine, attitude and aspirations, I feel like he is a little but too ahead of his age in terms of those aspirations and his maturity. I don’t really buy into him being 18 years old. 20-21 would be far more believable, regardless of his rough childhood or whatever.
- Yeah, the way this whole maledom thing is being played off, where they essentially roleplay the entire time and being serious in a fake way is most definitely not my thing. Other reviewers have mentioned it being weirdly childlike. Almost like a bunch of 7-10 year olds playing “House”, except for the addition of the sexual undertones.
- MC’s arrogant attitude to school.
- Too much focus on the male power fantasy.

Cons:
- The glaring lack of facial expressions. Especially considering the frequent and awkward close-up camera shots. Most characters have no more than 3 expressions, with a select few characters having more.
- I think that the opening of the restaurant was rushed. It happened to soon and the “running a business” side of things felt heavily simplified to suit the needs of the plot. That is, all the administrative, legal, food safety related stuff.
- Dialogue can occasionally be a little weird sounding. An example being most cases where Lucy says “No way” when receiving a compliment. “No way!” would usually be said when the speaker observes something exciting that is out of the ordinary. Lucy instead uses it to convey simple disbelief at other people’s statements, usually compliments. Lucy has a couple other words or phrases that are used a bit awkwardly.
- For an 18 year old guy who considers himself as mature and noble as MC does, his ability to not start blatantly groping the girls in certain sketchy situations is rather lacking. The logic that is in play here feels distinctly like the logic you typically come across in rapey hentai scenarios. “You gave me a boner so now you have to take responsibility”. This is not the kind of thing that qualifies as Cozy in my world.
- MC’s overall personality is a bit of a double edged sword. Creepster traits mixed seamlessly with otherwise good masculine traits. A sleazebag with noble intentions on a power trip is what he is.
- MC seems subconsciously self-aware of being a harem AVN protag and thus being totally confident in his appeal to women.
- Akatsukis half-naked apprentice outfit is ill suited for her work with food. I have certain neurotic tendencies and have worked in food production. This one bothers me immensely.
- Not THAT much of a bad thing considering that +80% of AVN’s are guilty of it, but once again a magnum dong MC where the dong has magic problem solving properties.

It's very good. My favorite thing about the game is that it's honest and unapologetic. No trying to be too complex, no shying away from being a harem. It gets to the good stuff without much delay and then plays around with the established options as a good AVN should.

Gameplay: 5/5

Well paced clickathon. No wasted time trying to do branching narratives or have pointless grinding of girl stats or random game-over options, though for some bizarre reason there are a few random choices sprinkled throughout that aren't even major plot points (I think? doesn't matter)

Sex: 4/5

Dev doing the best they can with the limited options Honey Select provides. There is an excellent use of close-ups, lighting, and hot dialogue to fill in the gaps where the limited models, poses and animations otherwise hold it back. Good variety to both girls and scenes, and enough of them both to satisfy. A bit too much domination/BDSM for my liking (even though it is still quite light) but that's just a preference.

Anything more I could ask would require more work than is probably worth it. Can't complain, but there's better stuff out there.

Story: 3.5/5

Refreshing as fuck to see someone not all the way up their own ass write a solid harem story. It truly gets top marks for humility. I can't remember the last time I got to watch an MC begin with a goal and actually continue moving towards it without being pulled into some fantasy/sci fi nonsense.

Yes, he does end up in a larger-than-life and less-than-realistic scenario, and even gets stuck with a "chosen one" adjacent protagonist schtick, but despite those tropes being extremely tired, it is an effective way to get long-term plot and conflicts established that hold it all together. This game doesn't get too high and mighty about it.

That said, I hope you enjoy Tsunderes and simps, because that's all you're really getting. Sure, there's some nuance to each of the girls, but they are kind of thrown at you one after another and the rate at which the MC "acquires" them is so batshit wild that it's hard to process each relationship before 2 new ones are established. I fear that without a solid planned ending, this story will devolve before long into insanity, though if it's played right, that too could work in its own way.

The only relationship with any realistic pacing is Sarah. And while it is a fun ride to see girl after girl hop on the "spank me" train, there are times where seeing how many of them stand around on the train waiting for their turn to flirt feels pretty forced. Despite all that, it's hard to complain, because there is clearly a lot of thought put into making each relationship have something small that makes them unique, and good time devoted to each one even as the main plot moves forward. I personally really love that Akatsuki gets tons of play between all the more complicated girls and always fills in the gaps where it feels like MC has gone too long without getting off. Little touches like that shows that the game is great at maintaining a balance of harem porn and visual novel.

Without all the sex, the plot would be pretty stale. And without the plot, the sex would get really boring. The best thing this game does is balancing the two. While neither stands out on its own, it's hard to argue that many other games mix them better than this. Excited to see where it goes and how it's going to try to get its many juggling balls into the basket by the end.

One of my new top 5 favs. The writing is excellent and so is the visual quality.
Each character has their own unique personalities that really sets them apart other than their looks.

I like how for the most part the sexy scenes are spaced out and really fills out the plot and interactions.

my only complaint is: while it was entertaining for a while the MC spanks everyone WAY too much. I mean.. it was nice at first but it feels overused at this point and now its no longer entertaining. someone gets up (spank), does something bad (spank), before sex? (spank), after sex? (spank), etc.

Wow! I have alot of good things to say about this game, but first off would be the domination. Alot of games here don't really get what good male dom is, but definitely not this one. There IS a few lines that's still abit cringey and makes MC looks abit childish, but it may just be written that way because of the MC's age.

The backdrop story is also good, and while the speed of progress the story is moving at isn't amazing, I feel there's enough intrigue in the story to nicely hold interest. Good mix of slice of life in the day to day, while pushing the storyline

The harem part is very well done indeed, it's woven into the plot, since modern day harem's aren't really a thing if you wanna make things believeable. There's actual dynamics and conversations between each girl, which the same can't be said for other games.

Next up, none of that woke "choices that matter" bullshit. This is a braindead VN where you can just sit back, enjoy the story and not worry about a choice you were forced to make in 0.1 coming to bite you in the ass 2 years later. The little choices you get are mostly just personal preferences and small scene variations.

Though even amongst other straightforward VNs I enjoy, this one doesn't allow for girl selection in your harem. Meaning some people might not like being forced to have girls they don't like. Though for me, all of the girls do have their unique own charm points which is a big well done to the dev. There's a good variety of girls in terms of hair color and body shape. There's asians, but no black girls or brown girls, so maybe in the future?

Finally, it seems that the UI was recently updated in terms of the game having the newest version of renpy(?). There's actually an embarrassment of riches in terms of UI customisation, which is pretty nice to have, but that brings me to the main complain I have about the game. Honey Select.

Honestly I don't mind Honey Select, because many other games have managed to pull it off using either mods or newer versions(?). The girls are obviously very well rendered, attractive to look at, but it's not really top tier. The side characters, especially males, as well as the MC, are not as lovingly created to say the least. Most of them actually look like retarded, to put it as nicely as possible.(*Cough*Brian*Cough*) The difference between the clothes and the body structure of the main girls to the rest of the crew(includingMC) can be jarring at times.

But honestly, that's just nitpicking at this point, because I wouldn't know the effort it takes to actually make a game. Which is why this is a deserved 5* for me. You should 100% try this game if you enjoy harem male dom with a slight bit of political power fantasy.
Props to the dev for making this amazing game, looking forward to seeing what else you have in store for us.

As of v0.11:

Wow. This game is fantastic, truly. I never thought I'd say this, but it's on the level of Eternum, in my opinion.

Artwork/Animations - 5/5

The models are gorgeous. There's practically a girl for every taste. The animations are spot on and sexy. Dev really took the engine's capabilities and nailed it!

BUT! I do have ONE gripe - I've played through most of the game (I think), and I do have a question for the dev - Is there a plan to add an cunnilingus (pussy-eating) scenes? This game offers a lot, but that is one feature that I am surprised I have not seen. I really think this needs to be added; who doesn't like eating pussy? xD

Storyline/Dialogue - 5/5

Dev, seriously... This is one of the most wholesome harem games I've played, even with the light dom (mc)/sub (girls) tilt. The story is actually worth reading, it's complex, and the girls all have their own personalities, kinks, and flaws. And fucking finally, the MC is actually a complex, likeable character. Again, he has a dom personality for the most part, but it's not overboard. He is a genuinely caring dude (even if he fights it).

And the dialogue! I am at the point where I find bad dialogue games unplayable. No disrespect to devs who's English is a second language; many devs out there take time to proofread and fix their dialogue to make sense, but soooo many don't. The dialogue is smooth, entertaining, humorous, and even serious.

If you play this game, I highly recommend not to skip through the dialogue. The game is a slow build, and the story is worth it. If you're playing for a quick fap, the material is there, but man, you'd be missing out on a gem.

Gameplay/UI - 5/5

It's a VN, so not much to say here. It's simple - Just click through and enjoy. :3

All-in-all, this is a fantastic game/VN. It's not some run-of-the-mill generic harem game. It's very, very well thought out, well-written, and I look forward to moving on with the story.

But again. Dev. PLEASE add cunni to this game! I beggeth you! xD

Like it a lot , good Story telling, good pace, hope this is not getting abandoned, girls are interesting, keep it up.

Sehr gutes Spiel bisher, Story gefällt mir, gut gestaffelt, bitte zuende programmieren, bitte weitermachen

In most games I find my self skipping most if not all dialog but there is something special about this game. The characters and plot are so well put together and feel very grounded, I quickly found myself playing the game for the story rather than the porn (the porn is great).

Cosy Cafe has an interesting setup: you're a young adult trying to balance school, relationships, and the dream of running your own cafe like your grandfather. It sounds unique for a kinetic visual novel and there are moments where it feels like it could stand out. But honestly it doesn’t quite stick the landing.

The story feels like it’s trying, and you can tell the Author put in some effort, but it ends up being pretty hit-or-miss. The main idea is solid, and the wholesome vibe is nice, but the writing itself is kind of uneven. Some parts pull you in, while others feel generic or bland. The characters don’t really have a lot going on, which makes the relationships and interactions feel predictable after a while.

Visually, the game’s alright—it’s not bad, but it’s not amazing either. The character designs look good, but the scenes get repetitive fast because of the limited camera angles. After a while it starts feeling like you’re seeing the same thing over and over which takes away some of the charm.

The game leans heavily on a wholesome maledom angle, which might work for some people. It’s got plenty of romantic and spicy moments, but they can feel kind of cookie-cutter at times. There’s definitely room for more variety and depth in how the characters and their stories are handled. Right now, it feels pretty surface-level.

Overall, Cosy Cafe is okay if you’re into kinetic harem visual novels and don’t mind sticking with something familiar. It’s got a decent premise and some charm, but the lack of variety in the story and characters holds it back. I fail to see the reason for the high ratings even wondered if I even played the same game but not at all surprised if you’re looking for something casual to pass the time it’s worth a shot but it wouldn’t be at the top of my list.

This game presents a good story line, with a great no nonsense MC, great first love interest then the rest of the girls, as a person who loves a little male dominated games this one is much recommended. It has a regular updation too.
All the best for future works and contents

The good:
An interesting story, a fun refresh of the "doesn't want to be stuck in school, but has to. Here is their actual interest" type of game. Pretty bog standard Harem with a twist.
A good selection of girls to start, but you can tell what the dev likes for a type. No complaints!
Renders are good, story is fine, and progresses at an acceptable speed. H-scenes are fun, interesting, and fit the story.

The not as good.
A few things do feel forced, but is needed to fit to the story.
More of a guided novel and less of an actual choice story.

Fun story, better then average in my opinion, and it deserves its current star rank. It very much is a kinetic novel, pretty much zero choices to be made. I think that the girls throw themselves on the MC's dick a little too quickly, but the setting seems to be that literally every other dude in the area sucks ass, so it kinda makes sense. It's honey select, so same face syndrome is a little prevalent, and the sex scenes are stuff you've seen before if you've played any other honey select game. My biggest praise for the game is I like how the characters are evolving, the MC and his dick are like a super therapist for the girls, pulling them out of this big multi family drama and adding them to his harem where they all live happily as waitresses. I'm a little excited to see the end result of this game, but I can't really tell if this game is 2 updates from wrapping up or 20. Not something I'm super invested in, but something I'll keep an eye out for and recommend others check out too.

I've soured on this one a fair bit. Positives first:

The game's visuals are strong and it has a distinct style. Cards on the table it isn't my type of thing per say, I tend to like games where most of the characters look legal, but the competence is there for sure and I can see this being somebody's favourite game visually.

The story is also more ambitious, heartfelt and gradually paced than is the norm. Really feels like it captures a slice of life anime type of story. Again not super my thing, but I can respect the effort and depth.

My big issue with this game, is that around 80% of the renders are extreme close-ups of vaguely sad anime girls. That is it. The game's camerawork is extremly repetitive and favours these uncomfortably close angles of the girls during the often very long conversations. The expression work isn't pheonomenal so you just spent hours looking at blandly sad anime girls. The page photo this game is actually super honest. Those three shots of the girls looking sort of dower, slightly too close for comfort. That is the game.

The sex is eh. Some scenarios are hot but are spoiled by the fact that 90% of the scene is spent in those awkward extreme close-ups. Nothing special.

Overall, for a totally linear kinetic novel I want more. If we are spending so much of the game in hyper close-ups, your expressions need to be PHENOMENAL. If the player has little to no choice regarding the story then your pacing must be excellent, the game is in my opinion too slow.

If looking into the eyes of sad anime teenagers at a 3/4 horizontal angle is the only thing that can get you hard, this is the best game ever made. For me this is some servicable but massively overhyped melodrama.

This VN is one of the best harem VN i have played in f95.
The visuals are very good (especially at the latest updates) and the story is also good and i liked the intrigue and mystery with the five families and the MC family,
Furthermore MC is very good (a true man) and the Lis are all beautiful and interesting and with their own different personalities.
At first i wished we had the option to choose a LI .. but so far i don't mind it because i loved all Lis even though i usually dont like all the Lis on a harem VN but this VN surprised me.
(Lucy and Vicky and Akatsuki are the best though)
(Albeit i dont like Rachel at all and i hope she stays as a joke and doesnt enter the Harem.. she is the only one which i found annoying )....
Moreover i like the fact that MC is a true Alpha and gentleman he respects the Lis and he doesn't force them or belittle them but at the same time doesnt accept any bullshit which in my opinion is the correct male dom.
In the end I truly enjoyed this VN a lot and it became one of my favorite harem VN , i cant wait for the next update and i highly reccomended it.

Very surprised at this one, did not know what to expect going in, and I think that's the best way. A lovely story with some fantastic renders.

Animation on the scenes could use some work, but overall it's very damn good

One of the best and most consistent RENPY games. Cute girls, some funny dialogues but also an actually interesting story.

Not to mention all the sexy scenes, which are (mostly) well done. The MC is also not too out of the world and stays somewhat consistent within his character.

Based on an hour's worth of play, I wish I could get my time back. All credit to the developer for working on this, but I've a few things to say.

I'm not sure why the score is so high, as the quality of writing for all that I played is dreadful. The characters are flatter than graphene. The MC is featureless and makes the most inane decisions. The story is as boring as it is contrived, with things progressing in ways that leave me grasping for my suspension of disbelief.

I appreciate the time spent by the developer in making what is obviously considered a decent or better game by many other people, but in my opinion this is the worst high-rated game that I've ever played here by far—and should never be played by anyone who values their time.

Interesting kinetic novel, while it starts slow, the narrative improves over time but the dialogue writing is pretty average.

The focus on word and render count as a metric for updates is likely holding this back, as the quantity over quality approach has me reaching for my clicker macro to speed through much of the dialogue.

I'd have given this 3.5 stars if I could, it's worth a look if you're interested in the themes, you like slow paced kinetic novels, and don't mind the dialogue.

Absolutely love this game and how well written each of the characters are. I love the interplay between MC and each of the girls. Favorite is Victoria for me right now as I enjoy her attitude and teasing back and forth. She's not submissive in all aspects of her personality, but she relishes that part of her relationship with the MC

So here's my take on my experience of the game. The first thing when i dived onto the game i noticed that the game lacks in the details on a characters expression at some point because in each conversation the Ll im talking to either has her mouth shut or portrays themselves with the same expressions she gave a while ago. For me this tiny detail is pretty crucial for players to immerse themselves having a conversation on said girl this tiny detail made me avoid looking at the Ll for hours and just look at the dialogue box all the time and it made me irritated a bit. Secondly i noticed that the mc is quite matured especially speaking he's only 18 years old, he sometimes comes of as either well mannered and does a 180 and becomes cringy ( i think they made the mc the type of mc that is one of those "Feel Good Mc's" but failed so fucking miserably in my opinion.) . These two details just made me abandon over 3 hours spent on this game and never have i wasted 3 hours of my life reading trashy cliche of a story. Overall the rating this gets is too much given how low effort the authors of this gave ( and yes I was irritated about the uniform of the boys which makes their necks non existent for some reason.) how the models are just you're typical model you see in maybe 40% or more avns out here.

- Wandering Reviewer

The game has both some fairly strong upsides and some fairly strong downsides. For a small description, Cosy Café is a very chill read with some interesting political/mystery undertones, which suffers from how the story is being told and repetitive character motifs.

The music is nice albeit a bit repetitive. The plot overall is interesting, though it can feel convoluted at times; there's a political aspect of several families which control the area and the business around it, and then there's also the aspect of the MC's café and the sustainability of his business. These intersect fairly seemlessly down the line due to the plot, but the reasons around it can feel a bit disjointed or not quite logical at some points.

That being said, the game definitely lives up to its namesake and feels quite cosy to read. There aren't any particularly large dramas or things that you feel will derail the story or become a huge happening, and as such, it's a very straightforward slice of life/romance visual novel for the vast majority of the time, and it works.

The characters are, unfortunately, somewhat forgettable. Some of them are unique and can feel distinct, but some of them quickly fall into the wayside as the plot progresses and it's clear that the update gives a higher focus on another person. This is an issue with the storytelling aspect of this game, that I'll touch in the next paragraph. Back to the characters at hand, they can feel blurred together because they're all submissive. The MC is dominant, but the dominance is asserted in a... childish way at times? And very out of the blue, too. Some times, the relationship between the characters feels natural, but at others, it feels forced and nonsensical. It doesn't help every character is blatantly submissive at basically all points, or is willed into submission by the MC (or appears that will go that way). There's few that escape this, and they're the ones that show no interest in the MC at all; every single other one appears to be going down this route. While their role as a submissive can differ slightly, they tend to blend together at points.

The storytelling has one issue which is that the game follows the god awful forsaken by heaven method that is "Day X" development. I remember a certain game popularizing this, but I cannot stress enough how annoying this method of development is. Because you're making it go day by day, there's an extreme amount of happenings in each day, and because the days are separated by updates, this means that you can go entire days without interacting, seeing, or doing anything with a character you were joined at the hip the very previous day, because this update is not focused on that girl. Lucy, particularly, suffers tremendously from this.

Not only that, but the day system makes the game feel even more divorced from reality than normal for a porn game. It's "day 24' in game, and we go through each of these days one by one. The main character moves in on day 1, obviously, and meets most characters on Day 2. It's Day 24 and he's both fucked and started dating 3 while also being romantically involved with 3 others (depending on how loosely you want to describe it). In other words, the dude's been ACTIVE for these 24 days, huh? Some of the submissive have undying loyalty and devotion to him for... pretty much nor reason. They've known him for 3 weeks, and they haven't particularly gone through anything meaningful together for the vast majority of them (Lucy has a more interesting storyline, but she's quickly forgotten in recent updates in lieu of other girls). They just got spanked a couple times and wooops guess I'm a slavegirl master.

While I can't say that I disliked reading the game, I can't say I liked it either, mainly because of how updates work and because of the day system. Other than that, the game is good. Honestly, you'll probably give this a 4 or 5 as long as you suspend your disbelief. This score is biasedly lowered because I don't like this particular form of story progression.