Coffee Noir Review friv game – Detective novel and business simulation

We settled in Neo-London and opened our own coffee business. But it's all a front to solve a criminal case about the disappearance of a coffee tycoon that will help us shed light on another ten-year-old case involving the murder of his wife! It sounds confusing, but we will put everything on the shelves in the Coffee Noir - Business Detective Game review from an online friv game developer Friv2Online.

We find ourselves in Neo-London. A retrofuturistic metropolis in which men wear stylish coats and hats, listen to jazz, make calls from rotary phones, but in their constantly smoky offices there are Hermès typewriter-like computers with holographic displays, and airships rule the sky over the city.

Perhaps a powerful technological breakthrough would have awaited us if in the middle of the 20th century it was not soda with alcohol that were especially popular, but coffee, the demand for which in Coffee Noir soared so rapidly that in the 40s it completely reshaped the world economy and significantly influenced the course of history.

The protagonist is private detective Arthur Oliver, who returns to Neo-London after a high-profile publication about the disappearance of English coffee magnate Richard Kersey. For most, Richard was a pompous, grasping and greedy capitalist - a real thorn in the competitors' asses pampered by elite chairs. But for Arthur, Kersey remained a symbol of the loss of something far greater than business or reputation.

Ten years ago, Richard owed a huge amount of money to serious people and, unfortunately for his young wife Catherine, it was she who received the demands for payment. Since Kersey was on a business trip, the girl turned to Arthur, who was then still working in the police, for help. The young people had an affair, which was resolved as quickly as it began: Katherine died in a shootout, and Arthur lost his badge and left Neo-London broken, as it seemed to him then, forever.

A few days before the events of Coffee Noir, Richard's older brother called Arthur to report Kersey's disappearance. He was well aware of their history with Katherine, but he begged the detective to take on the investigation, not so much for himself, but for the sake of Richard and Kat's daughter. And Arthur agrees, because he intuitively suspects that this whole situation may be somehow connected with the murder of Richard's wife.

The tycoon's daughter and older brother offer Arthur a cover scheme in which he, with their unofficial support, will set up his own coffee business in the city and thus gain access to Richard's business contacts in order to collect all the necessary evidence during meetings and informal conversations.

Coffee Noir really combines elements of a business simulator and a quest, but to a greater extent it is still a detective visual novel, a well-furnished neo-noir with a visuals stylized as comics and atmospheric jazz music.

In order not to betray their true motives, the detectives will have to delve into the intricacies of the coffee business. And although the developers kindly saved us from complex financial schemes and organized a greatly simplified functionality for production tasks, the players will still have to take a responsible approach to managing the company, make important decisions and negotiate with partners.

WHAT WE LIKED:

The business system is dispersed over several sections of the menu, between which you ply, being within the office. Here we have personnel that needs to be hired, assigned to tasks, encouraged and upgraded, and a plant control panel with the ability to modify capacities, and detailed financial reports on the profitability of the enterprise and the factors affecting it.

At first, all these graphs and numbers can be confusing, but it's worth spending half an hour to master (each item of each section is accompanied by detailed tips), and you will learn how to manage the company with one hand, putting your feet on the table and sipping a Cuban cigar. The most interesting part is the search for clients and the conclusion of supply contracts.

Not only do you need to find a potential partner, you will have to study his habits and character, instruct subordinates to collect additional information about him and prepare a product of interest to him before going to a personal meeting.

Negotiations turn into a quest, text fields branch out with dialogue options. If the client likes your approach, you will not only earn their favor (this will seriously increase your chances of getting more profit), but you will also get a few leads for your investigation.

After the contract is handed over, the next stage of the interview will begin, during which the client will try to knock a discount out of you, and you will select convincing counterarguments. By choosing the right strategy, you can significantly reduce the discount, and even convince the interlocutor to accept your conditions unconditionally.

When the contract is signed by both parties, you will only have to ensure that the goods are delivered on time and in the right quantity, that is, to manage resources that are very limited at the beginning. Despite some simplifications, the business simulation element turned out to be accessible and exciting at the same time.

Fully voiced dialogues are another nice side of Coffee Noir. Voices sound not so much artistic as quality. The actors are reminiscent of speakers who act out scenes for English textbooks. Clean and understandable English, as gentlemen and ladies used in the middle of the 20th century. An excellent trainer for fixing the language by ear.

System of advice and recommendations. As a rule, I rarely react to tooltips, but in the case of a business in which you really do not understand anything, they turned out to be very useful. The friv game unobtrusively tells you what to pay attention to in your management department, what tasks need to be completed during the current week, and at the same time allows you to automatically link the evidence in the investigation if you do not want to play this puzzle.

WHAT DID NOT LIKE:
The game does not have Russian localization. Of the available languages ​​- only English and Polish. Meanwhile, there is a lot of text, corporate jargon and managerial subtleties that are very difficult to master without the proper level of English proficiency.

Massive text boxes scroll automatically when you're negotiating with clients. If while watching the same comic that describes your progress through the plot, you can safely read everything and click next, then at the meeting everything happens in real time. Since you must listen carefully and conduct a dialogue based on the words of the client, this circumstance complicates everything even without a language barrier.

WORTH TAKING?
If you like intricate detective stories, jazz, noir and retro-futuristic aesthetics, Coffee Noir will almost certainly appeal to you. However, keep in mind that this is not a localized text novel, in which without a solid knowledge of English, you will have a very, very difficult time.