The Eurogamer Podcast: Warm drinks with Coffee Talk creator Fahmi

The story goes that Fahmi was drinking a warm green tea latte one cold, rainy night, and looking out of his window, when an idea hit him. He felt serenely calm and warm and wondered, 'Why isn't there a game that makes me feel like this?' So an idea began to, ahem, percolate in his mind. An idea about a game in which you served warm drinks in a cafe late at night, listening to people's lives and problems. And sure, these people happen to literally be succubi and orcs and werewolves and vampires, but they look like us and their problems are very like ours. And lo, Coffee Talk was born.

There's a lot of love that's built around Coffee Talk in the year since it's been out, and it's not terribly hard to see why. It really is that warm and relaxing drink Fahmi intended (and this, incidentally, is an ideal time of year to play it). Low-fi beats lounge in the background while beautifully pixel-drawn characters sit down to talk with you. There's no stress, there's no rush, there's just you and them, words and lives. And there are some potent pops of wisdom along the way too. I will never look at arguments in the same way again.

But as if releasing one game wasn't enough, Fahmi went ahead and released another in 2020, a smaller one called What Comes After. It's a game about a young girl at her lowest ebb in life, who one day drifts off on a train home only to wake and find herself in a spirit world. It's quite Spirited Away but that's intended. And it's from these spirits Vivi rekindles a passion both for herself and the life she still lives. It's moving, and there's a very touching intention behind it, as you'll discover in the episode.