In Coffee Noir, you infiltrate a coffee company as an undercover detective to unravel a criminal mystery. But you’ll actually need to put in the work if you want to keep your cover.

The game is a detective novel mix in with a business management game, surrounded by noir visuals and sounds.

Coffee Noir is a new indie title developed by DOJI, a Polish indie studio, specialized in game development and education technology. It takes place in an alternative timeline, where coffee is king. It’s 2021, and Neo-London is just crazy for caffeine.

The game puts you in the shoes of Arthur Oliver, a hard-boiled detective who has to work undercover as a coffee salesman. He hopes to gain the trust of the industry’s tycoons, who might have some information about a crime involving one of the city’s leading coffee businessmen.

To keep your cover, you’ll manage your team, handle production, seek out promotions, and generally try not to run your coffee business into the ground. Successful business negotiations will lead not only to more money but might also to revealing new clues essential for solving the criminal mystery.

Coffee Noir’s economics engine was developed with the support of professional economists and academics to simulate an actual market, giving you a complex business simulation. You’ll use a retro-style interface to buy, sell, and make all your coffee business decisions.

When not in management mode, the game turns into an interactive comic book. The game’s art style is inspired by classic American comics, dripping with film noir mood and retro-future ambiance. The voice-overs and Jazz soundtrack enhance the game’s 1940 vibes.

I wonder how this mesh between the detective novel and business simulation will come to be. An accurate business simulation might sound kind of technical to some, but the idea of it interleaved with a dense mystery might sweeten the pill for those seeking a deep narrative. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of player this game speaks to.

Coffee Noir will launch at Q4 2020, you can wishlist it now on steam.


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