Inspired by the excellent Midnight Diner (available on Netflix), Midnight Ramen is an upcoming visual novel/cooking sim from Cointinue Games, with a playable demo available when this first impressions piece is published.
It seems that listening is trending again as games like Coffee Talk and the recently released Zipps’s Cafe focus on their customers, showing a little leg and enticing us into the individual’s world, even if only for the time it takes to make and drink a coffee.
Jeitaro
A late adopter of coffee, my vocabulary is limited to Tassimo, Americano, and “add more milk”. The craft currently does nothing for me, but the ramen process does. Alright, so you won’t experience the equivalent of a distillery as seen in the prohibition era, as the techniques in the Midnight Ramen demo are simple.
The focus is on your customers and their stories, occasionally interjecting with wise words, a sympathetic ear, or a prompt to buy something from the menu. This experience could have been catastrophic as my assistant, Homura, informs me we have no miso.
What the actual fu- yes, miso ramen is the best. Say what you want about tonkotsu, and shoyu ramen – it’s heavenly. We’ll let that slide briefly and focus on the first customer – an old boy named Sam.
Jeitaro
Sam asks for tonkotsu ramen, and I wish he were dead. Or at least fall off his stool. After a few exchanges, Homura hands me the order and it’s time to cook the noodles, add the broth and add a side dish of beer. It’s mandatory. Upon serving Sam, he points out that I have the order wrong, though when he orders some chashu, all is forgiven (from both parties).
Those with a high IQ will note that this is called Midnight Ramen and may have concluded that the stall opens at midnight. Bing bong! I seldom experienced these types of stalls as I lived outside the city. Our process was the local bar until about 11ish, off to karaoke, then a family restaurant called Gusto that was open 24 hours a day.
Jeitaro
I was lucky to find a few yakitori stands where the master flipped over beer crates for seats, and you’d sit in an alley with a mate, watching all the salarymen stumbling home to get up in a few hours. Midnight Ramen captured that vibe where you have profound, motivational conversations with strangers, and you are at its heart as the stall owner.
Let’s not spoil the story in the demo, as you can experience it for yourself. In short, we meet various people from all walks of life, bringing their problems and aspirations and yet for a cheeky bowl of ramen. This isn’t Overcooked or anything like the recent Pixel Cafe.
From the brief time with the demo, I found it captivating. Perhaps that scent of nostalgia was strong for me anyway, but there’s something natural about these conversations. It could go off the rails in the full game with absurd plots, conspiracy theories, or parody. However, as it stands, Midnight Ramen is authentic.
Unless the cooking element gets overly complicated, this should be near the top of the wishlist for anyone looking for a narrative-driven story with some satisfying gameplay mechanics. My only reservation is you can’t eat the food or wash it down with some Sapporo.
