Little Dragons Cafe

 PlayStation 4
User Score
4.2

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 11 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 11
  3. Negative: 6 out of 11
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  1. katpjs
    Dec 20, 2018
    3
    It's cute for all of a couple hours. You get your dragon, love it, and then are faced with what can only be described as hours of repetitive and restricted gameplay. The game refuses to let you progress for hours upon hours by requiring you to harvest materials consistently from the same location and awaiting the "story" to progress by just passing to the next day. But there is no reward.It's cute for all of a couple hours. You get your dragon, love it, and then are faced with what can only be described as hours of repetitive and restricted gameplay. The game refuses to let you progress for hours upon hours by requiring you to harvest materials consistently from the same location and awaiting the "story" to progress by just passing to the next day. But there is no reward. No pay-off.

    You have passably good graphics (for what the game is) and a cute dragon. The characters that are presented have no heart or feeling while they try to, and the frustration that is brought on by the phrase "I shouldn't wander too far..." every time you try to cross a bridge to a new area is remarkably annoying.

    The controls themselves are also not the best. There is a lag in the time it takes to press the jump button where sometimes your character won't even jump at all, but instead will just stand there. Overall, I regret getting this game.

    The highlight of my entire experience was the dragon. I enjoyed the mechanic of being able to change the dragon's color as well as just the dragon himself was adorable. So the game gets points for that. But overall, a regretful title that I overall was just not a fan of.    … Expand
  2. VideoGameLover
    Aug 24, 2018
    0
    Who's idea was it to charge $60 for an indy game on the Switch? When you can buy the amazing Indy Hollow Knight for $9.90? For that reason alone, the game gets a zero.
  3. Prrgangsta
    Mar 26, 2019
    5
    So I just picked this game up for $25 and decided to give it a try and not even 5 minutes into playing and I can already tell this game is awful. First off the controls are terrible. I realized my character would run an extra 2 steps after I released the analog stick, you know those ice levels in games we always hate? That is how you move in this WHOLE game. The "helper" serves no purposeSo I just picked this game up for $25 and decided to give it a try and not even 5 minutes into playing and I can already tell this game is awful. First off the controls are terrible. I realized my character would run an extra 2 steps after I released the analog stick, you know those ice levels in games we always hate? That is how you move in this WHOLE game. The "helper" serves no purpose other than to be the player's character's "voice" or "personality" since you don't have one.

    The gameplay is already the most repetitive thing EVER! You wake up get a story event, complete it, then go out to get recipes and ingredients, cook recipes, run the cafe, and finally go to bed. Thats this whole game down to a T. So glad I didn't pay full price for this game or god forbid $80 (plus tax) for that collector's edition.    … Expand
  4. rotolotto
    Nov 15, 2019
    5
    Little Dragons Cafe is a case of managing expectations. Hardcore gamers likely will not enjoy this title, and seasoned fans of the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons franchise [which shares the same creator] will likely be expecting a bit more from this title. That being said, it is a decent game. Let's dive into specifics.

    LDC is mainly Diner Dash with a few large elements supporting it-    Little Dragons Cafe is a case of managing expectations. Hardcore gamers likely will not enjoy this title, and seasoned fans of the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons franchise [which shares the same creator] will likely be expecting a bit more from this title. That being said, it is a decent game. Let's dive into specifics.

    LDC is mainly Diner Dash with a few large elements supporting it- Story, Characters, Exploration, and Collection. The story of LDC is nothing too out of the ordinary and the payoff isn't necessarily very rewarding after the credits roll, but what makes it special is the characters in the game. There are 10 characters through the story who bear weight on their own individual arcs as well as a small part in the climax of the story. These characters are quirky and packed full of charm and personality, so it's easy to enjoy your time with each of them.

    While the focus of the subject matter is creating dishes with a small rhythm minigame and running the cafe in a Diner Dash sort of capacity, the exploration and collecting aspects are where most of your gameplay lies and underpin this as your ingredients deplete in real time as meals are served, each one of them taking away from your stock to make the dish each time it is made. To get said ingredients, you will need to explore the surprisingly large world available to you to gather from bushes, trees, plants, birds, pigs, and grass, while keeping an eye out for people with requests or recipe fragments, four of which creates a recipe. Your stock is capped at 100 and at end-game you can get 50+ customers per day, so you will need to stay busy to finish the game. You have a dragon companion assisting you in your gathering who grows over the course of the story, unlocking more places to go and actions to perform to gather more ingredients and fragments.

    That's really all there is to it. While the game is simple and fun and charming, once the story is over, there is no reason left to play as the demand for ingredients is too cumbersome to support the cafe gameplay as a casual play session. All of this being said, the current price tag (release) is full retail 59.99, which is simply not a good value in my opinion. I would wait to give this a try until it his at least 19.99 if you particularly enjoy casual collect-a-thons. For these reasons, I give the game a 5/10. The game has a lot of charm but that can only carry you so far.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
57

Mixed or average reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 12
  3. Negative: 2 out of 12
  1. 4P.de
    Oct 21, 2018
    60
    Charming but too soon redundant mix of coffee house management (including cookin rhythm minigames) and raising a dragon with very obvious technical problems.
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  2. Vandal
    Oct 15, 2018
    70
    Little Dragons Cafe is a game targeted at a younger audience, and we think it succeeds in delivering a good experience for them. More experienced players won't find them that enjoyable, but we think it's entertaining anyway.
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  3. IGN Spain
    Oct 15, 2018
    68
    Yasuhiro Wada shows his new creation with this easy game that everyone in the house can afford to play. We expected much more from the Harvest Moon and Rune Factory creator, and at least we wanted something more of management in a game that is supposed to let us manage our own cafe. But we have a dragon.
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