Grimm & Tonic: Aperitif

Grimm & Tonic is split into three chapters accessed via a hub program. Chapter 1: Very brief and introduces you to the fundamentals of the game; you get introduced to death and the bar you're working in while building up your soul by serving people the right drinks Chapter 2: Even shorter than Chapter 1 and is essentially used to gain more soul Chapter 3: Similar length to Chapter 1, those who you helped will re-appear, and you get a chance to determine your ending I do not recommend this game as it is not worth the money and has a very basic story where decisions only impact achievements and not the narrative itself. However, to the developer's credit, they released all chapters of the game.

At $5, you get what you pay for with this game. It takes less than an hour to do an initial run through, though there is certainly hours more content available. Replay-ability is there as there are many branches to the story, but it doesn't take long to get the general message. I'll probably play more once I've thought about the story some more. The game is very art heavy and clearly inspired by manga and comics. Great selection of music. Really good writing, if simplistic at times. I would love to see another game set in this world, maybe continuing the story of the players character. I would recommend this game to anyone who loves to support indie devs and wants a quick and artsy good time.

Sorry, but no.

I LIKE IT! I hate visual novels so this definitely surprised me to be done so fun and easy and yet challenging!

Grimm & Tonic: Aperitif is an extremely short visual novel with very basic writing and almost no real gameplay. Making drinks amounts to flipping through a book and selecting the recipe the game either heavily hints at or outright tells you. The experience is also riddled with issues. I had a loading icon stuck on-screen for all of episode one, and at the end of episode two the character Death remained awkwardly plastered over the final slides. I didn’t bother starting episode three, since the game forces unskippable end credits after every episode and didn’t return me to the hub menu afterward. For $5, this is wildly overpriced. Between the lack of substance, technical problems, and very short runtime, it’s hard to recommend.

When it comes to bartending visual novels, Grimm & Tonic may not be on the same level as the genre’s gold standard (Va-11 Hall-A). However, its style, music, and manageable size gives the game a leg up on other games in the same space. I would definitely love a sequel if the devs ever decide to revisit this story.