Master death and coffee in Necrobarista on July 22

Stylish narrative game Necrobarista is serving up a release date at last. It's got snark. It's got references to Dungeons & Dragons alignment. It's got baristas serving brews that can literally wake the dead. The anime-inspired visual novel debuted an intense new trailer to announce that it will be releasing next week on July 22nd.

"In a back-alley cafe, the dead are granted one last night to mingle with the living," say Route 59 Games. "Necrobarista follows a dynamic and diverse cast of characters as they navigate Melbourne's hipstery coffee culture, the questionable ethics of necromancy, and the process of letting go."

You play as local barista Maddy Xiāo, incidental brewer of life-returning blends under the training of legendary necromancer Chay Wu. Sounds like you'll be helping Maddy and Chay keep things somewhat above board in the Terminal coffee shop while sort of adhering to the rules of the Council Of Death. Nothing could go wrong here, I'm sure.

Between your chats with the recently reanimated, you'll be able to walk around fantasy Melbourne and the Terminal coffee shop as well.

It does look pretty stylish with all those 3D environments. Definitely not your usual two talking heads style of visual novel—which can also be quite stylish of course, but something different is certainly neat. Giada Zavarise dug into its carefully-placed text earlier this year, explaining how it's more like a comic book than most visual novels.

You can find Necrobarista over on Steam where it will release on July 22nd.

Disclosure: I am acquainted with Necrobarista's lead writer, which in practice means that I've heard its name a lot of times but retained exactly zero information about it until today like the rude goblin I am.