Hookah Haze is the worst game I've played in about two years. It's the latest game inspired by Va-11 Hall-A, a beloved bartender simulator visual novel from 2016. With the sequel of that game stuck in development hell for years and ultimately put in the back burner for a different project, Hookah Haze was a game that I hoped would fill that game's place. Sadly I hated it. Hookah Haze is about an ill woman named Toru that starts to run a hookah lounge for people in Tokyo. The game is split over the course of 21 in game days. In each day the player can choose a drink to feature as a special to attract particular customers. Making drinks for customers is way too simple. All you do it select three ingredients and the game makes the drink for you. The client's preferences for types of drinks is blatantly stated to the player, so minimal thought is needed in what kind of drink is needed to be prepared. Once a customer receives a drink, a conversation is shown between Toru and the customer and then the player has to add more coal for the hookah. The game makes it really obvious how much coal needs to be added, so you'd have to go out of your way to mess up the amount of coal needed. The rest of the game consists of DMs between Toru and the customers she interacts with. You have to click Toru's response, but there is only one text option to choose from, making the player interactivity feel pointless. There are three regular customers Toru interacts with. They all have appealing designs and backstories and they are easily the highlight of the game. Unfortunately, their really well done sprites and animations are stretched out to the point of being blurry and it's much harder to appreciate the effort the artist put into them. The soundtrack is also pleasant to listen to, but ultimately forgettable. The only song I really enjoyed was the end credits theme. The game is only about 7 hours long. Each in game day and conversation feels too short. Even though the writing in these conversations are decent, none of the character arcs felt long enough to feel satisfying and even the good endings felt abrupt and anticlimactic. For a game at $17, I was definitely expecting more. I really wanted to like this game, but it just didn't live up to my expectations coming from the game it's inspired by. It lacks Va-11 Hall-A's memorable soundtrack, well paced story, sharp pixel art and story. I see a game with real potential and love put into it, but it just fell short. If you wanted a game similar to Va-11 Hall-A I'd just buy both episodes of Coffee Talk instead. Both games have more polish put into them and are long enough to where they feel like they're worth the money. Neither game hits the same highs as Va-11 Hall-A, but on their own they are solid games.
