Tailside: Cozy Cafe Sim - A Cup of Comfort With Some Grounds at the Bottom
I've spent about 12 hours running a woodland cafe as an adorable chubby fox, and I need to talk about this cozy little gem that's currently in Early Access.
What Hooked Me Immediately
The moment you boot up Tailside, you're greeted with this warm, soft art style that feels like a hug. Everything is rendered in these gorgeous earthy tones—forest greens, coffee browns, creamy beiges—that make you want to curl up with a blanket. It's not hyper-pixelated indie game aesthetic, but it's not trying to be ultra-realistic either. It hits this sweet spot that just feels right for a cozy cafe sim.
You play as this absolutely adorable fox who's moved to a new town to run a coffee shop. Oh, and you're also completely obsessed with collecting plushies, which is both relatable and expensive for your in-game wallet. The premise is simple: brew coffee, meet locals, decorate your cafe, and vibe.
The Gameplay Loop: Zen With a Side of Tedium
Here's where Tailside both succeeds and struggles. The core gameplay is exactly what you'd expect: customers come in, order drinks, you make them, they pay, repeat. But unlike those panic-inducing time-management games where you're scrambling to serve 50 people simultaneously,
Tailside wants you to slow down.
There's no timer. No penalty for messing up. No angry customers storming out because you put oat milk instead of regular milk in their latte. This is stress-free gaming at its purest, which is both the game's greatest strength and its biggest weakness.
For the first few hours, it's blissful. You're learning recipes, meeting charming woodland creatures, unlocking new furniture for your cafe. But after you've upgraded your equipment and gotten into a rhythm, every day starts feeling identical. You brew the same three drinks over and over, the same customers rotate through, and you realize you're just... waiting for enough experience to unlock something new.
The Characters Are Surprisingly Deep
One thing Tailside absolutely nails is its cast of characters. These aren't your typical one-dimensional "Hi neighbor! Buy coffee! Bye!" NPCs. Each woodland creature has a distinct personality, quirks, and depth.
There's a rabbit who holds her payment coins between her long ears—it's such a small detail but it made me smile every time. Some characters are mysterious, others are awkward, some are funny. They feel like actual residents of a small town, not just quest-givers or coffee-ordering machines.
The dialogue system gives you occasional response choices, though they don't really affect anything. This is a zero-stakes game, so there are no "wrong" answers. It's more about the illusion of interaction than meaningful branching narratives.
The Upgrade System Needs Work
This is where my main frustration lies. Tailside has two separate upgrade paths: skill points (earned by leveling up) and the recipe book (purchased with money). The problem? It's confusing which upgrades go where.
I spent the first 6 hours thinking new coffee recipes were only unlocked through the recipe book on your counter. Turns out, they're actually in your journal's skill tree, which costs precious skill points. Meanwhile, the recipe book has upgrades for things like pastries, which I completely ignored because I was tunnel-visioned on unlocking new drinks.
By the time I realized I could sell pastries, several characters had mentioned them multiple times and I felt like an idiot for missing such an obvious feature.
The bigger issue is how slowly you earn skill points. You get one point per level, and new coffee types cost five points each. I played for 12 hours and only unlocked one new drink (a honey latte, which honestly sounds incredible). I desperately wanted to add mocha to the menu but couldn't justify spending that many points when I needed them for other upgrades.
There's also an upgrade that auto-completes latte art, which I bought early to save time. Big regret. As you level up, you unlock beautiful new latte art designs, but thanks to the upgrade, you never get to use them. Yes, you can reset skill points for 1000 coins, but it feels bad knowing you locked yourself out of content.
Sound Design: A Mixed Bag
The ambient sounds are lovely—coffee brewing, birds chirping, a babbling stream outside. When you unlock the patio area (which is a nice breath of fresh air after being cooped up inside), the nature sounds add a lot to the atmosphere.
But the music? It's... a lot. Imagine the most aggressively cutesy, plinky-plonky music box soundtrack you can think of. Within 30 seconds, I had to mute it. It felt like being trapped in a toddler's TV show. Thankfully, muting the music while keeping sound effects makes the experience 1000% better.
Also, the animal "voices" (those gibberish sounds when characters talk) sound suspiciously like another game where animals live in a town with seasonal events and a capitalist raccoon landlord. You know the one.
What Keeps Me Coming Back
Despite the repetition and upgrade frustrations, I keep opening Tailside. Why? Because it's the perfect wind-down game. After a stressful day, I don't want complex strategy or high-stakes combat. I want to make virtual coffee for a deer wearing a scarf, organize my plushie collection, and rearrange furniture for the 15th time.
The decoration system is satisfying. You can customize your cafe exactly how you want it, and there's genuine joy in creating a cozy space. The plushie collecting mechanic is oddly addictive—I found myself checking the shop daily to see if new ones appeared.
Early Access Considerations
Tailside is currently in Early Access with a planned full release in 2027. The roadmap includes exciting features like:
A greenhouse system
Dynamic weather
Multiplayer (visiting friends' cafes)
More town exploration
If those features deliver, Tailside could become something special. Right now, it's a solid cozy game with room to grow.
The Verdict
The Good:
Beautiful, warm art style perfect for the genre
Charming, well-written characters with personality
Zero-stress gameplay ideal for relaxation
Satisfying decoration and customization
Great ambient sound design (minus the music)
The Bad:
Becomes repetitive after the initial hours
Confusing upgrade system split across two menus
Skill points too scarce, new drinks too expensive
Music is grating and needs to be muted
Limited content in current Early Access build
Rating: 7/10 — A warm, comforting experience that needs more beans in the grinder.
Recommended if: You loved Wylde Flowers, Coffee Talk, or Unpacking and want more cozy vibes
Skip if: You need constant progression, complex systems, or fast-paced gameplay
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