WARNING: this review contains far too many comparisons to the gatcha game Arknights to be considered a healthy amount. Viewer’s discretion is advised. 

Affogato is a PC reverse-tower defense and coffee shop/social simulator, made by Befun Studio, who have zero online presence but might be an in-house developer from Singaporean publisher Spiral Up Games. Affogato is a Persona for adults about titular witch Affogato and her demon partner Mephisto, who travel the world while starting up short-lived coffee shops. Affogato is defined by her self-sabotaging kindness towards strangers and customers and how no one can tell her red hair is magenta (a struggle I have personally experienced). Mephisto is defined by the desirable backwards “The Worst” shirt she sports (as subtle an allusion as a villain wearing a hoodie with the word “antagonist” on the front). Moving into the Columbia Street shopping district of Arorua City is the start of Affogato’s time in a metro filled with demons and possessions and demon possessions.

Playing Affogato draws comparisons to the Chinese-based mobile gacha tower-defense Arknights. Both are Chinese-language originating games with default Japanese voice acting, include urban worlds with animal people, and involve tower defense. It looks, talks, and smells like a duck, so Affogato is a duck. Arknights, a game wherein I am currently at max account level, is my longest experience with tower-defense. Keeping spawning enemies from one end of the map from getting past the “base” by placing units either in the way of or around the enemy is the basic premise. Elements are changed up with the inclusion of different enemy types, tricky bosses, or tiles/objects that change difficulty. 

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