Café Stella and the Reaper's Butterflies

About

In "Café Stella and the Reaper's Butterflies," players navigate a visual novel adventure, helping protagonist Stella run her cozy café while uncovering the mystery of supernatural butterflies that can predict death. Balancing café management with interpersonal relationships, Stella must form bonds, make choices, and potentially alter fates. With a soothing atmosphere, engaging storyline, and a touch of the paranormal, this game offers a unique and captivating experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Café Stella and the Reaper's Butterflies screenshot

96%

Audience ScoreBased on 317 reviews

story54 positive mentions

gameplay3 negative mentions

The game features a charming cafe atmosphere that enhances the overall experience.
The character routes are engaging, with well-developed stories and emotional moments, particularly in Kanna and Natsume's routes.
The art, music, and voice acting are top-notch, contributing to a high-quality visual novel experience.

The common route can feel overly verbose and lacks significant plot development, leading to moments of boredom.
Not all routes are created equal, with some feeling rushed or lacking depth compared to others.
There are occasional translation errors and awkward dialogue that detract from the overall immersion.

story
179 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
64%
6%
The story of "Café Stella" is characterized by its light-hearted and charming romantic themes, often blending slice-of-life elements with supernatural aspects. While many players appreciate the engaging characters and their interactions, some criticize the plot for being predictable and lacking depth, with certain routes feeling underdeveloped or filled with filler content. Overall, it appeals to those seeking a relaxing narrative experience rather than a complex storyline.
- “The art's great, the music's good, the story's charming and the voice acting is top-notch.”
- “Very nice storyline with the proper mix of supernatural and romance that I enjoy.”
- “Overall, I highly recommend this game to anyone who loves great characters and engaging storytelling.”
- “Found myself skipping entire chapters hoping the story would get more interesting, but sadly that never came to happen.”
- “The lack of characterization, the serious differences in the quality of the different branching storylines, the apparent blandness of the plot progression, and the sloppy handling of the worldview all make for a game that most players will probably not enjoy as much as they would like.”
- “Unfortunately, progression of the story becomes rather stale after a certain point.”
music
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
50%
10%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many praising its relaxing and fitting nature, particularly for its café-themed atmosphere, while others find it underwhelming and generic compared to other titles. Some users highlight standout character themes and enjoyable soundtracks, but there are also criticisms regarding the overall lack of vibrancy and memorability. Overall, the music is seen as a solid complement to the game's charm, though opinions vary on its impact and quality.
- “The music is beautiful, fitting, and consistent with the story.”
- “Touching stories, amazing soundtrack, outstanding character design.”
- “The relaxing soundtrack really fits the atmosphere, and the hype soundtracks get the blood rushing during the more intense moments of the route.”
- “I frequently found myself dozing off for most of my read because the music just hit the right vibe to relax me and send me back to sleep.”
- “Really, the only thing bringing down the production is the music.”
- “Every one of their games has some of the most lackluster soundtracks in visual novels and fail to bring that vibrance and warmth you want out of these sorts of games.”
emotional
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
96%
4%
The emotional aspect of the game is characterized by a mix of heartwarming moments and deeper, touching narratives, particularly in certain character routes like Natsume and Kanna. While many players found the overall experience to be comforting and enjoyable, some noted that certain emotional scenes felt rushed or clichéd, detracting from their impact. Overall, the game is praised for its charming characters and the ability to evoke a range of feelings, from joy to sadness, making it a memorable emotional journey.
- “Touching stories, amazing soundtrack, outstanding character design.”
- “Just a very comfortable game with some great emotional moments (especially in Natsume and Kanna's routes).”
- “But seriously wow, what an emotional ride this was... Yuzusoft just really nailed it this time for me personally with Café Stella.”
humor
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in "Cafe Stella" receives mixed reviews, with some players finding it genuinely funny and well-written, particularly appreciating the main character's reactions and quirky dialogue. However, many criticize the reliance on repetitive and frustrating "pervert" jokes, which detracts from the overall comedic experience and undermines the potential for a more wholesome narrative. While there are moments of laughter, the humor often feels inconsistent and overshadowed by a return to outdated tropes seen in older titles.
- “The masayuki suzuki joke actually had me laughing out loud.”
- “The humor is always consistent and well written.”
- “The humor is pretty good, actually; it might be one of the best Yuzusoft games have to offer.”
character development
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31%
50%
19%
Character development in the game is generally viewed as decent, with some standout moments, particularly in individual routes where characters like Kousei and Mei experience significant growth. While the character designs and overall presentation are praised for their quality, some players feel that certain characters, such as Kanna, could benefit from deeper exploration of their personal arcs. Overall, the balance between plot and character development varies across routes, with some achieving more impactful storytelling than others.
- “However, there's decent character development and story once you get into the individual routes.”
- “Kanna's route ending and seeing Kousei's personal character development were the highlights of the route for me.”
- “The writers did a good job balancing the route's plot and character development of Natsume herself.”
- “I also wish Kanna herself could have more scenes in her personal character development, particularly the part on her feelings towards Kousei.”
- “This is also one route where Kousei himself gains some rare character development and finally resolves one plot point of his.”
- “His character development is just not recognizable.”
graphics
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
29%
21%
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their high-quality art style and detailed character designs, with a native 1080p resolution that enhances the visual experience. While some users find the aesthetic lacking in personality and memorable elements, the overall visual presentation is considered one of the game's strongest aspects, despite minor issues with censorship and clarity.
- “At first, I was completely enamored with the art style.”
- “The voice acting and visuals are top-notch, and this is the game's prime quality.”
- “Featuring a native 1080p resolution, highly detailed art style, and a level of liveliness that can only be rivaled by 2D animation, Café Stella as usual offers the best in terms of visuals.”
- “While the art style doesn't really have that much personality, it is visually pleasing.”
- “Almost all visual novels do not require a graphics card to run the game, a processor is more than enough; however, let's not exaggerate, 2000s PCs are not going to run the game...”
- “Aesthetic was a bit disappointing.”
gameplay
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
20%
60%
The gameplay is criticized for being shallow and lacking meaningful player input, primarily consisting of simple clicking with little to no stakes involved. While the romance elements are noted as engaging, they are seen as insufficient to elevate the overall experience, leading to a sense of filler content to extend gameplay length.
- “15 hours of gameplay and 1 Natsume route later.”
- “Without any stakes and lack of player input, the gameplay/story becomes very shallow.”
- “So the romance is palpable, it's just that once again, it seems that that's all they had, so they just filled out some sort of 'gameplay length quota' with filler.”
- “In a visual novel, there is no gameplay to speak of other than clicking.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
25%
50%
The atmosphere of the visual novel is praised for its calming café setting and overall peaceful vibe, enhanced by a fitting soundtrack that complements both relaxing and intense moments. While some music tracks may be forgettable, they effectively contribute to the game's immersive experience.
- “I really like the café atmosphere of this visual novel.”
- “The relaxing soundtrack really fits the atmosphere, and the hype soundtracks get the blood rushing during the more intense moments of the route.”
- “The music is pretty forgettable for the most part, but it really fits the atmosphere, so no real complaints there.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The optimization for the game on Linux has been reported as subpar, requiring specific command line adjustments to mitigate visual glitches, and even with additional tweaks, certain features like the opening movie fail to function properly.
- “Performance on Linux was surprisingly bad; it still requires the usual `proton_use_wined3d=1 %command%` command line to avoid any visual glitches. Even after the usual Protontricks with wmp11, the opening movie won't play.”
- “The optimization is lacking, leading to frequent frame drops and stuttering during gameplay, which significantly detracts from the overall experience.”
- “I encountered numerous bugs and performance issues that made the game nearly unplayable at times, especially in more demanding areas.”