Little Dragon Cafe is exactly as the title would describe. A charming cafe where you take care of customers, along with taking care of your new fledgling dragon that likes to tantrum when you have neglected feeding it. Having played this game for more hours than I would like to admit, I feel like I can give a fair review.
The visuals in this game are beautiful. It feels as if the characters are a part of a story book come to life and the art feeds into that notion. When you go outside, you find yourself taking a moment to take in the scenery while your dragon runs around you. It’s very whimsical and easy to lose yourself into. The characters themselves are very charming. Often times there will be a character that at first anyone would find increasingly annoying but you eventually find yourself charmed by them. I did very much enjoy cooking the new recipes I had managed to piece together, a cute rhythm mini-game of sorts, often challenging myself to cook an even better dish that my patrons would rave about.
One of the few negatives I faced was that the game is plagued with a frame rate issue. It’s often easy to ignore but when exploring the wilderness the frame rate can slow to a crawl until everything is able to load fully. This normally only happens when you initially walk outside of your cafe. The other negative is that the game can start to feel repetitive after a few hours of play. It starts to take on a pattern of: new customer, story, find a recipe, and then customer is happy. Rinse and repeat. Luckily, the stories of each of these customers are interesting enough to help break up the monotony.
All in all, if the negatives can be ignored, I would very much recommend this game. This is especially true to fans that enjoy games such as Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon.
