PLAYISM has announced “Maid Cafe on Electric Street,” a unique game that combines restaurant management with dating simulation, will release this summer.

Set to be released on Steam around the summer of 2024, the game puts you in charge of running a maid café in Nipponbashi, Osaka. Featuring a diverse cast of maids, including “otaku” and “gothic” lolita girls, you will work together to revitalize a failing maid café and find romance along the way.

The release date was announced during the INDIE Live Expo 2024 live stream held yesterday, and the game’s Steam store page is now live.

The protagonist is an average Japanese man who, after quitting a black company, stumbles upon a failing maid café. There, he meets the maid Shiro and is entrusted with the management of the café, taking on the role of acting manager.

As acting manager, your primary tasks will involve recruiting and managing staff. You’ll venture into the streets of Nihonbashi, visiting real-life stores such as Surugaya, Dragon Star, Karaoke Rainbow, and Sofmap to scout cute girls willing to become maids.

Each hired maid must be assigned roles that suit their particular skills, such as customer service or kitchen duties. During café operations, you’ll prepare coffee for customers and assist with the maids’ interactions, making the game as busy and engaging as typical restaurant management titles.

However there’s an added flair to Maid Cafe on Electric Street as from such interactions with the maids where you’ll develop bonds with them, deepening your relationship will enable you to go out on fun dates around Nipponbashi, exploring venues like arcades, parks, anime shops and the cinema.

It’s evident that the developers, Adventurer’s Tavern, have a deep appreciation for the Nipponbashi atmosphere, as reflected in the inclusion of capsule toy machines scattered throughout the streets. As an added bonus, players can collect various capsule toys and even discuss them with the girls they encounter.

The game introduces a diverse cast of characters, such as Shiro, the initial maid you encounter is a massive otaku of both anime and video games whereas Miyu happens to be a gyaru girl with an insatiable appetite.

Favna, a enigmatic girl who adores gothic lolita fashion sporting unique twin drills and often speaks in riddles and lastly Honoka, a shrine maiden who works at her families shrine, she’s very capable of handling the café’s finances and is the only girl amongst them who wears glasses.

I’m allowed to be biased and have favorites, even from just a few humble screenshots and barely over a minute of trailer footage, it’s clear to see the tremendous effort that the small studio at Adventurer’s Tavern has poured into this game.

Their collaboration with real-life Japanese stores adds authenticity and familiarity to the game, which is brimming with high-quality pixelated artwork from simple character models to animation.

I have a soft spot for laid-back games like this. Restaurant management games already have their own unique charm, but this one takes it to the next level by allowing you to freely explore the sights of Nipponbashi and interact with the maids you’ve hired.

You can even take them out on dates, to the park to ride the swings, or to eat out at other food establishments. There’s so much passion poured into this game, which is exactly what I appreciate about earnest small-scale games

Unlike the AAA gaming industry in the West, where consumers are often treated as nothing more than open wallets to exploit with progressive agendas, buggy releases, and endless microtransactions.

This is what I’m passionate about when it comes to gaming. Seeing the raw dedication poured into this game by its developers, especially in its intricate yet simplistic pixelated artwork. Creating pixel art requires a lot of time and effort compared to traditional CG artwork which is usually overlooked entirely by majority of consumers.

I’m genuinely excited about this game and can’t wait to experience it. Currently, there’s only mention of the game releasing on PC. However, considering that the recent summer release announcement came from the INDIE Live Expo, which was also streamed in English, I’m confident that non-Japanese speakers like myself will still be able to enjoy the Nipponbashi experience without needing a dictionary.

I hope for the success of both the publishers, PLAYISM, and the developers, Adventurer’s Tavern, with the PC release of Maid Cafe on Electric Street. Perhaps, if it proves successful enough, they’ll consider porting the game to the Nintendo Switch in the future which is certainly a platform that would benefit from it.