Mike Reitemeier
Mike ReitemeierA standout in recent Wholesome Directs for me has been Call of Boba, an inescapably-adorable pixel-art shop management game that not only looks cute as a button but is quite deep with tons of mechanics. Beyond running a bubble tea store, the title incorporates elements of twin-stick shooters and farming sims, aiming to be a jack-of-all-trades in one cheap package. If anything from the trailers leading up to March 2025 has been an indicator, it looks to be a nice casual time. With it launching in Early Access, let’s see how the game is starting out shortly after its launch on Steam!
Call of Boba sees somewhat of a tragic backstory, as your penguin protagonist left their small town to make something of themselves in the big city. However, they eventually became burnt out to the point where they got let go from their job. Upon returning to the town they grew up in, the penguin has a chance encounter with a childhood friend and, with one thing leading to another, ends up helping to manage a run-down bubble tea shop in the heart of the tiny town. With that, it’s off to learning recipes, prioritizing patrons, and utilizing your earnings to fix the shop.
The surrounding stores in Call of Boba all operate, too, as you’ll encounter townsfolk in your time away from the shop after it closes/before you choose to open it. Once you wrap up for the day, you’ll spend your time in your dreams within a simplistic, satisfactory twin-stick battler where you can learn recipes to utilize in the shop upon completion.
Actually running the shop involves a lot of experimentation, and some skill in pouring in the right amounts of each item, akin to pouring a glass in Dave the Diver. It’s very easy to pick up and learn, but I feel that the player will have to finagle all of the game’s systems in tandem to get the most out of it and find success sooner.
Where Call of Boba scores major points is having the most receptive, dedicated developer that I have ever seen in an Early Access title. Within mere days of launch, major complaints from the Steam review section were remedied, such as the store opening button being clearer in its timed press or certain UI elements during the tutorial being explained more comprehensively. With a gigantic roadmap and timeline also set, it’s more encouraging than its concurrent 71% “mostly positive” review score lets on.
Constant improvement means I can still recommend Call of Boba for purchase at this early juncture should you be keen on it. Updating every few days with hotfixes and performance improvements, you can get a look at what’s to come to better the already solid substance that Call of Boba contains here. Sometimes, I’m hopeful that a game launching in a rough state will get better with a few updates, but with Call of Boba, it truly seems like this will be a slam-dunk in no time thanks to developer Tomatoast.
A PC review copy of Call of Boba was kindly provided by Tomatoast for this review.
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10 Call of Boba
12.99
Pros
- Beautiful Pixel Art
- Actively being Updated
- Tons to Do
Cons
- Could Use Better Tutorials
- A Bit Too Easy
