Preview: Call of Boba Feels Early in Development

Early access is 100% an opportunity for developers to get funds and feedback on upcoming games, in the hopes of a stronger final product that, you know, actually gets made. Call of Boba is one of the latest life sim/shop management/roguelikes out there. Well, it definitely feels like it’s a work in progress. There’s potential here, though! And those who stick with it through its patches and final stretch might find a fun and friendly game, especially since it can already be entertaining. As with many such life sims, Call of Boba begins with burnout. A young penguin named Bobo returns home from the city after collapsing and being hospitalized from burnout at a toxic job. After a phone call from mom triggers another mental crisis, Bobo ends up being hit by a truck. That turns out to be a blessing, as the driver is a childhood friend named Stellar. Stellar is trying to revive a family boba tea shop. Bobo ends up becoming a part of that dream, getting a job and a place to live alongside Stellar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjrvP3R5N6E Now, before I get into gameplay, one thing I noticed is that the script is slightly awkward. It isn’t bad, but there are some lines that seem like they might not have been well localized, as they don’t sound natural. The gameplay loop in Call of Boba tends to follow a particular pattern. During the day, you can farm for ingredients, fish, and interact with characters. (Many of the townspeople aren’t really worth talking to yet, and the love interests aren’t fully finished and fleshed out yet.) When you’re in the shop, you can open for business and fulfill orders. At the end of each day when Bobo sleeps, you go through a roguelike shooter facing enemies for more ingredients. Once the 1.0 version launches, there’ll be more enemies, festivals, more story segments, and options to actually find love for Bobo. At the moment, figuring out that loop is pretty hands-off. Stellar will walk you through making one type of boba tea and opening the shop for the day at the start! But the first time you head into the roguelike shooter dream world, fish, and actually go through time in town, it’s a bit more freeform. Having the missions and objectives helps, but you can tell that right now Tomatoast is building the foundation for Call of Boba. The general framework is there, and we could perhaps see more structure build up to ease us into it. Images via Tomatoast There are some frustrations with this early build. The main ones I experienced came up when managing the shop. For example, I had two customers waiting. I started making the first drink requested. However, the second person in line who wanted a different type of drink suddenly got angry and stormed off. The only thing I could think of is that the NPC mistakenly thought the current drink was for them, rather than the first customer, as I did experience single customers walking out and not giving me a chance to properly make a drink when I accidentally misclicked on an ingredient. You’re supposed to be able to restart by heading to the sink, but instead customers would just abandon ship if I messed up. I also found it a bit clunky to play on a Legion Go, so someone using a Steam Deck or similar sort of handheld gaming PC might encounter some growing pains with Call of Boba. Navigating the menus is a little difficult with the current controller scheme, and I found I wasn’t always able to select and navigate in some situations and needed to resort to the touch screen instead. But then, some of the menus and UI elements in general are clearly still at various phases of development and you can tell they’ll be adjusted. Especially since other elements of Call of Boba seem pretty well executed so far. The concept of the gameplay loop seems like it’s pretty solid. The spritework is fantastic. The concept is great. It’s clear Call of Boba is a life and boba shop management sim with roguelike elements that is in progress. You can tell Tomatoast is working on things, and the Steam page is already filled with updates and commentary. It’s just one of those things that will take time. Hopefully, in a year or so, it’ll be fine-tuned and perfected for the 1.0 release. Call of Boba is available in early access on Steam for PCs. The post Preview: Call of Boba Feels Early in Development appeared first on Siliconera.

Apr 13, 2025 - 15:01

Preview: Call of Boba Feels Early in Development

Early access is 100% an opportunity for developers to get funds and feedback on upcoming games, in the hopes of a stronger final product that, you know, actually gets made. Call of Boba is one of the latest life sim/shop management/roguelikes out there. Well, it definitely feels like it’s a work in progress. There’s potential here, though! And those who stick with it through its patches and final stretch might find a fun and friendly game, especially since it can already be entertaining.

As with many such life sims, Call of Boba begins with burnout. A young penguin named Bobo returns home from the city after collapsing and being hospitalized from burnout at a toxic job. After a phone call from mom triggers another mental crisis, Bobo ends up being hit by a truck. That turns out to be a blessing, as the driver is a childhood friend named Stellar. Stellar is trying to revive a family boba tea shop. Bobo ends up becoming a part of that dream, getting a job and a place to live alongside Stellar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjrvP3R5N6E

Now, before I get into gameplay, one thing I noticed is that the script is slightly awkward. It isn’t bad, but there are some lines that seem like they might not have been well localized, as they don’t sound natural.

The gameplay loop in Call of Boba tends to follow a particular pattern. During the day, you can farm for ingredients, fish, and interact with characters. (Many of the townspeople aren’t really worth talking to yet, and the love interests aren’t fully finished and fleshed out yet.) When you’re in the shop, you can open for business and fulfill orders. At the end of each day when Bobo sleeps, you go through a roguelike shooter facing enemies for more ingredients. Once the 1.0 version launches, there’ll be more enemies, festivals, more story segments, and options to actually find love for Bobo.

At the moment, figuring out that loop is pretty hands-off. Stellar will walk you through making one type of boba tea and opening the shop for the day at the start! But the first time you head into the roguelike shooter dream world, fish, and actually go through time in town, it’s a bit more freeform. Having the missions and objectives helps, but you can tell that right now Tomatoast is building the foundation for Call of Boba. The general framework is there, and we could perhaps see more structure build up to ease us into it.

There are some frustrations with this early build. The main ones I experienced came up when managing the shop. For example, I had two customers waiting. I started making the first drink requested. However, the second person in line who wanted a different type of drink suddenly got angry and stormed off. The only thing I could think of is that the NPC mistakenly thought the current drink was for them, rather than the first customer, as I did experience single customers walking out and not giving me a chance to properly make a drink when I accidentally misclicked on an ingredient. You’re supposed to be able to restart by heading to the sink, but instead customers would just abandon ship if I messed up.

I also found it a bit clunky to play on a Legion Go, so someone using a Steam Deck or similar sort of handheld gaming PC might encounter some growing pains with Call of Boba. Navigating the menus is a little difficult with the current controller scheme, and I found I wasn’t always able to select and navigate in some situations and needed to resort to the touch screen instead. But then, some of the menus and UI elements in general are clearly still at various phases of development and you can tell they’ll be adjusted.

Especially since other elements of Call of Boba seem pretty well executed so far. The concept of the gameplay loop seems like it’s pretty solid. The spritework is fantastic. The concept is great.

It’s clear Call of Boba is a life and boba shop management sim with roguelike elements that is in progress. You can tell Tomatoast is working on things, and the Steam page is already filled with updates and commentary. It’s just one of those things that will take time. Hopefully, in a year or so, it’ll be fine-tuned and perfected for the 1.0 release.

Call of Boba is available in early access on Steam for PCs.

The post Preview: Call of Boba Feels Early in Development appeared first on Siliconera.