Manage a cafe by day, go to bed and fight in your dreams in a world without sleep by night in Hips N Noses

"Don't even talk to me before I've had my coffee that restores my lost memories!" This is a line I imagine that the general public would oft repeat in the world of Hips N Noses, a cafe management sim/Vampire Survivors-esque roguelike that's set in a world where no one but you can sleep, and everyone's suffering from a touch of amnesia.

Hips N Noses quite quickly grabbed my attention with its cel shaded, lo-fi hip hop beats to relax to adjacent vibe and drew me in further when I found out it explores some of my favourite things in games: food, dreams, and memories. You play as Mela, a young woman who lives in a world where the concept of sleep doesn't exist, except for some reason she does.

She finds herself working at a cafe run by someone called Beri, who can also sleep, where she's tasked with concocting witchy coffees that through the power of some magical flowers that grow out of the pair's heads can restore previously lost memories. It's a lot! Mechanically this plays out through an Overcooked style section where customers line up at the front desk, tell you what they want, and then you have to go and brew it. Sometimes it's as simple as an americano, other times they might specify wanting a drink that's bitter, but not warm, so mixing and matching ingredients becomes the key to a happy customer.

This isn't the game in its entirety, however. While the likes of coffee beans and milk can be purchased from your local brown paper bag wearing street vendor, those flowers are acquired through other means. At night, after a hard day's work, you pop yourself to bed and arrive in the land of dreams. Here, Hips N Noses veers into the aforementioned Vampire Survivors territory, where you defeat increasingly larger waves of enemies, netting yourself new powers in the process.

Hips N Noses differentiates itself slightly here by also adding in support characters who have their own unique attacks and buffs, which are directly affected by how much they like you in the waking world. I will admit that the basic mechanics are possibly a tad too much like Vampire Survivors, none of the powers I found in the demo felt particularly unique, but the supports still added a touch of freshness.

I could say something similar of the management aspects, though I imagine that over time this'll get a touch more complicated as business grows busier and the menu gets more complicated. Still, I like the intersection of the two genres, and the idea of something as aromatic as coffee being linked to memory is a tantalising concept that I'm keen to explore further. I'm particularly fond of the similarly lo-fi at points soundtrack, and a modern witchy vibe always hits. It's early days for Hips N Noses, and will launch in early access whenever it does arrive, so I'm excited to see how it shapes up. You can wishlist it on Steam here.