Maleficent, Ursula, Captain Hook, Scar, and Jafar are just a few of the fearsome faces found in Disney's rogues gallery. For decades, these dreaded foes have entertained and even frightened generations of movie-goers, so putting them in their own video game should get the same result, right?
Disney has made some pretty decent games in the past, so giving a title dedicated to the studio's iconic roster of villains should be a piece of cake with a lot of fanservice. However, today's Nintendo Direct showed something that wasn't exactly what we were expecting.
A virtual villain cafe?
According to Nintendo, Disney Villains Cursed Café is a coffee shop sim that puts a different twist on some of our favorite animated antagonists. As a "potionista," players will serve up all sorts of kooky concoctions to the likes of Ursula, Gaston, and more. While this will undoubtedly vibe with a certain audience, it ultimately feels like a blatant cash grab for both Disney and Nintendo.
The official statement from Nintendo reads as follows:
"Explore rich visual novel gameplay and get to know an iconic cast of Disney Villains, reimagined with a modern twist! Disney Villains have come to the counter of the Cursed Café, seeking to procure potions to fulfill their wickedly whims. As the newest potionista of this establishment, you'll mix and serve a variety of magical elixirs that have the power to change the outcome of each villain's story. Aid them with their wants and gather new ingredients to create entirely new concoctions. Are you ready to stir up some mischief?"
If we're being completely honest here, would someone like Jafar or Captain Hook don hipster gear and go out for lattes? Joking aside, the fact that this game releases as new villainous material breaks ground at the Disney Parks feels a bit too convenient.
In this writer's opinion, this game feels like another off-beat attempt at Disney trying to be modern and "with it" to appeal to today's consumers. While the game will certainly sell to younger consumers, it comes off as an entirely missed opportunity to give fans a gripping villainous title.
Thousands of players would flock to the opportunity to step into the roles of Scar, Maleficent, or Hades, and yet Disney gives them a potion shop with ridiculous hipster caricatures of their favorite villains. Disney has plenty of cozy games like Dreamlight Valley to fill our backlog, would a truly dark title have been so hard?
Disney Villains Cursed Café is now available on Nintendo Switch.