Caramel Creek

Caramel Creek is a cafe game about leaving the city for a small town by the river. You move into a run-down house and, with patience, money and help from your neighbours, turn it into a cafe shaped to your taste. You grow coffee and handle each step from harvest to brewing, then serve customers at your own pace, with no deadlines.

Grow and serve coffee

Plant and water coffee bushes, then harvest their cherries. Each bush has a limited number of harvests, so you need to plan your plantation before roasting, grinding and brewing the beans. You can upgrade the roaster, grinder and coffee machine across three levels to process larger batches and work faster; the top-level coffee machine brews two cups at once.

Customers queue at the counter and order coffee to stay or take away. They sit at your tables, sometimes ask for another round, leave tips and review your service. Weekday rush hours follow their own rhythms, and each night you receive a summary with customer reviews. Keep the tables and floor clean, or buy a robot vacuum. You set the price of each coffee: low prices please customers, while prices that are too high can make them grumble and leave. Better coffee makes them more willing to pay more.

Restore and decorate

The handyman Sergei repairs the chairs, tables, counter, floors, walls, kitchen, bedroom and front of the house in exchange for money and materials. A shabby cafe can scare guests away at the door. Once the house is repaired, Julia can also repaint the roof, walls, foundation and terrace.

Julia paints designs for the cafe’s walls, floor, door, windows and sign, which can bear your chosen name and a sticker. You can plan the work on a blueprint of the cafe, and she then comes by to paint it. The floor can be designed cell by cell or in 2x2 blocks. Choose from more than 60 ready-made designs or draw your own pattern.

Close the cafe and enter decorating mode to move tables, chairs, rugs, pictures, shelves, plants, the bed, Ostin’s bed and the robot vacuum’s dock. The layout still needs to let customers reach the counter and a chair, so the game keeps the cafe walkable. Anastasia makes additional tables and chairs to order, while Julia sells paintings and figurines. You also receive a gift of decorations after the repairs are complete.

Explore the town

Use your axe, pickaxe, hoe and watering can to chop trees, break stones, plant saplings and till the soil in the street and park. A side street leads to a park with a fountain and benches where you can sit.

The town has a day-and-night cycle, with sunlight moving through the windows and music changing with the time and place. Your phone has a weekday calendar. Kate, Anastasia and Julia follow their own daily routines: they open and close their doors, walk around town, shop, call and text you, and visit your cafe whether or not you are watching.

Meet your neighbours

Kate runs the ALL IN shop, with stocked shelves, shoppers carrying bags and a lunch corner where customers can get hot water for noodles. She restocks the shop and sells beans, cups, seeds, equipment, a robot vacuum and Ostin’s bed. During breaks she visits your cafe for coffee, and Ostin runs to greet her. Once she trusts you, Kate shares notes about the week’s rush hours.

Anastasia is a carpenter who sells planks and stone blocks. Her workshop grows through your donations, and she makes furniture to order. She also provides a supply box for your cafe and a statue that fills a room with a warm glow. On Fridays and Sundays, she goes for coffee, visits Kate’s shop or walks in the park.

Julia is an artist and dancer who first appears as a cafe guest before inviting you to her home by the park. There you can find her easels, perfumes, cat Nemo and a studio desk where you order paint jobs and buy paintings. Julia paints, dances, plays with Nemo and strolls by the fountain.

Build your skills

Earn reputation and spend skill points on a three-branch skill tree covering Trade, Character and Customer Service. The game also has 13 Steam achievements.

Ostin is a stubborn ginger cat with a story of his own. You can pet him and buy him a proper bed, and he sometimes hitches a ride on the robot vacuum. Nemo is Julia’s large white cat, who runs her house.