Best Served Cold opens up with a beautiful cutscene, detailing everything you need to know about the state of Bukovie: a 1920s European city in a state of disarray. War is coming, prohibition looms over the city like a dark cloud, crime is on the rise, and corruption is poisoning every branch of power. As the bartender running a speakeasy, you’re one of the few safe havens left in the city. And, the only place where justice can be served.
You’re tasked with solving various murder cases by a local detective, and the only way you can do that is by interrogating the people coming into your bar. While the story of Best Served Cold is a thrilling one, it’s unfortunate that some ingredients in this cocktail sour the drink quite a bit.
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The City of Bukovie and Its People
Best Served Cold’s secret ingredients are its characters and writing, which isn’t surprising given it’s both a mystery and a visual novel. But what I was pleasantly surprised by was how real they felt and how their stories echoed the ones I see in real life, among my peers, friends, and myself. Stories of immigration and assimilation, sexism and harassment in the workplace, queerness, and the broader world. Exploring the avenues and experiences in life, and how they’re impacted by corruption, was a treat.
You see these characters as more than just witnesses and suspects. They’re flawed, some more than others. Some are scumbags without so much as a single redeeming quality, but then there are characters like Killian—a privileged young man who chases after any pretty, rich woman he sees—who matures and grows into someone who wants more out of life. Not only because you urge him to, but he wants to become better. It’s honestly inspiring to see him grow into the man he is at the end of the story.
He’s not the only one with nuance, though. There’s one jovial, friendly type you meet and can easily get attached to. However, one case sees them become emboldened by their xenophobic ideals. Thankfully, you are allowed to call them out at every turn, but they’re always defensive.
They spout things like “the immigration numbers are rising” and state how “they’re ruining this city.” These statements eerily reflect what’s been recorded throughout history, and what’s being shouted on TV or in the sheets in recent times in America.
At the end of the case, you force them to come to terms with their prejudice, and they realize just how hateful and wrong they were. They realize immigrants are also seeking solace. They’ve come to Bukovie for a better life. Now, they’re coming to the Nightcap for the same reasons everyone else is: peace of mind.
It was such a well-written part of the story, and I think it was brave to make a well-liked character have this crucial flaw that they needed to come to terms with and overcome. Not everyone is perfect, but we can change if we listen and want that change. Best Served Cold’s writing and its characters work because they’re realistic.
Now, there is romance, but it’s only unlocked in the final case, and I found it to be pointless. You open up the conversation, they’re open to the idea of romance, and…that’s where it ends. It begs the question of why the mechanic was added in the first place. If it’s not going to be expanded on through further interactions, is there a point? There could’ve been optional flirtations that don’t take up action points, a follow-up scene at the end where they visit you after the final case… Something, anything!
Drunk Lips Get You Closer to the Truth
You have 16 in-game days to get to the truth; otherwise, it’s curtains for the Nightcap. This means interrogating your clientele, which won’t be easy. They’re not going to tell you the truth sober, so you’re going to need to slide them a drink.
Mixing drinks in Best Served Cold is simple: add ingredients into the shaker by passing through them with the arrow, following along the lines in the direction it’s pointing in by dragging your mouse. As you make progress, another arrow—a red one—will start to follow you. If it catches up to you, the drink will become ruined, resulting in a failed drink. Failed drinks will not only sour a customer’s mood, but reduce your action points with that particular character down to one.
During my playthrough, failure was very rare, and I believe that was due to the minigame’s simplicity. There weren’t any complexities added to it, which on one hand, I can understand as this game is meant for the cozy crowd—something to help them unwind as they converse with the bar’s patrons. But as the hours passed, I began to find mixing drinks incredibly monotonous. The minigame would’ve greatly benefited from an additional layer or two to help it from getting stale.
Who You Calling Pal, Bartender?
A drink isn’t the only thing you’ll need to get info out of someone. Sometimes, they’ll need to be a bit tipsier, in a particular mood, or closer to you to spill the tea you’re looking for. I quite liked this mechanic, on top of getting closer to your clientele, as you needed to do more than be perfect. You had to mess up, even if it wasn’t often. If you think about it, you needed to be a bit of the bad guy to get the info you wanted out of them.
Now Let’s Talk About the Clues!
At the end of each day, you’ll gather up your clues and try to connect them to form new ones, hoping to piece together more of the case. It did feel like I was stepping out of my bartender shoes and right into the shoes of an actual detective (or Charlie in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia). However, I sometimes ran into technical issues when trying to connect clues; they just wouldn’t connect.
As you get more clues and interrogate characters, you’ll discover the key clues: motive, evidence, and maybe even an alibi (known as a defense), which will clear a suspect of any wrongdoing. Once you’re confident in your findings, you’ll submit your case.
Once you do, and if you have extra days to spare, you’re more than welcome to keep talking to everyone until the final day arrives to raise their affection. Or, you could fast-forward to the final day to see the result of your case. I never found a reason to stick around since my affection with everyone was already at a reasonable level.
Accessibility in Best Served Cold
In terms of accessibility, Best Served Cold offers the following tools:
- Dyslexia Font
- Text Size: Increase the size up to 150%
- Minigame Chaser Speed: Decreases the speed of the chaser down to 20%
- Light Mood: Adds a white background to add text
- Text Speed: Normal, Instant, and Slow
The Verdict: Not Quite the Perfect Mixture
Best Served Cold can best be described as a bartender’s first drink: there are some good ingredients in there. For this game, it’s the writing and characters. I think those aspects are really strong, and I couldn’t help but get invested in each of their stories. However, the technical flaws and strange narrative choice with the romance that honestly didn’t need to be there to begin with ended up dulling its flavor.
Good
| Pros | Cons |
| Wonderful writing and characters | Mixology minigame becomes tedious and could’ve been fleshed out more |
| Overall presentation was sublime, fit the 1920s aesthetic perfectly | Occasional typos here and there, especially in case 3 |
| Thrilling and intriguing cases | Player romance, while sweet addition, feels tacked on |
| Some clunkiness with the UI |
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