Should You Give Best Served Cold a Try?

As someone who’s always chasing a good story, I stumbled across Best Served Cold when its demo popped up on Steam earlier this year. The premise, a bartender solving murders in a Prohibition-era, hooked me instantly. Now that the full game is out, released on May 5th by Rogueside Games, I’ve spent hours behind the bar at The Nightcap, mixing drinks and unraveling mysteries.

Picture this: you’re in Bukovie, a fictional city in an alternate 1920s Europe, where war looms, labor strikes simmer, and prohibition has driven everyone to secret bars like yours. You’re not just pouring drinks, you’re a detective, roped into solving five murder cases by a pushy cop who could shut your bar down. The vibe is pure noir, with jazzy tunes and hand-drawn art that feels like stepping into a smoky, sepia-toned film. What got me was the cast of 22 characters, from crooked cops to heartbroken singers, each with secrets to spill if you play your cards right.

You serve cocktails to loosen tongues, using a simple minigame where you trace a symbol to mix drinks. It’s fun at first, but I’ll be honest, it gets repetitive fast. The real meat is in the dialogue. You’ve got to read your customers’ moods: drunk, angry, or flirty and decide whether to charm, threaten, or serve them a bad drink to get them talking.

Each of the five cases, taking about an hour or so each, flows into the next, and characters you meet early on evolve in surprising ways. I was moved by a regular who went from a one-note drunk to someone grappling with loss, and I felt invested in helping them find hope. But the game’s not without hiccups. The dialogue can also feel static at times, with characters forgetting key moments, which dulled some choices.

Should you give it a try? If you love visual novels, murder mysteries, or just want a game that feels like a good book with a jazz soundtrack, I say yes. It’s not the deepest detective sim, and the drink-mixing could use more spice, but the characters and atmosphere make it worth pouring a few hours into. The game’s 17.99€ price tag on Steam feels fair for its 5-7 hour runtime, and with console versions planned for PS4, PS5, Xbox, and Switch, more folks will get to try it soon.