Afterparty Review: A charming game with no consequence
“Playing afterparty feels like a bad evening with friends. Things weren't going as expected, but it's still fun. "
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Funny, credible dialogue
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Charming characters
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Tedious gameplay
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No consequences for actions
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Unsatisfactory conclusion
It has been suggested that all the fun people go to hell. This is the kind of damnation that afterparty offers. You play Lola and Milo as friends and you are on a mission to find a way out of a version of hell that is more party than punishment. It is a fascinating concept that unfortunately gets stuck due to lengthy gameplay.
Afterparty does some things well. I wanted to root for this game. It's funny, the speech is excellent, and the characters speak like real people – a rarity for many games, especially for those who take themselves seriously. Playing afterparty feels like a bad evening with friends. Things weren't going as expected, but it's still fun.
There were moments that grabbed me. Milo and Lola are assigned a personal demon, Sister Mary Wormhorn, who unexpectedly torments the duo. The anthropomorphized personal demon is a fun idea and is played excellently. She addresses both family issues, but Milo and Lola are ready to give as best as they can.
Milo points out that his father wasn't perfect – but he wasn't a monster either. Like many parents, he cared and tried and still failed most of the time. Lola, who often hits her head with her sisters, is ready to admit that she thinks her sisters are stupid. Even so, she still cares about her. You are a family. This real, level approach to each character's backstory avoids the overly dramatic stereotypes that video games often use when trying to portray family problems.
Playing afterparty feels like a bad evening with friends. Things weren't going as expected, but it's still fun.
And of course the afterparty, which represents life after death, will soon dissolve. Satan is not the prince of darkness or the prince of the party, he portrays. He reminds me of the guy who goes to college parties years after graduating, not the ruler of hell. As the game progresses and the night goes on, demons collapse, pee on the streets and leave the bars empty. It's funny, but also a little sad.
Yes, the game has its moments. Unfortunately, afterparty never binds them all together. I need more than a few moments to take care of Milo and Lola. And while I admire the unexpected twist for Satan – and the concept of "hell as a big party" – I wondered why this subplot took over the game's story.
Nothing matters when you're dead
I spent a lot of this game wondering if Milo and Lola would make it out of hell or if afterparty would outsmart me in the end, laughing, as Satan explained, of course there is no way out. I anticipated the pitfalls of the plot that the game could put in my way when Afterparty sent me from one place to another and followed very obvious directions on what to do. Again and again everything worked out for Milo and Lola – even if it seemed as if it shouldn't be.
Then I realized that nothing is important in this game.
Night school studio
Afterparty throws in some mini-games, yes, but they are simple distractions, not real games with real consequences. At a crucial moment, I blown out my lead against my demon opponent in one of the game's challenges. She seemed to feel sorry for me. "That's it," I thought. "I'll try again and I know I can beat her this time."
That's how most games work. You try, you fail, you try again until you stop failing or you can't move on. Not so at the after party. It's ironic because hell seems like the perfect place to face the consequences. Instead, the game kept me going as if I had won.
Then I realized that nothing is important in this game.
Afterparty is less of a game than an interactive story. It's a good interactive story, but not a game that offers a challenge. Without feeling a real test or obstacle, or needing to use the mental strength to figure out the way forward, I just went through the movements.
Other narrative titles like Life is Strange or Detroit: Become Human are also not difficult, but they have a sense of consistency that the afterparty lacks. In these games, the way you overcome obstacles has an obvious impact. You will always see a result, but some are better than others. Entire drawing sheets can change due to your decisions.
I never felt that way with Milo and Lola. They felt like recycled characters with an inevitable ending. They are best friends who are not interested in the parties and the social policy of popularity. He is shy. She has sperm. They have problems, but in the end they will find a way to live with their problems, even if they cannot solve them completely. This is a familiar story and since the way I play the game has no effect, it falls apart.
Afterparty is full of chores that feel like homework to tick off a list. You are not a challenge. They are just things to be done to do them. It's something the game's lampshades make fun of, and the jokes are good. However, this is not enough to forgive original sin, to take up tedious tasks in the first place.
Our opinion
Afterparty has a solid script and excellent speech, but it's not an exciting narrative adventure. Like an evening with too many drinks, it is easy to go in with the expectation of fun and regret how you spent your time.
Is there a better alternative?
For story based games yes. Depending on what you're looking for, there are many. Life is strange and its new sequel is the best alternative. You can find more options in the Quantic Dream catalog for Detroit: Become human, heavy rain or Beyond Two Souls. This is especially true if you want to feel the impact of your decisions.
How long it will take?
Afterparty is short. It takes about eight to ten hours, depending on what decisions you make and how interested you are in exploring hell.
Should you buy it
If a slightly grumpy, playable version of The Good Place sounds like a good way to spend a day or two, that's for sure. Afterparty costs only $ 20. So if you are a fan of indie games that are more story than game, this may be the one for you. It is also available on the Xbox Game Pass.
Nevertheless, consider skipping this. There is nothing spectacular that makes this title a must, even if it has a lot of charm.
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