➤ Afterparty, the review 🎮

With Oxenfree, the Night School Studio team took everyone a little by surprise (as far as possible for a team made up of veterans anyway) but it is clear at this point that there is a specific project behind its productions, as we see in this one. Afterparty review. This is not a standard development team but a kind of production house specializing in interactive stories: adventures with a strongly narrative character if we want, but the approach chosen by the developers, which stands as a real stylistic figure at this point, is so based on the story as to reduce the normal purely playful elements of the adventure to a minimum, making them mere accessories within the central mechanism, represented by the dialogues and the possibility of directing the outcome through various choices that can affect the progression of the story itself. We can safely speak of a new derivation of the "walking simulator" even in this case, although the essentially 2D third-person and side-scrolling setting may suggest something different.

There is probably a quote at graphic adventures classic in the atypical choice of framing and staging, which contribute to making the style of Night School original and recognizable and is further refined in Afterparty, while remaining substantially on the same line as Oxenfree. The latter relied on more sedimented situations and atmospheres, referring to the suggestions of classic teen horror to stage a story that then went on to touch deeper topics, while Afterparty explores less traveled paths, abandoning known imaginaries to build an identity. even stronger, but there are still some common elements in the themes dealt with. There is undoubtedly more cynicism and much more social satire in this new Night School game, with romantic relationships being treated in a more ironic and less romantic way, but common problems emerge between one and the other, here extended to a irreverent representation of life and death.

Afterlife and hangover

La history it is extremely simple and equally absurd, but it hides a series of themes that are deepened through the continuous dialogues that fill practically all the game time. Milo and Lola they are two friends who have just finished college, but during what seems like a farewell and welcome party to "real life" they actually discover that they are dead (the how and when will only be mentioned later) and suddenly find themselves at the hell. After moments of understandable utter upheaval, the two best friends discover that there is a way out to return to Earth alive, and that is to defeat Satan in a drinking contest. Arriving late at the meeting with the demon who must direct them to their personal eternity of torments (the office is open from 9 to 18, on the other hand), they find themselves having a whole night to try to set up the plan, counting on the support of a talkative demoness-taxi driver and colorful figures they meet on their journey to hell, who at night apparently does not differ much from the earthly nightlife, except for the presence of wings and horns on most part of bartenders and customers.

The first minutes of the game already establish what are the typical tones of the whole experience: humor macabre, social satire and a constant digging into the psyche and consciences of the main characters and of the two protagonists in particular, who under the always ironic surface of their exchange of words often bring out a decidedly complex and stratified reality. They are two guys who cannot recognize themselves in the standard social dynamics, one shy and clumsy and the other rebellious and always caustic in the approach with others, who lean on each other to get by in adversity and find themselves accomplices in the greatest adventure ever lived before. As already happened in Oxenfree, here too the particular situation lays bare the whole theater of relationships, affections and tensions that are hidden in their relationship and in that with others, but there are marked differences in tone and also in the topics covered. Constant humor must not be misleading because Afterparty, between alcoholic parties and games of beer pong, also touches deep, cerebral and almost philosophical issues, with a quality in the texts that is really difficult to find in the videogame field, even digging in rich indie production and narrative adventures.

Power to dialogue

Afterparty takes the game mechanics to the extreme dialogues which already showed itself as a preponderant element of Oxenfree, making it clearly the characterizing style of the team. The lyrics are all-encompassing, invading every moment of the game in a constant verbiage reminiscent of certain Woody Allen comedies, also for the intelligent and profound humor that characterizes them. It is through these that the gameplay, given that the action on the story occurs above all with the choices that are made continuously during the dialogues, capable of opening new narrative ramifications even starting from apparently minimal variations but which can determine important repercussions. It is obvious that such an approach brings with it consequences: the classic elements of the adventure such as riddles, exploration and puzzles are practically canceled, with all the attention being paid exclusively to the story that takes place orally through the interviews. between the characters. Another important element to take into consideration, given this structure, is that both the dialogues and the subtitles are in English (at least for the moment) and considering the speed of exchanges and the complexity of the texts, this could seriously undermine the use of the game for those who do not have a good knowledge of the language.

There are two elements of the gameplay that constitute particular digressions in the flow of the story: i drink drinks and pub games. Most of the settings that can be visited in Afterparty have one or more bars, highlighting the obsessive presence of alcohol in the story, which also has interesting implications towards the end. In these bars it is possible to order different types of cocktails that cause different effects to the personality of the protagonists, opening new and particular choices within the dialogues, which can influence the unfolding of the story and open new paths. THE mini-games, represented by "beer pong" (throwing a ball into glasses during a drink), rhythm game-style dance performances and the construction of towers of glasses under the influence of alcohol accompany some topical moments of the dialogues and can change the outcome. In both cases, these are very elementary game mechanics, however closely linked to the system of choice of topics and answers. The possibility of changing the attitude of the protagonists with the right drink, however, opens the door to particularly entertaining curtains, as well as allowing the deepening of some topics otherwise impossible to deal with, representing a brilliant variation to the dialogue system.

A strange hell

L'hell of Afterparty is original, above all thanks to the mixture of tones and arguments used. The representation of the afterlife as a place that substantially replicates the distortions and paradoxes of the earthly bureaucratic system and of capitalist and bourgeois society is not a completely new solution, but nevertheless gives rise to sarcastic and biting jokes and situations that are very apt. However, Dante's classic version is partially maintained and blends organically with the surreal vision, staging an afterlife in which the damned are subjected to torments terrible but only during office hours, being able to then spend free time in the numerous places around hell and assiduously using the smartphone to communicate and send tweets (also visible as comics by walking near the NPCs). Fundamental issues of modern life such as personal self-affirmation, finding one's way in a hierarchically set society and the importance of interpersonal relationships are fully found in this hell, which is essentially a picturesque continuation of earthly life with mythological implications. -religious (the story of Lucifer and the war against God is mentioned several times as a founding act of the place and a great unsolved psychological question for Satan). On the other hand, it is not just about laughing: in its apparently facetious representation, rather disturbing moments are also staged and topics that are real punches in the stomach, like when the "personal demon" digs into the memories and into the psyche of Milo and Lola, bringing out some tensions between the two or you come face to face with the more serious and fearful aspect of the character of Satan and his demons. This is also a kind of training journey, and it is curious to note how the two protagonists find themselves solving conflicts and unresolved issues in life only through this path into the afterlife.

Lo graphic style remains in line with that seen in Oxenfree, with a strongly stylized cut reminiscent of cartoons and classic graphic adventures in terms of framing and general setting. The streets, the external panoramas and the interiors of the Afterparty hell are extremely colorful and evocative, with a very original character design. What stands out most in qualitative terms, however, are the dialogues, recorded with a nice cast of professional actors able to give a great personality to the various protagonists of the story, as befits a game that has its fundamental characteristic in this element.

Comment

Tested version PC Windows Digital Delivery Steam, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Windows Store Price 19,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

8.3

Readers (10)

8.6

Your vote

Despite the clear change in tones and atmospheres, Afterparty confirms what Oxenfree had begun to make understood: Night School is not here to amaze the gaming world with new game solutions but to tell stories, built in such a way as to involve the player as an active element. in the choice of narrative elements. The absolute centrality of the text is perhaps even clearer in this second title, with all due respect to those who hoped in the introduction of more purely playful elements to give more substance to the experience: the story is not a frame here, but it is the core itself. of the game. The elimination of the challenge level and the more classic elements of the gameplay is a radical and risky choice, supported however by a quality of the texts and a rhythm of the story that have very few equals in this market, perhaps none. The plot is light and remains less impressed than others seen in similar titles (from Oxenfree himself to Edith Finch), but the characterization of the setting and characters pushes to return to this strange hell for the various runs necessary to discover all the hidden elements of the story. .