Game Title: Afterplace

Developer & Publisher: Evan Kice

Release date: July 23, 2024 - Steam

OS: Windows, iOS, SteamOS + Linux

Platform: Steam

Price: $14.99/€14.99

“Made by one person, an open  world adventure game filled with silly characters and terrible secrets. Explore  the woods, find hidden paths, hack and slash through strange monsters, and try  very, very hard not to break reality. Or don't. You do you.”

What Is It 

The Steam description pretty much says it all. It is a single player, open world adventure game developed and published by Evan Kice, who may or may not have quit his job to pursue what can only be described as a labor of love.

I was hesitant to review Afterplace due to there being millions of Stardew clones out there. However, this is not a clone. Not only is this not a clone, but is instead a well-fleshed out and hilarious adventure. There is much to explore and many characters to meet, not all on the up and up, which only adds to the humor.

The Mostly Good

Story

The story begins when your character is plopped down unceremoniously on a floating island. Your assignment, if you choose to accept it, will be to get a giant honking sword (it doesn’t really honk, I don’t think), and to find a way off the island.

As you make your way around the map, you meet an array of characters that offer assistance or don’t. One dude offered me pain pills that messed up my health bar for a bit. Ok, so he didn’t come right out and offer. He told me that was all he had and he was not going to sell them to me, a kid. So instead of walking away, like a normal person would, I berated him into selling me pain pills. Then I accidentally took them. I could not see straight (I don’t think) until I was brutally murdered by bouncing balls with teeth. Luckily, I woke up to a kind bunny who saved me. I was expecting to have to pay her but instead she just did it because she was kind.

The game has been compared to Zelda but I think it leans more towards Undertale, especially with the whacky humor that is spattered throughout.

Quests

Quests range from the mundane fetch quest to more exciting adventures that require you to help a fox recover the calculous book you may or may not have pushed off the edge of the floating town. Possibly on purpose. When you next find Joxxi, the fox, he is again trying to retrieve the book, only he’s on a ledge and terrified. This is where my skills come in handy. I push him across to many protests where we retrieve the book…or not. It falls off that ledge too. I then push Joxxi all the way back to the other side. He is thankful when he finally arrives but let’s just say, he really, really does not like heights. Humorous quests like this are numerous and one reason I could not put the game down for hours at a time. 

If I was ever unable to continue on a quest because I could not defeat the big bad, the dev nicely included an Invincibility Mode that can be turned on and off in settings. Normally, if I was having a tough time with combat, I would walk away for a bit and return when I was less angry. While I did not rely on this feature, I did have to use it a few times. Purely for review purposes and not because I suck.

Humor

The moment I started to make my way from the starting point, I was running into NPCs to interact with. Most had funny quips and would make rude remarks about me. I knew this was the game I was searching for. The game world does not have enough belly laughs but Afterplace tries to make up for that. At one point, in the beginning, I was trying to find my way to a town, as I knew there had to be one. I was blocked by shrubs. A kindly (so I thought) crow told me I could attack them to remove them. I then went on a shrub murdering spree, to which it replied with a few hilarious comments.

Achievements

I am not an achievement hunter, I still managed to get a handful, but I know many who are and would replay the game to ensure they 100% complete the game. I am leaning that way myself. That is what a fun ride this was. I actually want to 100% a game for the first time ever. Oh sure, I 100% the banana game (everyone does) but I want to branch out into the world of achievements and at least I would be enjoying myself while hunting.

Not All Is Well

Controls/Mechanics

I played Afterplace on both the PC and the Rog Ally. Both worked well enough but using KBM or just keyboard, as mouse was not recommended. Using both Tab and E, brought up inventory and the settings icon. This can be confusing. Enter or Space are to interact with objects or attack. Because muscle memory is so strong for the E key, I removed it from the controls scheme as I kept hitting it instead of enter or space. This is how I accidentally took the pain pills…twice. The controls scheme was not initially to my liking but I was happy I was able to change it to my liking.

Playing on the Rog Ally was a much better experience, though I had to make some adjustments with the resolution to make the game images large enough to see. They were so very tiny at first. After a bit of adjusting, it was better. Not great but better. I think the game would do well to employ a zoom feature for those of us who still squint when wearing corrective lenses. Nothing says “You’re super old” as much as that.

AutoSave

The autosave feature works well. When continuing a game, I never had an issue of lost time. However, there were many times I wanted to go back to a point before the manual save but could not because of how the saves are structured. You get one save slot and that is it. I have found many games employing this feature recently. Rather a reverting to olden times when one autosave was all you got. I have never been a fan of this and it can be incredibly frustrating not to revisit quests or boss fights because they did not play out how I would have liked.

Conclusion

Afterplace is a hilarious and whimsical adventure that employs retro graphics and captivating audio. I cannot expound on how much I loved this game. Though the game can be finished in ten hours, I spent well over fourteen trying to explore everything. In fact, there is still much to discover after finishing the game with “Get Any Ending.” I did get any ending or one of those any endings. I do not know what all those any endings are but I would like to experience them all.

I am not the only one who loves this game. Afterplace was nominated in 2023 for the App Store Awards, which it was a finalist, and Apple Design Award, which it was the winner. It was touted as delight (their words not mine as I feel it is missing a ful) and fun. The game is delightful and I was enthralled while playing. It is hard to keep my attention for more than ten minutes most days and I spent hours over a couple of days engrossed in Afterplace. I regret nothing.

Yay Or Nay

Yay! Double Yay! Triple Yay!!! If you enjoy adventure games, simplicity, and humor, Afterplace is a must have for your gaming library. With only a few minor issues, more personal preference than issues truth be told, this is a true definition of a gem. It’s beautiful, silly, and just entertaining.

Afterplace is a solid A for me. If not for a couple of minor annoyances, I would have rated the game A+. This one is a must play for those who like to laugh while playing and enjoy a retro style adventure, I cannot recommend this high enough. The game harkens back to the humor of LucasArt games from the 1990s. I think the developer, Evan Kice, made the right move by quitting his day job.

Now if you will excuse me, I am going back in.