It seems like every year there’s an indie-developed sidescrolling narrative game that really tugs at the feels, showcasing a great blend of inclusivity and understanding of the vibes in the setting they’re in. For me last year it was Until Then, and the year before that it was A Space For The Unbound. Now we have Afterlove EP, the final game from renowned indie narrative designer Mohammed Fahmi prior to his sudden and tragic passing–known for his work on games like Coffee Talk and What Comes After.
Afterlove EP puts players in the shoes of Rama, a young musician struggling to move on with life after the passing of his girlfriend, Cinta. Rama has been struggling for close to a year, neglecting his music, his band, as well as his relationships with both his best friends in the band and people that know him. As rough as all that is, Rama also hears Cinta’s voice in his head, complicating his ability to make conscious decisions.
Downtown Jakarta looks quite cozy in this manga-esque visual style.
The game gives us Florence vibes when you first start playing. There’s no obvious goal. You just remove polaroids from a cork board, and as you take off each one, you see cherished moments shared between the aforementioned couple. After that, the sadness immediately hits. Luckily, it doesn’t stay long. That’s something that separates Afterlove EP from the other narrative games, including the aforementioned ones that came out not too long ago.
As far as the way the game separates itself goes, part of how it does that is by the way it borrows aspects from titles outside of its genre. With the main character being in a band, we unsurprisingly see a rhythm/music component to the game, but something I didn’t expect was a calendar system not much different from the way Persona‘s works. As mentioned, Rama struggles through relationships, so you’ll eventually get to a point in the game where on top of scripted progression, you’ll have to pick and choose people who you want to hang out with. This includes hanging with the band, pursuing romantic interests, or even going to therapy; do one of either of those things and the day ends, leading up to the final day where you have one last hurrah performance with Rama’s band.
Seeing the protagonist go to therapy to help deal with his issues was an eye-opening experience. Making it even better was the fact that these are optional conversations, really giving you agency to the kind of person you want Rama to be.
There’s heavy material, but the vibes in Afterlove EP are pretty lighthearted, and it’s enhanced by the game’s dialog. Everything has to be read, except for whenever Cinta talks, and she’ll talk a lot. At first, she’ll come off as annoying as Ocarina of Time‘s Navi, but she grows on you and starts to become a welcome presence. There’s a real power that comes from reading the dialog between every character but actually hearing Cinta butt in.
Cinta’s presence helps you feel every bit of Rama’s struggle just trying to function with everyday life. His band is going through some drama, and Cinta’s passing is what caused the rift. In this year of Rama’s grieving, or lack there of, his drummer found a new passion, his band manager and fellow musician is being poached by other bands, and there’s also the fact that Rama himself doesn’t have a job and struggles to talk to people in general. When he does talk to people, his very public interactions with Cinta just make him look like there’s something wrong with him. Watching all of this play out was particularly engaging and made it hard for me to not binge the entire eight-hour experience.
That said, one thing I don’t want to leave understated are the quality of life features in the game that made me feel like it really respected my time, specifically fast travel. Afterlove EP takes place in a manga-style, hand-drawn version of urban Jakarta that you can easily appreciate as you walk the streets, but once you’ve seen all there is to see, backtracking still feels like backtracking. This is something this particular genre has struggled with.
The fact that Afterlove EP features fast travel solves a lot of the problems games in this genre have in respect to the player’s time.
I fully understand the reasons why games like A Space For The Unbound didn’t have fast travel, as these linear experiences encouraged exploration, but running around aimlessly from screen to screen with no real clue what to do next really bloated those experiences. Afterlove EP resolves that issue with fast travel and also lets you know which biomes NPCs you can interact with are hanging out. Persona‘s schedule-based gameplay is best experienced when you can plan out your days, and Pikselnesia definitely knew the assignment.
The path to Afterlove EP‘s release undoubtedly came with a lot twists and turns, but the end result is an impressive slice-of-life adventure that successfully brings great diverse characters, relationships, and inclusion to the forefront as a game that’s both artistic and entertaining. Made even better is the fact that it has multiple endings to add to its replay value–it would’ve been nice if there was a chapter select for achievement lovers, but that’s neither here nor there. Pikselnesia did a fantastic job, and Mohammad Fahmi would definitely be proud of the effort.
It seems like every year there’s an indie-developed sidescrolling narrative game that really tugs at the feels, showcasing a great blend of inclusivity and understanding of the vibes in the setting they’re in. For me last year it was Until Then, and the year before that it was A Space For The Unbound. Now we have Afterlove EP, the final game from renowned indie narrative designer Mohammed Fahmi prior to his sudden and tragic passing–known for his work on games like Coffee Talk and What Comes After.
Afterlove EP puts players in the shoes of Rama, a young musician struggling to move on with life after the passing of his girlfriend, Cinta. Rama has been struggling for close to a year, neglecting his music, his band, as well as his relationships with both his best friends in the band and people that know him. As rough as all that is, Rama also hears Cinta’s voice in his head, complicating his ability to make conscious decisions.
Downtown Jakarta looks quite cozy in this manga-esque visual style.
The game gives us Florence vibes when you first start playing. There’s no obvious goal. You just remove polaroids from a cork board, and as you take off each one, you see cherished moments shared between the aforementioned couple. After that, the sadness immediately hits. Luckily, it doesn’t stay long. That’s something that separates Afterlove EP from the other narrative games, including the aforementioned ones that came out not too long ago.
As far as the way the game separates itself goes, part of how it does that is by the way it borrows aspects from titles outside of its genre. With the main character being in a band, we unsurprisingly see a rhythm/music component to the game, but something I didn’t expect was a calendar system not much different from the way Persona‘s works. As mentioned, Rama struggles through relationships, so you’ll eventually get to a point in the game where on top of scripted progression, you’ll have to pick and choose people who you want to hang out with. This includes hanging with the band, pursuing romantic interests, or even going to therapy; do one of either of those things and the day ends, leading up to the final day where you have one last hurrah performance with Rama’s band.
Seeing the protagonist go to therapy to help deal with his issues was an eye-opening experience. Making it even better was the fact that these are optional conversations, really giving you agency to the kind of person you want Rama to be.
There’s heavy material, but the vibes in Afterlove EP are pretty lighthearted, and it’s enhanced by the game’s dialog. Everything has to be read, except for whenever Cinta talks, and she’ll talk a lot. At first, she’ll come off as annoying as Ocarina of Time‘s Navi, but she grows on you and starts to become a welcome presence. There’s a real power that comes from reading the dialog between every character but actually hearing Cinta butt in.
Cinta’s presence helps you feel every bit of Rama’s struggle just trying to function with everyday life. His band is going through some drama, and Cinta’s passing is what caused the rift. In this year of Rama’s grieving, or lack there of, his drummer found a new passion, his band manager and fellow musician is being poached by other bands, and there’s also the fact that Rama himself doesn’t have a job and struggles to talk to people in general. When he does talk to people, his very public interactions with Cinta just make him look like there’s something wrong with him. Watching all of this play out was particularly engaging and made it hard for me to not binge the entire eight-hour experience.
That said, one thing I don’t want to leave understated are the quality of life features in the game that made me feel like it really respected my time, specifically fast travel. Afterlove EP takes place in a manga-style, hand-drawn version of urban Jakarta that you can easily appreciate as you walk the streets, but once you’ve seen all there is to see, backtracking still feels like backtracking. This is something this particular genre has struggled with.
The fact that Afterlove EP features fast travel solves a lot of the problems games in this genre have in respect to the player’s time.
I fully understand the reasons why games like A Space For The Unbound didn’t have fast travel, as these linear experiences encouraged exploration, but running around aimlessly from screen to screen with no real clue what to do next really bloated those experiences. Afterlove EP resolves that issue with fast travel and also lets you know which biomes NPCs you can interact with are hanging out. Persona‘s schedule-based gameplay is best experienced when you can plan out your days, and Pikselnesia definitely knew the assignment.
The path to Afterlove EP‘s release undoubtedly came with a lot twists and turns, but the end result is an impressive slice-of-life adventure that successfully brings great diverse characters, relationships, and inclusion to the forefront as a game that’s both artistic and entertaining. Made even better is the fact that it has multiple endings to add to its replay value–it would’ve been nice if there was a chapter select for achievement lovers, but that’s neither here nor there. Pikselnesia did a fantastic job, and Mohammad Fahmi would definitely be proud of the effort.
by Danreb Victorio
