Afterparty Could Be One of the Best Indie Games of 2019
Earlier this week, I got to play Afterparty, the latest game from Night School Studio, the developers behind 2016’s Oxenfree. Though I only played a half-hour demo of the game, I can say that I came away from the demo being pretty impressed with Afterparty and I’m looking forward to its launch later this year.
The demo started with the two main characters, Lola and Milo, arriving in Hell and meeting a laidback demon who acted as their guide. Obviously, neither Lola and Milo want to spend an eternity in Hell so they’re trying to leave as soon as possible but doing so comes with a catch: In order to get back to Earth, they’ll have to outdrink and outparty Satan himself.
Olly Olly Oxen Free
If you’ve played or seen Oxenfree gameplay then you’ll have a pretty good idea of how Afterparty plays. The free-flowing dialogue system is back and it worked so well that conversations I started felt natural. So, when the demon guide lead Lola and Milo to a demon bar, I was easily able to enter and leave conversations with Hell’s devilish residents. I also liked how I was able to move while speaking with other characters.
Speaking of the dialogue, it was filled with that modern style of ironic, self-aware humor but it wasn’t as grating as I was expecting it to be. I didn’t get to spend much time with Lola and Milo but, so far, they were both likeable characters that bounced off the bar’s patrons pretty well.
Lola has a feisty, headstrong attitude while Milo is shy and awkward. Since they were both polar opposite personalities, the alcoholic antics they both got into during the demo were hilarious because of how differently they handled those situations.
However, when it comes to the criticisms and concerns I have, I’d say the movement felt a bit sluggish and I’m concerned with how much variety the gameplay will have. The PR representative that hosted the demo told me that Afterparty’s gameplay will mainly consist of puzzle-solving and minigames but I don’t know if that gameplay will still be fun across several hours.
Hopefully, Afterparty turns out to be a grand time when it launches sometime this year for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
