Afterplace

Genre: Top-Down Action-RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

Afterplace is a Top-Down Action-RPG released in 2023 on iOS, ported in 2024 to PC, and then ported in 2026 to Nintendo Switch. This game has players taking the role of an unnamed mute protagonist who finds themselves suddenly appearing in a strange world, where various other people have found themselves similarly pulled to with no apparent means of escape. However, being an unnamed mute protagonist, you naturally set off to explore the world, fight monsters, and uncover the secrets of what is causing people to be dragged to this place.

This game’s presentation makes use of simple pixel art graphics that are one of the less interesting parts of this game – they work well enough for the gameplay but seem somewhat amateurishly-designed. These are backed by a decent soundtrack with a mix of nice acoustic and synthesized themes. Overall, I feel like this game could have used a bit more work polishing up the presentation, but it’s decent enough for what it is.

A part of the reason I do wish the presentation was better is because the game is filled with great writing and wonderful characters, with pretty much everyone you meet having a delightfully expressive personality, starting with a talking crow who tells you how to use your sword to slash at plants and then increasingly regrets it as you continue slashing plants and the crow wonders if it might have created a monster. You’ll meet a drug dealer straight out of an anti-drug PSA who gets creeped out when you enthusiastically push him to sell to you, a recurring villain who you’re introduced to as he suspiciously insists that no he’s definitely not poisoning the water supply, and an intrepid young mouse-person whose enthusiasm for adventure outpaces his ability, among numerous other odd characters. Honestly, meeting this game’s wide cast of weirdos is one of the best parts of Afterplace, and as you do so you gradually learn more of the greater lore of this game’s odd nowhere-locale.

Afterplace does falter a bit in other areas though. The Zelda-style combat here is decent but not great, and while you do get additional upgrades as you progress, those upgrades never seem quite as substantial as Link’s bow and arrow, bombs, and boomerang. Also, the map design in this game is absurdly twisted and labyrinthine, and while you do technically get maps here and there, those are scrawled, difficult-to-read things that don’t really help to make exploration any less confusing. And because of this game’s vague goals and frustrating area layout, it can be unclear where you need to be going, or whether you’re making good progress on the game’s goals, though there are tons of secrets to find, which can be satisfying in its own right.

Overall, the charm, character, and interesting story of Afterplace makes this a Top-Down Action-RPG well worth playing, even if the somewhat lacking combat and frustrating map design detract from the gameplay. On balance, I still think this is an overall enjoyable game that fans of the genre should check out.

tl;dr – Afterplace is a Top-Down Action-RPG where players find themselves in a strange world that has drawn in and entrapped a variety of odd characters. The characters, writing, and story in this game are all excellent, and the game is filled with wonderful secrets, but the combat is a bit lackluster and the game’s convoluted area layout and lack of a helpful map make exploration overly frustrating. Overall, this is a game well worth playing for fans of the genre, as long as players are patient with this game’s flaws.

Grade: B

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