For years now, China has become increasingly relevant in the international gaming market, with multiple projects increasingly localized and distributed in the West, sometimes even with the help of large-scale projects like PlayStation's China Hero Project. Starting today, April 25, 2023, a very interesting new Chinese game will be available: Afterimage.
We're talking about a massive metroidvania entirely hand-drawn and created by Aurogon Shanghái which we analyze in the PC version, but also available for PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch.
After our positive experience, we had the opportunity to embark on this adventure and discover in detail everything good that there is in the game. Find out everything in ours Afterimage Review.
Chaos in Ergardin
The afterimage tells the story René's story, a young woman with almost no memories accompanied by the little spirit Ifree, who always seems to know too much about what is happening. The setting is Ergardin, a fantasy land created by a Goddess who populated it with Goliaths and Humans, with the first places to monitor the world and punish anyone who tried to break its balance. It seems unnecessary to say, but the humans did it and the Goliaths were forced to declare war on them. The battles are long over, but Ergardin is not at peace and Renee, after the destruction of her village, leaves to find out what is happening.
This is not a particularly original beginning, unfortunately weighed down by some terrible plot exposition choices. Immediately the player is bombarded with place names, characters, references to Ergardin's past, mythological references and rules about how the world works (there is a cycle of death and rebirth, with an extremely oriental flavor). However, it's all really too much in too little and you end up not understanding exactly what is happening. As you progress, you will gradually be able to understand some things by repeating them, but most of the new information we will receive is transmitted through notes that are hidden on the maps and cannot be collected. If you want to reread a text to understand how that detail of mythology fits with the rest, you have to go back there. Therefore, most of the plot is poorly accessible; Let's add the fact that, in general, we are not talking about a particularly impactful narrative: we believe that many players will soon forget the details and be content with understanding the contours.
It's a shame the narrative isn't more interesting, because the game's world it certainly is. Ergardin is a collection of large and varied lands, forests, plains, frozen caves, castles, towers with strange technologies and much more. There really is everything and each place is magnificent to see, with intense colors and very detailed backgrounds that on more than one occasion make you want to stop and just look. Metroidvanias are often dark, but Afterimage doesn't give in to custom and focuses on a bright world that, even in its darkest moments, never comes close to the darkness of Hallownest or Castle Dracula.
even the enemies They are beautiful and original, with different designs for practically each area. Spiny cactus-like crocodiles, funny little golems, mechanical warriors, flying demonic lizards, fungal crabs, deformed abominations and more. There is a lot to see in Afterimage and even the bosses do not disappoint in terms of visual design, although even in this case they often do not have a clear narrative location, but are creatures that for some reason were there and had the misfortune to challenge us.
Run, girl, run.
The eye wants its share, but controller in hand, how much fun is Afterimage? Very. Most of the time it's not particularly original, but Aurogon Shanghai knows how to make a fun game out of explore. Ergardin is a really big world, made up of often labyrinthine maps with a huge number of crossroads, shortcuts and areas that can only be accessed after acquiring new powers.
Renee will receive it regularly. new movement-related skills, such as a slide, an aerial jump, extra jumps, wall bounces and more. Initially, the exploration is linear and the platforming is not complex, but as you progress, you realize that Afterimage wants to see you jump and run left and right as much as possible. The game is full of secondary or directly secret sections that require good manual dexterity and will often take more than a couple of attempts to overcome. However, perseverance and the desire to complete each map 100% are absolutely rewarded with healing, equipment, upgrades, and even new abilities. More than once we found ourselves exploring an area they had left behind only to discover that it included a power-up needed to advance elsewhere. So be prepared to go back and forth, trying to understand exactly what the right direction is, also because in the second half the clues are really minimal. There are also a number of missions, but most involve obtaining items from enemies.
The heart of Afterimage is therefore exploration and platforming, but combat is clearly not lacking. Renee can use two weapons at a time, between six categories, along with a spell as well. In reality, the latter has little impact on the balance of the game, which is dominated by bladed weapons. These have a simple basic combo plus special moves, unique to each weapon type. Air combat is also affected by weapon choice. In general, sometimes there are more comfortable weapons to use in certain battles, but in our game we practically never had to change sets. However, the case is different with accessories, which grant various bonuses to become more powerful, prioritizing healing, damage or resistance. Added to all this are talents, mostly passive improvements that are acquired with points donated for level increases. There is also a souls-style mechanic that makes us lose experience points in the event of a KO, but it does not make us lower our level, so the loss is never massive and they can be recovered by returning to the point of death.
Generally speaking, Afterimage is not particularly difficult, mainly because we can really deal a lot of damage if Renee is at the correct level for the area (the level of each region is indicated in the entry). In the second half, enemies can cause your hit points to drop in an instant, but the authors have already told us that a patch is coming that will weaken the monsters, so overall we hope it won't take too much effort. HE fight They're fun, fast, and reward the use of unique weapon abilities. Against bosses, however, most of the time victory is more the result of our great power and exaggerated use of healing, than of careful combat. The bosses also have a lot of attacks, but they are often too difficult to avoid: the fact that they don't do too much damage makes the battles balanced and honest, but several times we realized that we had played poorly despite having won. There are few battles where we really had to learn the opponent's moves.
The soundtrack is also excellent and throughout the hours of play it is pleasant, accompanying the exploration and combat. Speaking precisely of "hours of play", the longevity will be determined by how much you want to find. If you wanted, you could reach a first "false" ending after less than twenty hours, but the truth is that you will not settle and want to move on: with at least ten hours of content still available, you will have much more to discover. For a true 100%, it will definitely take more than 30 hours.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam Price 24,99 € Holygamerz.com 9.0 Readers (14) 8.6 your voteAfterimage is a content-packed metroidvania, with a large number of regions, secrets, and methods to power up your character. The platforming is a fundamental part of the experience, with many quite intense sections although never excessively complex. In terms of combat, expect plenty of bosses, a large number of common enemies, and a difficulty level that is anything but high. For at least thirty hours you will have fun exploring a world that is beautiful to look at and has a mythology with potential, it is a shame that the plot is poorly presented and does not take advantage of several story ideas.
PRO
- Graphically magnificent and varied.
- Much content
- Challenging but never difficult
AGAINST
- The plot could have been told better.
