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The Game Room: "Afterparty" (X-Box One)


We're back from the dead folks!

And to commemorate this momentous moment, it's somehow appropriate we review a game that deals with... the ultimate after party!

Lola and Milo wake up the day after their graduation party to discover that they are dead... and in Hell.  Desperate to find a way back to the Land of the Living, they learn of a way out:

 Drink The Devil under the table...

Night School Studio brings you a fun little romp through the underworld.  The story is interesting, and maintains a nice flow of humour and a serious examination of the morally ambivalent choices many adventure games force you to make to complete your quest.  The story also throws in a bit of philosophy as it asks you to re-examine your attitudes about sin- and how hard line and unmoving the rules are relating to punishment for them.  Certainly deeper in concept than many of the games out there these days.

The characters are interesting as well as complicated.  You learn about them and their lives as the game progress, and the questions that their actions and reactions to Life make it a bit more complicated determining who burns in Hell, or not.  They are likable, charming and witty characters.  The supporting cast are equally well rounded, and add more than just filler to the story and world around them.  Even Satan himself is shown with human frailty and issues.

The graphics are not super complex- but are pleasing to the eye, with an amazing colour palette that creates a stylish, yet pretty recognizable world for the characters and player to travel through.

While the game mechanics are shit simple, they are more than compensated by the story, characters, and visual style of the game.  It shows you don't need complicated button combinations to tell a well thought out and thought provoking story.

"Afterparty" was a joy to play, and often made me pause to think about the choices I made, and the nature of sin and its consequences at it relates to Religion.  I would absolutely recommend- and will be playing again to see which of the multiple endings I can get next.  A solid "Good"!
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