Recently, scientists have found that the human brain specifically classifies information about death as unreliable or false – so, they say, it makes us doubt the existence of death and the possibility of dying, which helps us live in the present and hope for the future. Apparently, for the same reason, people make games where they joke and mock death, where the afterlife is modernized and humanized, presenting it as a parody analogue of our ordinary life (Grim Fandango), and death itself can appear in the role of a funny fat dancer (Felix the Reaper). Afterparty, new work by the authors of the gorgeous Oxenfree, – another variation on this theme, close in spirit to Grim Fandango and quests from LucasArts. Only here everything is filled with deciliters of alcohol. Naturally, after Disco Elysium, barely coming to my senses, I immediately went to Afterparty – and didn’t regret it at all..
Party in Hell
However, first of all, there is a sense of tradition here Oxenfree — the same graphic style, the same emphasis on character development, the same lines of dialogue popping up above your heads. And the theme is somewhat similar – here we also play for teenagers who were having fun, and then encountered mystical events. But in the new game, events immediately took such a seemingly tragic turn that there was nowhere else to go – our heroes, the young man Milo and the girl Lola, after drinking alcohol together at the titular “after-party,” died and went to Hell.
Although it’s hard to believe at first. Underworld in Afterparty at first glance, it is not much different from some modern noisy Las Vegas – there are a lot of clubs, bars and other entertainment venues. Only together with people who have fallen into Hell for their sins do more or less horned demons drink and have fun. And the coolest party is thrown in his mansion by Satan himself, who drinks with Beelzebub and Chernobog.
Here, too, there are courts and schools, demons also drive taxis (only across the same River Styx), chat on smartphones, go to psychoanalysts and post funny messages on the local equivalent of Twitter, where a user with the nickname @missingbreakfast can ask others: “Hey, has anyone seen a couple of kidneys?“After this, you shouldn’t be surprised when one of the demons, addressing our heroes, says: “Welcome aboard, organ donors!»
Drink to live
Yes, despite all the apparent fun, mortal people who end up in Hell are often not even laughing here. In local clubs you can see how some of them celebrate not birthdays, but death days – anniversaries of falling into the Underworld. Among them are some yesterday’s maniac, and even a Neanderthal who was devoured by dinosaurs a long time ago.
But this is still Hell. And no one canceled the punishment for sins – sometimes very unpleasant and indecent, even if the guilty young people, in their words, simply robbed a “Jewish liquor store”. In front of Milo and Lola, several of these teenagers were sent to eternal torture, and when the turn came to determine their punishment (although for what reason?? They don’t even know how they died!)…the distributor demon’s working day is over. And he, of course, went to the bar.
And our heroes have a chance – during this remaining night before the verdict is passed, they just need to get to Satan’s party and drink him in a face-to-face, so to speak, confrontation. Then they can return to the world of the living.
However, much remains to be done https://noverificationcasinos.co.uk/litecoin-casinos-ltc/ to achieve this. First you need to get an invitation to a party with the Prince of Lies, then he will ask you to first drink (or dance) with two of his closest associates, and then find three friends.
Mini-games for maximum hangover
The methods for solving all problems are obvious – drink, drink and drink again. The gameplay is based on moving between locations, communication and constant consumption of alcoholic beverages. It looks something like this: we come to the next bar where the desired character is, listen to a bunch of dialogues, order alcohol (which one we decide for ourselves), find a drinking buddy and start a conversation with him.
During the process, you again need to drink (a separate button is responsible for this), after which a replica will appear highlighted in a special color, which, in fact, will allow you to get the result and move forward.
Then, as a rule, a mini-game follows, where one of our heroes tries to outdrink the opponent. Here you need to knock over the glasses as quickly as possible and carefully (but quickly) place them on top of each other, which is very difficult – the characters are drunk, the screen floats, and the glasses appear double. Although there are other mini-games – in at least one case there was an option to arrange a dance battle rather than an alcoholic one.
Alcohol will help everywhere
Of course, it’s not that simple. Somewhere they will refuse to let us into a bar – they say the entrance is only for demons. And you’ll have to look for a way to disguise yourself as one of them. In another club, having just drunk, Milo figures out how to knock out the guard who is not letting him into the hall where he sits, Milo, his unceremoniously stolen conscience. Once our heroes even had to pass off one of the demons as their child.
Sometimes dilemmas arise – who to turn to for help, whether to send an innocent person to eternal torture so as not to anger the powerful she-devil, or to take a different route. At the end of the scene, a personal demon, given to Milo and Lola forcibly, will analyze our actions from a moral and ethical point of view. This character generally very often interferes in what is happening, makes the heroes remember not the most pleasant things from their past (for example, relationships in the family), even tries to quarrel between them and therefore wildly irritates them (and makes us laugh).
It’s just a pity that the decisions do little to change the plot and its ending. But how we react to the provocations of a personal demon (though not only him), what lines we choose when Milo and Lola communicate with each other, really affects their relationship. At some point, the girl may even leave Milo alone.
Can you go slower?? I’m recording
All this, as you already understand, is accompanied not only by decalitres of the devil’s alcohol, but also by tons of humor, as well as many cross-cultural references and postmodern jokes. “This place is only for demons, vampires, succubi and the CEO of Walmart,” says a security guard at one of the clubs. “Why are there schools in Hell??"Milo asks the local taxi driver. “Let’s avoid spoilers, we’ll leave the answers until we play again,” he replies.
Authors Afterparty are clearly die-hard film buffs. They remember ironically "Blade Runner" and personally Harrison Ford (Harrison Ford), "Jurassic Park", "Breaking Bad" And David Lynch (David Lynch). And they even make one of the characters admit that his life is like a CBS sitcom.
As in Oxenfree, there’s a lot of great dialogue here. True, they are not written in the simplest English. Therefore, it will not be easy to play without Russian translation, especially since, as in the previous creation Night School Studio, V Afterparty important cues pop up and disappear quickly – no one will wait long while you decide which answer to choose. At the same time, everyone around is constantly saying something, and messages from the local Twitter constantly appear and disappear on the screen. It seems to me that it’s not always easy to navigate all this, even for people who know English perfectly.
I recently wrote a review BDSM: Big Drunk Satanic Massacre, and in the comments they ironized how, they say, you can scold a game with such a name for the fact that it has a lot of toilet humor. The problem is that it’s not funny toilet humor. And there are other examples. Then I remembered South Park: The Stick of Truth.
And here is an even more striking example – in Afterparty the action also takes place in Hell, and here they also drink constantly and often talk about sex. But at the same time, everything is much funnier and more elegant, smarter, more subtle, if you want. Yes, the dynamic dialogue system itself may need adjustment, and yes, Russian localization is really lacking. But, on the other hand, this is another (after the same magnificently alcoholic Disco Elysium) a reason to finally start learning English. Moreover, drinking in a game is more fun and interesting than in real life – believe me.
Pros: a fascinating, funny and sometimes even instructive plot; bright characters; a sea of humor and references; excellent dialogues; interesting game situations; funny mini-games; stylish picture; atmospheric music.
Cons: it is sometimes difficult to follow remarks and messages; not enough nonlinearity; no Russian language.
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