Afterparty Review PlatStation 4

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Afterparty Review Hangover From Hell

Afterparty isn’t an especially long game, but it’s a wacky trip through a setting that’s normally a lot less jovial and humorous. Afterparty might contain the single most terrifying depiction of Hell I've ever witnessed. Not because of pits of lava or ghoulish demons, but because of how minor the reasons to end up there can be. All it takes is one missed parking ticket or passive-aggressive insult and your soul is damned for all eternity. The demons who torture you are actually just working their mundane jobs, and they pass the time the same way as people on Earth do: by drinking themselves into oblivion. Worse of all, there’s still social media and it’s almost entirely focused on you. Truly, this is Hell.

A Hell Of A Party

Afterparty is an adventure game from Oxenfree developers Night School Studio, so right off the bat, you know you're in for something weird. It stars two college graduates named Milo and Lola who wind up in Hell with no idea how they got there and no desire to stick around. Through a series of fortunate events - as fortunate as it gets in Hell, anyway - they meet a ferry driver named Sam who tips them off about a way out of this fiery nightmare. All they have to do is crash Satan's party, beat him in a drinking contest, and then they're free to go. Sounds easy enough, right? THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY Afterparty_20191029104023 Afterparty's characters are fantastic in that many of them come across as hilarious, borderline unlikable jerks. In fact, some of the nicest people in the game turn out to be murderous sociopaths having "deathday" parties and waxing poetic about their horrifying sins. Milo and Lola are very complex individuals, with their lives being so intertwined that they even share the same personal demon that torments them throughout the game. They can be a little hard to sympathize with at first, but later revelations about their relationship and backgrounds help explain why they're the flawed, anxious young adults that they are. The voice acting is also really great. There's a wide variety of characters that stand out, but the most notable performers are definitely Ashley Burch as the ferry driver Sam and Telltale's The Walking Dead's Dave Fennoy as Satan. Burch's detached, shady, fourth-wall-breaking bravado makes for a fun character who drives our protagonists all around hell, while Fennoy's Satan is a laidback party animal who also seems to be in a state of melancholy and ennui. The entire cast does a tremendous job, and help carry some lines that could have sounded ridiculous in the hands of lesser actors. Afterparty's version of Hell is actually rather pleasing to look at. Everything is neon-colored and bouncy while still retaining a sense of menacing evil that you’d expect from the underworld. The demon designs look great and there’s a wide variety of different monstrous entities, although most of the human characters tend to look alike. The style of Afterparty reminded me a bit of Coraline with a splash of Beetlejuice, with everyone having an almost hand-crafted look to them. It’s probably the most charming version of Hell I’ve ever seen.

Please Drink Irresponsibly

This is an adventure game, and that means you'll travel around the corners of the Netherworld trying to find and complete various quests that usually involve drinking copious amounts of booze. You can't challenge Satan right away, as first, you’ll need to get inside his house and then you need to complete a task for the devil before you can finally punch your ticket home. The solutions to these quests were never especially difficult to figure out, as it seems like the real draw to Afterparty is experiencing the story and conversations rather than trying to decipher moon logic puzzles. If you played Oxenfree, then you should know what to expect out of Afterparty's conversation system. You get two options to choose from to respond to the small talk and questions of the denizens of Hades. However, since Afterparty is a game about the joys of alcohol - or Hellcohol - you can unlock a third dialogue option by getting absolutely plastered. Drinking a cocktail prepared by the various demonic bartenders will let you say bizarre things that are only achievable while under the influence. You might unleash some awful puns or obtain some liquid courage to act like a big shot. It usually leads to the funniest possible voice line, although when in doubt, you can always choose to say nothing at all.

A Few Sins But Nothing Eternally Damning

That said, I was a bit surprised at how little my input seemed to affect the outcome of the plot. While trying to complete one of the main quests, I reloaded and tried the other dialogue options that I hadn't chosen and found that they had no real bearing on what happened next. There might be a slight change, but in the end, all paths seemed to lead to the same point. There are also drinking games that you have to win in order to move forward with the story. These were fun little diversions, but losing them didn't seem to matter all that much. This isn't a major problem, but if you thought your choices were going to have a dramatic impact on how the narrative unfolds you might be a tad disappointed. As a result, there doesn't seem to be a lot of replay value unless you want to revisit these characters and hear every single piece of dialogue. I played Afterparty on PlayStation 4, so my experience may be different than others, but there were a decent amount of issues. The game seemed to stutter and freeze up quite often, especially in the scenes where Sam was driving to another location. I also had moments where dialogue would overlap and lines would get cut off abruptly. Combined with a few game crashes and graphical glitches, and it's safe to say that Afterparty may need a bit of a patch in the future.

Bottoms Up

Afterparty isn’t an especially long game, but it’s a wacky trip through a setting that’s normally a lot less jovial and humorous. The voice acting cast is chock full of talented performers that make you want to sit and listen to all the dialogue about dead bachelor parties and people drinking themselves stupid. It’s not the smoothest ride and if you like to feel like your decisions are driving the plot then you might not get the fullest experience. There’s not a lot of replay value, but if you just want to sit down for a few hours and play through an entertaining narrative adventure, then Afterparty is a fine way to party with the devil. A PlayStation 4 copy of Afterparty was purchased by TheGamer for this review. Afterparty is available on PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One.