Links

No affiliate links for this one, unfortunately, but here is the GOG link.

The plot in a paragraph

A beautiful and immersive pixel-art game by Jesse Makkonen that explores grief, mental health and the afterlife. We explore a world somewhere between dreams and reality while trying to make sense of it.

Gameplay

Afterdream is a horror puzzle style game with some elements of classic point-and-click titles. It has a similar vibe to the DISTRAINT series (well, duh) but also to older titles from Rusty Lake. Despite the end product, to me, feeling more like a walking simulator, the atmosphere of this game is amazing, and the story is very compelling.

What I liked

Despite some minor quality inconsistencies throughout the game, this is among the most beautiful pixel art I’ve ever seen.

The music and sound design are also very enjoyable and contribute to the unique atmosphere.

I also liked the main character, Jennifer, a lot. She has a lot of personality and the character development during the story makes her very appealing. She is also one of the few sources of humour and provides well-timed comic relief.

Without spoiling too much, you will acquire an old camera that will unlock the “camera view”. These camera mechanics are very well explored and allow you to interact with hidden objects. The animation when a photo is taken is simply incredible.

The game features a couple of infamous jump scares, but since they’re very well-timed, they don’t feel cheap and effectively add to the unnerving atmosphere. I actually felt like the scary moments could be more present and explored.

Despite the heavy, yet familiar, themes of the plot, it is not hard to digest it. I caught myself in deep thought a few times thinking about your own life. Whenever I had to put the game down, the feelings and the reflections would linger for a while.

What I did not like

For a puzzle game, saying that my main complaint are the puzzles, is a bit problematic. They are too easy. The concept of some them is very interesting, but the mechanics are almost always the same, and it gets old fast. Growing up playing the old Resident Evil and Silent Hill games, puzzles are always something that I look forward too. Unfortunately, these did not deliver. Perhaps spacing out the timing between finding items/solutions and realizing where to use them could improve the overall challenge.

I expected the difficulty to increase with each level, but it did not. This also makes the game a bit on the shorter side; it took me less than 2 hours to complete the entire game with 14/15 achievements unlocked.

Do I recommend playing it?

It’s a good casual thriller with a very captivating atmosphere. I recommend you playing it with an open mind and not to expect an action packed title and just enjoy the story and the experience.

It’s unlikely I’ll revisit this game soon, though I may try to earn the last missing achievement. However, I see no compelling reason to pick it up again in the next couple of years.

Playing Afterdream is giving me some nostalgia of the DISTRAINT series. Maybe I will play and review them sometime.

As a final note, I played the entire game on the steam deck. It worked perfectly out of the box and I did not experience any issues. I also feel like the steam deck is a perfect platform to experience this game.