Afterparty

 Switch
Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 8
  3. Negative: 1 out of 8
  1. Digital Trends
    Mar 30, 2020
    50
    Playing Afterparty feels like a bad night out with friends. Things didn’t go as expected, but it’s still fun.
  2. Switch Player
    Mar 16, 2020
    50
    AfterParty squanders its cool premise by forcing you through repetitive environments and selling its own drinking gameplay hook extremely short. Luckily, the story and character relationships will make this hellish road trip worth taking for some.

User Reviews

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User Score
6.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 17 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 17
  3. Negative: 4 out of 17
  1. Hill417
    Nov 10, 2021
    5
    I know some people I’ve talked to found it underwhelming compared to Night School’s other game Oxenfree, but I haven’t played it (I didI know some people I’ve talked to found it underwhelming compared to Night School’s other game Oxenfree, but I haven’t played it (I did download it on my PS5 a few days ago) so I went into Afterparty with nothing to compare it to. I figured it would give me a different perspective. Honestly what really made me interested in the game was the voice cast, I love Ashly Burch and Dave Fennoy and it was on only $20 on the eShop so I figured why not.

    Story wise I loved the plot (*SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON*): Two best friends have died shortly after graduating college, they don’t know how and they’re shocked to find out that they must have been bad people because they end up in hell. There is one way they can get back to the land of the living: Out drink the devil himself and he’ll let them go, but in order to challenge him they’ll need two out of three seals from the other monarchs of hell. I love this story because it’s on par with a lot of other indie game stories where they sound weird and make no sense on paper, but when you actually play it, it is really engaging.

    The main characters are fine, just fine. I feel like we’ve seen these types of characters a dozen times before and I didn’t think they will be that memorable to me. One positive I will say about them is that they do feel real. If you have ever once had doubts about where your life is heading or if you have some serious unresolved family issues then you can find yourself relating to them. Although if I had to pick I liked Lola more just because she was more sarcastic and those characters are always fun. My favorite character was their personal demon Sister Mary Wormhorn who is delightfully annoying. Erin Yvette (who is so underrated and deserves more video game roles) is so over the top with dialogue and I mean that in the best way. Wormhorn does everything she can to annoy Milo and Lola and sew friction between them and to judge you on every major decision you make regardless of what it is. She is so enthused to do so because it is literally her job as a personal demon.

    The design for hell does not really stand out and looks pretty generic. It feels more like the slums of neon lighted city. The taxi segments where Sam drives on lava is cool, but that is about it. Speaking of the landscape be prepared for some backtracking and it can get old. It doesn’t help that there are a bunch of dialogue between our two protagonist that overtime feels like the same conversations just worded differently. Skipping the dialogue would have been nice, but alas. The art style is nice at least, but it could have used a little more polish and sometimes the game would lag. Which made the backtracking feel even longer.

    As far as choices go they don’t matter as much as they should. The drinking is one of the mechanics. Sometimes you need to drink in order to get past some obstacles, but they mainly give you a third dialogue option, but they aren’t used to unlock a secret third route, they are mostly just jokes. Story choices like “how should we help this person” always lead to the same ending no matter what you pick so it doesn’t mean as much. SPOILER warning agin: It turns out Satan has a drinking problem and his siblings stage a surprise intervention for him. This is where the two different endings come into play. If you win the drinking game his family gives up on him and he passes out because of his excessive drinking. Sure they get to be alive again which should be the good ending. Then if you give up on the drinking game and stay in hell Milo and/or Lola get fancy new jobs, Satan is hinted to have gotten a support system and Sam finds another way to get them out of hell. So Ironically when you stay in hell everybody gets what they want. If there is no real good or bad ending then what is the point of another play through?

    That last sentence sums up my thoughts. Afterparty is an ok time. It has its funny moments and the mini games like the dance offs, beer pong, and the drinking game. If you just want something quick and easy and cheap to play then go ahead, I don’t regret playing it, but just like any party you have to know when to call it a night.    … Full Review »
  2. SethlerDaniels
    Jul 18, 2021
    0
    They promised a localization patch to add at least spanish. I, stupidly, believe them and bought the game day one. Almost two years later, noThey promised a localization patch to add at least spanish. I, stupidly, believe them and bought the game day one. Almost two years later, no news on the patch. I contacted them and they answered that the patch was slated for an early 2021 release. Then deleted the tweet and ignored all my messages. The game is buggy as hell. It was just not successful, and they stopped working on it. Mi advice: dont buy ir. And dont buy oxenfree II either. Devs that fail to deliver.… Full Review »
  3. redgamehunter
    Aug 31, 2020
    4
    Look, I don't want to mince words: its way too buggy. There's no excuse to release a game with this much random slowdown/lag, freezes, menuLook, I don't want to mince words: its way too buggy. There's no excuse to release a game with this much random slowdown/lag, freezes, menu glitches, and control glitches. They are patching them which is nice, but like... I didn't even get it when it first came out and I'm still struggling with all these bugs. I thought it was just the switch port was botched, but reading around it looks like it's like this on multiple platforms.

    The writing is pretty solid, but drags unnecessarily in parts. Also, I know the game is set in hell, but pick a tone. It feels like they are going for a kind of Grim Fandango deal, melancholic but humorous, But then other times, things are said or done that are a bit whiplash inducing, and it's just not executed well enough for it to feel... "all on the same page", so to speak.

    Graphics are simple but serviceable, the art direction is definitely holding up the slack. That said, there are some areas that feel a bit barren (yes even for hell) and could have used a bit more love. That said, the areas with top design are a wonder to behold, even if the kind of low-tier graphics hold it back a bit.

    Mechanics are alright. Walk speed is both too slow *and* too fast. When nothing is being said and you have to cross a decent distance it's *agonizingly* slow, but when people *are* talking, you regularly have to stop walking or you'll end up having them skip parts of their conversation really jarringly. Dialogue system is fun but can feel a tad surface level at times, like you're not really affecting much with what you choose.

    If this were a smooth running, bugless experience, I'd likely have given it an 7 or higher, maybe an 8. But... it's not. The bugs are bad enough that I am too frustrated to actually *finish* the game. A game this simple graphically and mechanically has no excuse to be chugging this hard this often, and *super* doesn't have any excuse to be *crashing.* It hurts me to rate it this low, as I can tell this is a passion project with some real love behind it, but... I don't think I could ever recommend this in good conscience to someone. My only hope is X months from me posting this they've fixed it and optimized it properly, but as far as for me, the damage is done.    … Full Review »
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