Post Each Time You Beat a Game: 2024 Edition

Afterimage (Steam)

So this game rules, but it's still kind of a shame, because it's sooo close to being, like, a 10/10 metroidvania but instead it's only like an 9.

The world is *massive* and it's super fun to explore. The moment when you get a waypoint for the main quest and you check your map and realize how far you have to zoom out to even get it and the part of the map you've already explored on the same screen is really when the game sinks its teeth into you. That was my moment of "oh, uh-oh. this is gonna be my life for the next week". (Strictly speaking I act the same with 4 hour metroidvanias too, but then I finish those ones in... 4 hours...).

There's tons of stuff to find. Equipment (including a half dozen weapon types), multiple kinds of upgrades, movement abilities, optional bosses, lore, money, etc. Basically everywhere on the map that can have something hidden in it, does. The world feels packed with secrets to a degree where it feels daunting to even find them all.

The setting is cool too. The whole game takes place on a floating island world called Engardin that is reeling from a near-apocalypse after the humans went to war against their own nature gods, which threw off the natural cycle of rebirth and made death (mostly) permanent. It's cool, it's original, and it's a big part of the game's plot, not just set dressing. It feels like the exact midpoint between Tales of "we give thanks to Groundo, spirit of the earth, for letting humans live in harmony with nature :)" style worldbuilding and FromSoft "ah ha ha... you've heard of King Dipshit, who lives in Castle Fuckoff... yes, he lit the Bigmatch, driving away the Allplague... ah ha ha... but now he is nought but a husk" style worldbuilding and more interesting to me than either one of them.

The problem is the translation isn't great. It's not as incomprehensible as people say but it's basically on the level of the bad lines from FFVII, but for the entire game. It's compounded by the game throwing tons of in-universe jargon at you immediately and not explaining much of it (and the stuff it does explain, it only explains once and expects you to remember). There's also a little mascot character who is constantly talking and yes, he did grow on me, but it's a very, very bad first impression. The game is also easy, and I think there were difficulty options so maybe it's my fault for picking normal, but after a point my strategy for every boss was just "face tank and win a battle of attrition". That's always kind of a strategy in metroidvanias but it usually doesn't work nearly so effectively against almost every boss in the game.

But man, I still think this is *up there*. It's not Hollow Knight and it isn't Symphony of the Night but it's very clearly in contention with them, and I don't say that lightly.