I had a dream recently in which I had a robot arm that wasn’t working properly.
You may think that sounds like an exciting sci-fi dream, but all it meant is that I was on the phone trying to arrange an appointment with the NHS to fix the thing. And believe me, here were a lot of phone calls and even more waiting rooms. Terminator, this was not.
But it made me consider that dreams are strange things. A few times you can pinpoint why your mind went somewhere, but most of the time it all feels completely intangible. Afterdream is a game where the protagonist is in a strange place, stuck between the unreal and reality. Can they escape?
In Afterdream you play as someone who is recounting her dreams to a therapist (or are they?). They wake up in a strange apartment that is like theirs, but not. Strange things are happening, doors are locked and things don’t work as they should. The protagonist wants to try and escape but the building keeps taking them to stranger and stranger places, meeting odd individuals with even odder tasks to complete. It’s like a mixt of David Lynch films and a monster movie.
I think the writing is very good with a clever piece of world-building found in Afterdream. I was completely moved, intrigued to keep playing, all in hope of finding out what would happen next; whether this is all a dream or not. But Afterdream doesn’t take itself too seriously, with some funny bits of writing. In fact, it is not afraid to tackle the ridiculousness of the situation.
Gameplay-wise and this is a world set in a 2D environment, as the game comes across as a basic point-and-click adventure. You travel around the closed area you are placed in for each chapter, examining objects and picking ones up to use with others. I liked the way Afterdream doesn’t have an inventory but when you are over an object a quick down on the D-pad selects the items you can use with the object. It’s a simple technique but one that I found very intuitive to play with.
The other USP moment is that you gain a camera. With this camera, you can see things that can’t be viewed by the naked eye. So it might reveal a door that isn’t there by normal viewing. This is a great mechanic and a lot of fun. But I did spend most of my game time with Afterdream looking into it if I got stuck.
Puzzles are also a big element of the gameplay and you will find yourself trying to work out little coded puzzles or lateral thinking ones all the way through. These aren’t particularly challenging but will give your mind a good workout. One thing I found a little annoying though is the lack of a run button – you will backtrack a lot in levels and the lack of pace does start to grate after a short while.
There’s no doubt that Afterdream looks great within its 2D world and for a game that doesn’t require that much power, graphically, it does a lot. The world itself is creepy and interesting with some great lighting effects. The photo mechanic works brilliantly as well, capable of creating different worlds on top of existing ones. There are a few moments when the lights go and you have to use the flash of the camera to give you intermittent bursts, which is a brilliant way to add tension visually. The soundtrack has a great sense of uneasy suspense as well, complemented with some good effects. .
Enjoyable with a good sense of story, characters, and some sharp writing, Afterdream keeps its suspense tight amid horror elements that are more fun than horrific. I love a couple of the mechanics in play, like that of the inventory and the camera. But the pacing is a problem and I’ve spent time killing for swifter movement.
Afterdream is not going to be a game for everyone, but for me, it works over its four hour or so running time. For now though it’s time to sleep and see if I can do something about my robot arm in the morning.
