It’s common knowledge that beauty is only skin deep, and that saying perfectly applies to video games as well. But when you can get some jaw-dropping art to go with superb platforming action, what’s there to complain? Modus Games’ Afterimage is the attention grabber here, an eye-wateringly gorgeous game that does the Metroidvania moniker complete justice, instead of effortlessly trying to ride the popularity wave. Fans of Hollow Knight and the Ori series may come for the art but will stay for the polished and challenging gameplay, the 30 nail-bitingly difficult bosses, and an adventure that is promised to last for 40 exciting hours, and unlike the main character, you won’t forget about it so soon.
Beautiful Sights and Boss Fights
Renee is the star of Afterimage, a girl that conveniently has no recollection of her past and leaves her destroyed village behind to explore some mysterious attacks. This tried-and-tested plot mechanism allows us to discover the storyline alongside Renee, who is striving to help the remaining settlements of mankind to survive. She is not alone, however; little floating spirit Ifree follows her around and occasionally provides some interesting remarks about lore and puzzle progression.
Afterimage’s mesmerizing graphics are the undeniable first highlight; a work of beauty, with Renee’s long, flowing hair moving in perfect synchrony with her swaying outfit. As smooth as any almost perfect hand-drawn, frame-by-frame animation can be, this relatively small character is a joy both to behold and to maneuver through a variety of remarkable environments. Despite only witnessing a handful of different locations but with the promise of plenty more to look forward to, the eyes cannot avoid but staring at every detail, such is the noticeable love that pervades this world – from ravaged forests where even a burning fire in the distance is a sight to behold, to the endless flower fields that could be inspired by the most whimsical animated movies, there are so many layers to imbue depth in what is at its core a flat side-scrolling game, that you can’t help but gaze as far as your sight can stretch. At times, it feels as a cartoon come to life, and the superb and soothing orchestral melodies accompanying you are the perfect travel companions. Obviously, these give way to more anarchic tunes when a boss encounter is taking place.
As it happens with every Metroidvania in existence, Renee starts with barely any capabilities apart from anything a regular human can normally do. As you progress and unlock new parts of the map, Renee levels up and regularly earns talent points to trade for buffs in a fairly confined skill tree. It’s no Path of Exile for sure, but such comparison isn’t suitable here anyway, and Afterimage still has plenty to explore. The non-linear world will encourage you to backtrack whenever possible and to use the freshly acquired powers, or Afterimages, to reach new areas that were previously inaccessible. Dash is one of the first you will attain, proving useful both for reaching platforms afar, but also to swiftly dodge enemy attacks.
In terms of bang for your buck, it’s hard to feel cheated, even when you’re trying over and over – on that matter, die and if you make it back to your last expiration point, you can recover your experience. It’s a lot of fun to use the weapon combos, experiment with different builds, and punch the air in joy when you finally overcome a boss that has been responsible for some serious gamepad flinging.
With 30 bosses patiently waiting for your arrival, you should expect no more than a clash of titans each time… maybe except for the first handful of them, who are more interested in setting the adventure lore in motion than giving you a hard time. Nonetheless, these are remarkable moments to test your skills but also to delight you once again with some amazing artwork and mise-en-scene. Expertly conceived and animated, along with a truly outstanding use of color gradients, they’re guaranteed to distract you during your first attempt as you both learn their intricate patterns and appreciate every flow, every utterly unnecessary detail that just makes them even more fascinating to watch.
Striving for perfection is great, but there’s no such thing, not even in gaming. Afterimage does have a few oblivious enemies that are unable to move beyond their default platforms, unless they get a little push from Renee. It’s very mechanical at times, but this could be something that will appeal to speedrunners.
Success is Survival
My hands-on time with Afterimage left me with no doubts – this is going to be a fan-favorite, a game that looks as great as it plays. It’s a massive beast primed for discovery and a time-stealer of the finest kind, an action adventure where an initially daunting enemy will be nothing but cannon fodder after a few hours of experimenting with stats, discovering new weapons and equipment, and coming to terms with attack patterns.
You may be lost, you may be frustrated, but Afterimage deserves your perseverance because it has so much to offer, and such high-quality sights to behold that it’s utterly obvious this is a labor of love. Every Metroidvania fan must look forward to this one, as everything points to a successful entry in the genre, one that unlike poor amnesiac Renee’s past, won’t soon be forgotten.
MP1st was given access to a preview build of Afterimage for our hands-on session. Afterimage is set to release on April 25, 2023 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch.