Afterimage

9 / 10. The 50h exporation metroidania To be honest, Afterimage is first and foremost an exploration game with very good metroidvania and tight platformer elements. This game is big and the exploration elements do it justice. Couple this with very beautiful and rather unique art style and you have a game that at least needs to be admired. Sound, music and voice acting is also up there and it complements the visual elements very well. Gameplay wise, this is a typical metroidvania game with some distinct elements, but I cannot say I've seen anything too outstanding here. It does copy some other known games from the genre, but it mostly has it's unique feeling. It features a skill tree, some permanent abilities and some passives, besides the usual equipment. Now, what makes this game a hit or miss is balancing. You can go 30+ hours in the game and still be at about 10% of the total achievements. That is because there are 8 endings and for the "true" endings you would require certain objects. Now, this is where the game drags on for about 10-20 hours. There are a number of high-level optional areas that don't add too much to the table gameplay wise. Yes, the art style is beautiful, but there's not that much content there. You mostly unlock all but 2 abilities by this point and getting the last two, to then grind for everything is not that fun. Doing 100% on this game is kind of annoying and will require a good map, as there are a lot of hidden or puzzle areas that do not appear on the map. There will be a helper skill at a certain point, but it's not all that useful. Still on the balancing side, bosses are rather easy for the most part (with some exceptions) and you can beat them even if they are 30+ levels above you. I've picked up so, so many potions throughout the game, but I never got to spend the all basic health potions. There's also a way to put items on the hotkeys, but besides that basic health potion, I haven't used anything else throughout the game. Magic would be powerful, but mana regeneration is a pain. It probably would be possible to do a mage build, but then you will loose on the +Drop Rate or +Exp Gain items, that are essential for 100%. After beating the game, there is a thing called New Game+, but it's anything but that. Instead it is a small side story of about 1h, that unlocks area in the main game and also a few new endings. Overall I found Afterimage to be a game that does it's own things in a surprisingly high quality manner and that's why I'm willing to go past it's balancing issues, as it does serve a solid experience. Other recommendations: - some metroidvanias with something different going for them: Dust: An Elysian Tail, the Shantae series, the Guacamelee games, Cave Story+ - a weird mix of different genres: Dex - the classics: Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Castlevania: Down of Sorrow (and most of the metroidvania part of the series), Super Metroid - the art-style reminds me of some anime fighting games: BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, the Guilty Gear series (and other Arc System Works games) - wildly different, but great story and unique mechanics: Jade Empire