I play many games, some that I like, and some that I don’t. Some that I choose to play, and some that I get roped into by friends (looking at you, League of Legends). Through all of the hours spent in virtual worlds, you would think it would be difficult choosing my favourite one, but no. It isn’t. Without any hesitation or a shadow of a doubt, my absolute favourite game is Oxenfree.
Over the past week or so, I’ve been pretty excited. The sequel to Oxenfree, Oxenfree II: Lost Signals, is creeping closer by the day, and it’s now so close I can practically feel it in the air around me. So to pass the time until the sequel enters my life, I decided to finally play the only other game from Night School Studio (the team behind Oxenfree) that I’ve always meant to but just never seemed to find time for, Afterparty.
Very much in the same vein as Oxenfree, Afterparty is a story and dialogue rich adventure game. Filled to the brim with choices for you to make, relationships to ruin or friendships to cultivate. You control two best friends, Milo and Lola, who have found themselves in hell very much to their surprise and disbelief. Looking for any answers and still firmly believing a mistake was made, the two of them set off to make a deal with the head honcho of hell, the big man himself, Satan.
If I’m being honest with myself, and with you guys, I don’t have many real-life skills that I feel confident enough about that I would challenge the devil. Unlike Tenacious D, I could never play a song that would be good enough, and I definitely can’t play the fiddle, so the only place I could even stand a chance would be in a drinking game. Thankfully, that’s precisely what Afterparty is about.
After securing tickets to an exclusive party at Lucifer’s house, Milo and Lola strike a deal with him. If they can best his brothers and sisters, the Monarchs of Hell, in games of their choosing. Lucifer will allow them to challenge him to a drinking contest, and if they can out-drink and out-party the devil himself? Well, then they’re free to go.
Afterparty is a witty and comedy filled story about two friends trying their best to survive a night in hell, with multiple endings depending on their level of success. While it might seem like Afterparty offers little more than a “pretty-to-look-at” bar-hopping trip through the underworld, there is a profound story to uncover within it. Before my time in Afterparty was done, I was questioning what it truly means to be a good person and thinking about the relationships I have with those around me.
While I do wish there were more hours I could spend in Afterparty because my time in hell felt too fleeting, I did enjoy the time I got to spend there and I look forward to hopefully going back one day. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to look for another game to distract myself from the sad realisation that Oxenfree II: Lost Signals STILL isn’t out yet (Read: I’m off to play Elden Ring).
