Afterlove EP - Review
One of the resolutions that I made for 2025 was to play more indie games, and the concept of Afterlove EP drew me in. How do you go on, when someone who has been your better half for the longest time, passes away? Expecting a tear-jerking adventure, I set out to discover what comes after love. The question is, did I find it?
The game tells the story of Rama and Cinta, a couple that have been together for a while. Rama is in a band with some friends and Cinta is the ever-supporting girlfriend. While Rama is home jamming out with his headphones on, Cinta tries to reach out, but it is only once he is done that, he spots the countless messages. Sadly, Rama is too late and Cinta has died. A year later is where the game really picks up, with Rama attempting to find a way forward, with Adit and Tasya giving Rama another chance with the band. Now the story will change from this point out, depending on the choices that you make, the people you spend time with and the events you enjoy. Regardless of what you choose, there is always someone with you and that someone is Cinta, your dead girlfriend. While Rama is trying to re-enter society, Cinta is with him, providing commentary about the people he meets and events he lives. This dynamic can cause some conflict as Rama is constantly speaking to Cinta, while the people he is with just look on. None of this would be an issue per say, we all grieve in unique ways, but the band has only 30 days to find their groove again, or they are splitting up for good.
As I said the story is going to be different for everyone, because you can elect to spend time with one person, or a few or none. You can spend your days reminiscing about Cinta and the moments you shared, or hit the streets and busk. The catch is that you only have 30 days and doing a single activity in the morning moves the day to evening and then night, so at most you can do 2 things a day. That means you have to choose, all the while you need to consider who you want your Rama to be. This was one aspect of the game that I did enjoy, because every action has an impact and if you spend the day busking you might miss out on some important conversations. But this is also where the most frustrating aspect of the game showed up, Cinta.
The concept of the ghost of a lover following you around is fine, but Cinta loved to speak up all the time, so much so that it honestly felt like there was another player taking control of my game. I would be having a conversation with someone, it would be moving along and then Cinta would speak up. Now sometimes her insights matched what I was thinking, but more often than not, I found she was actually making large jumps in story beats. I recall that I was talking with someone and the conversation seemed normal, but Cinta then voiced her opinion and then it changed the tone of the conversation, because Rama responded to her and the person he was speaking with got real confused. It is rare that I feel like a third wheel when playing a videogame, but that is what Cinta usually made me feel like.
While conversations are the bulk of the game, there is more going on, though I should say barely. Rama is a musician and in some of the trailers, we get to see him playing with his band and that was one aspect I was keen to try out. The problem is the music sections are less Rock Band and more Rock Bland, because all you need to do is press the arrow keys in the direction indicated. The reason why it was bland, was that no matter the song, everything came through insanely slow. If you have never played a music rhythm game before then you might have an issue on the first song, but beyond that it won’t be a challenge. The game also is too forgiving, I got a few goods on a song and it still told me I did perfect, but hey if they are too challenging, you can skip them. While they were slow, they were something different, so I had hoped that when I went busking for the first time, I might get some challenge, but nope. When Rama busks or takes a shift at the café playing some songs, its just slow text on screen, with the occasional word selection moment.
Outside of that, the rest of the game is spent exploring Jakarta, where the game is set. You can enter stores and speak with folks, attend your therapy session and of course reminisce about moments with Cinta. Now there is not a lot to do some days, even if you can enter a lot of places, but just being able to get out and see what life is like in this version of Indonesia’s capital was fun. One thing I liked is that you can fast travel to the various parts, so if you are over in W Bloc, but need to visit Fatmawati, you can just select it from the map app on your phone. The locations are not massive, but being at the one side of the map and wanting to go to the other side, does take a bit of time on foot.
I feel like now is a good time to talk about the games presentation, because while I like it, it does have a few ways of showing things. The really good is honestly the delightful art style, everything has a simple, yet refined look to it. Most characters have a strong silhouette to them, so you can tell your KakMus from your Regina. They also have a bit of life in their expressions, so when Tasya gets angry at Rama for ignoring her for Cinta, you will see it. The locations are also delightful, while you can’t interact with things in the stores, being able to enter many is just fun. I remember walking past a Korean BBQ store and thought, I will just see what it looks like inside and was impressed with the detail.
The games multiple ways of presenting things come in from the way conversations happen. You can be talking with Mira, as an example and it is just the two of them in the bookstore, but then the game will bring up larger portraits of them onto the screen. The weight of the conversation didn’t get heavier, there was nothing really distinct going on, but the game just presented things differently. You will also get these, polaroid shots, for lack of a better term, when Rama is remembering events with Cinta. Small pictures will slide around the screen, presenting the story of when the pair found a cat or ate some food. These moments were nice, but once you start one, you are locked in until they are done.
The games audio is a little different than what I was expecting, because again the music aspect, but it is good. The only spoken voice in the game is Cinta, everyone else is just text, so be aware of that as it can be odd at first. The music that Rama and his band plays are good, they are not the sort of music I would listen to, but my tastes are quite odd, but I never had the desire to skip any. Walking around the streets of Jakarta, there are sounds of the city bursting through, cars and people, but they are really turned down low. This lets you just enjoy what you are seeing, without the noise of the city drowning things out.
Afterlove EP is an odd game, it is so heavily connected to its story, that if you can’t connect with it, then nothing else matters. Rama starts out as a broken man, I mean given his situation who wouldn’t be, but over the course of the month, he does change. The conversations are going to shape things differently for each player, which is a fun experience, but Cinta is not. I understand what the developers were going for, but I just don’t think they pulled it off. Having essentially a third wheel take control of your conversations at random times, just feels like a bad decision. On the gameplay side of things there is not a huge amount of things to do here, but there is enough to break up all the talking, just don’t expect to be rocking out all the time. If you are someone who has experienced loss in life, then Afterlove EP might hit a few notes you were trying to forget, but in a good way. While the game is light on the play aspect, the story is where it shines and for that, I say it deserves a platinum release.
The Score
7.5
Review code provided by Fellow Traveller
The Pros
Rama and the rest of the cast are some incredibly well-designed characters and getting to know them is fun
The location of Jakarta is vibrant and has a lot to see, so exploring is fun…
The Cons
…however there is not a lot to do, outside of looking in some stores, even busking in locations is not that fun
Cinta is sadly not executed well enough here to matter, her input into conversations is often unwarranted and just derails things
