After Us

Piccolo Studios has once again managed to take something dark, desolate, and painful and find the beauty in it. After Us is a haunting tale of humanity's atrocities against the planet that hits closer to home than most people would want to accept. The game's mesmerising imagery haunted me at times and at other times had me in awe with its gorgeous vistas and art direction. It may be a simply platformer but it has a power message that everyone should pay attention to.

With After Us, Piccolo Studio presents platform gameplay with many alternatives, set in a unique version of a desolate world. That's enough for After Us to be considered a good game. But in reality it is more than that. After Us is also a life lesson.

Platforming, puzzles and exploration that shine thanks to the love the developers have put into this game, which transpires through the adventure.

After Us stands as a thought-provoking testament to human responsibility, but it leaves untouched the broader canvas of nature's relentless force. Recognizing both sides of this environmental equation would have offered a more comprehensive perspective on the intricate dance between humanity and the natural world, underscoring the urgent need for responsible stewardship of our planet. The gameplay is serviceable and the game's length won't leave anyone asking for more, but the real showstopper is its gorgeous visuals and ambiance.

Gameplay-wise there’s not enough here to really grip and keep hold of you. This type of game has been done far better before.

With lofty ambitions and some great elements, After Us lets itself down in as many ways as it triumphs. Gorgeous art direction and an admirable anti-pollution message aren't enough to make up for tedious combat, performance issues, and open-ended level design that plays things a little too loose. If you're itching for an experience like this, there are better options out there, at the very least until After Us' performance issues are addressed. There's the core of an incredible experience here, but it's just not ready yet.

Unfortunately, what was promised with After Us did not come to fruition due to lackluster design and aspects that worked in contrast to each other rather than cohesively. Instead, we are left with a nice looking world yet below average platformer and hope for what may have been with a worn out “humans killed the planet” trope and poor execution.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

A self-criticism of the soulless western civilisation that destroys nature. Although it is not very good in terms of gameplay, it is a good criticism. Doğayı mahveden ruhsuz batı uygarlığının bir öz eleştirisi. Oynanış olarak pek iyi olmasa da güzel bir eleştiri.

While After Us has an engaging and emotional story and offers a strong, non-subtle message, it has very poor gameplay that makes it unnecessarily tedious, and the layout of the stages is very confusing. It also has a lot of bugs, including some that cause the game to crash, as well as a bug that denies access to Gaia's Garden, potentially locking players out of getting the game to 100%.

This was one of the few games I had to put down after playing for a while. Very lackluster combat, poor writing and overall just not fun in any way. One of the worst game I've played.

One of the most boring games I've played for a while. It's not even beautiful. Avoid it if you want to play in a video game.