After Us features a sprawling, desolate world painstakingly crafted to show the destruction wrought by human greed, but its camera controls and level design make the platforming awkward and often frustrating.
After Us had some lofty goals and it shows but sadly, they didn’t quite reach those highs. Incredible art direction and a dope soundtrack sadly don’t make up for the ‘tacked’ on combat and the very floaty platforming controls. The design choice to make it open world is also a head scratcher because the game absolutely does a poor job of telling players...
As a game, After Us can sin of being flat, of lacking some of those playable moments difficult to forget or even of having problems such as a distant camera that hinders the most demanding platforming. But on the other hand, its history, the landscapes it proposes and some emotional sequences will make you remember it for a long time.
All these factors, combined with a stunning soundtrack that ranges between Vangelis and Nobuo Uematsu, make After Us a must-play game in 2023, and deserves a place on any game of the year list–not just one restricted to indies. For all those moments of satisfaction and glee, you’ll also feel uncomfortable, sad, and maybe even helpless–but again, maybe...
After Us is gorgeous and has some important things to say about consumerism, but actually playing it isn't always fantastic.
