Hands on with After Us - Preview
Piccolo Studios is not a name you are likely familiar with, they have only released one game at this point. But their debut title, Arise: A Simple Story told a heart warming story of love and the memories we hold onto when it is gone. Their second title seems to be expanding the scope of things from one man to one world, but is that too much of an increase? Thankfully the studio and publisher Private Division, were kind enough to provide me with access to the game.
The basic premise of the game is that the world has ended and all the animals have died, but in order for life to be restored a being known as Mother used the last of her Life Force to save their souls. She then tasked Gaia, which is your character, to rescue them from around the world and then bring back to the Ark that Mother has built. I was given access to the first area, which has Gaia exploring the ruins of a city, in the search for the animals souls. Gameplay wise, the best way I can explain it is Journey meets Limbo, there is more going on of course, but that will give you an indication of what you can expect.
Gaia herself has a few abilities she can use to get around and it really didn’t take me too long to get used to the moves on hand. What is unique about the way Gaia moves is with her jump, a press of the button will have her jump a little bit, but if you press and hold it down she will jump higher. The game was very clear that sometimes a longer jump would be required, so they gave plenty of time to get used to that jumping system. The game then started to throw in double jumps and glides, giving me more to get used to and this was where something unexpected kicked in. The first area is set within the ruins of a city, so there are cars and broken stretches of elevated highway. Due to the nature of things being above the ground, you might think I just mean the highway, but no cars float for some reason, the game introduces a landing reticule. Basically a small circle appears below Gaia when she is in the air, so you can see where she will land and the closer she gets to the ground, the smaller it gets. It wasn’t expected and honestly did save me a few times, so it was something I am glad they added.
Of course, the main goal is to locate the spirits of that various animals in the area, some of them you can see clear as day, others are a little more hidden. Finding them can be challenging, thankfully Gaia has a skill that lets her know the general direction in which to look, she can sing. Ok so singing doesn’t sound like it would be useful, but when she sings, she basically summons spirits into the world, and they fly off to the nearest animal spirit. The catch is that they can split off into groups, sending them into different directions if there are two or more spirits within range. Once you have a direction in which you need to head, that is where the platforming skills come into play, jumping, gliding and dashing to get close enough that Gaia can send out a spirit to latch onto the lost one.
Now if it sounds like a super chill experience, you wouldn’t be completely wrong, but there are some dangers around the world, including the world itself. You have to remember that this is a world that has been destroyed and in the remnants are the Devourers. Think of them like living oil, with tentacles and you have an idea on what to expect. There are two types, at least from what I played, the most dangerous type are those that act as the barries to your explorable region, if you try to get through them, they will grab you and instant death. The second type will just be in your way, sometimes you can jump over them, but if the distance is too large, you can have Gaia charge up her spirit power and unleash it to remove the obstruction. There were also plastic bags that would target me if I got to close to them, so there might be more danger in future levels as well.
My time with the game was only about an hour long, but it has my attention and I can’t wait to play more. The controls make Gaia seemingly float around the place, even when she isn’t actually floating and when you combine it with some challenging platforming there is a lot to enjoy. I do wonder about the story more, will it feature more direct moments, or is it more of an experiential thing, where we are along for the ride. Regardless of what it might be, I can’t wait to find out.
The game will release on May 23rd for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S
